Why not read for distraction, escapism, entertainment or editfication? Picture by Ying Ge at Unsplash.
From August onwards we’ve published 22 book reviews, which means you may have missed an especially interesting title. Here are some notable books to keep you occupied during school holidays, lockdown, and pandemic-fuelled malaise.
Set in South Africa, this is a young adult tale of friendship, familial friction and racial divides. All the tropes of teen fiction are here: relationship dilemmas, romance, and a grappling with identity and one’s place in the world.
Thuy On is the Reviews and Literary Editor of ArtsHub and an arts journalist, critic and poet who’s written for a range of publications including The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, Sydney Review of Books, The Australian, The Age/SMH and Australian Book Review. She was the Books Editor of The Big Issue for 8 years and a former Melbourne theatre critic correspondent for The Australian.
She has three collections of poetry published by the University of Western Australian Press (UWAP): Turbulence (2020), Decadence (2022) and Essence (2025).
Threads: @thuy_on123 Instagram: poemsbythuy
