This tiny book has sold five million copies, spawned a music album, a TV show, and countless blogs, youtube channels and pinterest pages dedicated to the craft.  It's about more than just tidying up. Marie Kondo says her book will make you more successful, more confident, and more motivated to create the life you want. The ‘Konmari’ method has a cult following with devoted worshippers of tidy-home-mantras.  But what hidden messages are in this book? Is it really a tale of shame, of OCD...

It outsold Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code and has been sitting at the top of the charts since its release. A page turner for sure; a female psychological thriller that's easy, trashy, with a decent twist at the end.  But the question we ask is: if you hate the books characters, and detest the way it's written, does that neccessarily make it a bad book?  Show notes Your hosts are Monique Bowley with Jo Lauder and Gabe Lauder The book is The Girl on The Train by Paula Hawkins Check out our...

Do you want to live a more creative life? Elizabeth Gilbert, of Eat, Pray, Love fame says you can. And you MUST. But before you run out and enrol in life-drawing 101, stop right there.  It's not neccessary.  This is a no-b******t guide on how to make space for more creativity in your life. She argues that anyone can be creative, at anything, and her advice on how to stop giving a s**t about what people think of you will have you highlighting passages and booking in for...

In my opinion, there is no greater discovery in 2015 than this book.  Despite its heavy themes, The Eye Of The Sheep is an eminently readable and joyous tale. Told through the eyes of young Jimmy Flick, it's a story about family dysfunction, social disadvantage and a mother's love.  It’s the most beautiful and skillful depiction of Australian domestic life since Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet. You can almost smell the cut grass and the sea. It won the Miles Franklin and you won’t have to guess...

Would a man really stage an accident to murder his three children and get back at his estranged wife? That’s the question Helen Garner concerns herself with in this intimately observed court-house novel. The book follows the case of Robert Farquharson, accused of deliberately driving his car into a dam near Geelong. While the case captured, angered and horrified the nation, this novel is a meticulous study of character, of truth, and the reliability of memory.  It’s a brilliantly written, fly...

The Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction this year sounds more like something from a Mills and Boon novel. Orphaned children, a priceless magical diamond, a blind French girl and a German wunderkind who fall in love via a radio transmission? But Anthony Doerr's war time tome, ten years in the making, is masterful. Written from the child's perspective, the themes of light, love, and how against all odds people still try to be good to one another is stunning. Don't be put off by the 500-odd pages;...

Orphaned children? A priceless diamond that holds magical powers? A blind French girl and a German whizkid who fall in love via a secret radio transmission? Oh puhlease. Sounds like something from the pages of a Mills and Boon. Instead, Anthony Doerr's war time tome won the 2015 Pulitzer. Written from the child's perspective, the themes of light, love, and how against all odds people still try to be good to one another is masterful. Don't be put off by the 500-odd pages; Doerr's light touch...