It’s the last day of Term One, and I’m taking off the first two weeks of next term, so it’s a very sweet #ThursdayBooksandBeer. I’m reading this rollicking take of the 15th century from Jo Harkin, The Pretender, set at the time of King Richard III, with which I’m somewhat familiar, having taught Shakespeare’s play about him. The beer is Port Phillip Hazy IPA, which I’m in no position to connect to the novel. “Dear God, please, if it isn’t forbidden to ask, what exactly do You want?“ #reading #literature #craftbeer

Melbourne has tipped into winter for this week’s #ThursdayBooksandBeer. The temperature has plummeted and the rain is torrential. It’s a perfect environment to read the new book by Tracy K. Smith, former US Poet Laureate, Fear Less: Poetry in Perilous Times. I’ve paired it with a ‘Natural Redhead’ Red Ale at Gales Brewery, where I can look up from the book and watch the rain through the windows. “Beyond literature, being works of art, poems are acts of attention. Can we attend more rigorously, more compassionately to ourselves and others? Even now, as currents the world over appear to accelerate toward crisis and collision, can we muster the courage to do the indispensable things poems challenge us to do?” #reading #literature #poetry #craftbeer

I’m paying attention to The Details for this week’s #ThursdayBooksandBeer, as in the novel by Ia Genberg, translated from the Swedish by Kira Josefsson. It’s a fascinating portrait of a woman via the people she’s been close to, lovers and friends. The beer is a ‘Metamorphosis’ West Coast IPA from Kaiju and its details are: ABV: 6.2% IBU: 45 MALTS: Ale, Victory, Medium Crystal, Dark Crystal HOPS: Columbus (US), Cascade (US), Simcoe (US). “I’ve had more than my share of magic in life, most often in the encounter with others.” #reading #literature #Sweden #translation #craftbeer

It’s a special Stella Prize edition of #ThursdayBooksandBeer this week. The 2026 Stella Prize longlist was announced last night and they held an event for schools today featuring three of the longlisted authors in conversation: Evelyn Araluen, Geraldine Brooks and Lee Lai. Three remarkable women and writers who were fascinating to listen to. We got these signed copies to give to our school library, but I’m taking them out for a little excursion to one of my favourite bars, Redwood, before they get there. The beer match is a ‘Double Phaze Out’ New England IPA from Bonehead. “We are slouching towards the bearable / living, turning backs to the violent edge.” (From The Rot by Evelyn Araluen) #reading #literature #poetry #graphicnovels #womenwriters #Stella #craftbeer

For this week’s #ThursdayBooksandBeer I’m trusting in Fitzcarraldo Editions to give me another literary treat in the form of the new Claire-Louise Bennett novel, Big Kiss Bye-Bye. I really enjoyed her last novel, Checkout 19. I’ve paired it with a brown ale from the team at Loveshack. “So many meals ended badly. Was it the drink? Certainly when we drank less we fared a little better. We didn’t order a bottle anymore.” #reading #literature #fitzcarraldo #craftbeer

For this week’s #ThursdayBooksandBeer I’m reading Herman Melville’s 1852 novel (I hesitate to say ‘classic’ as it was widely reviled at the time and largely since) Pierre, or The Ambiguities. Next week I’m seeing the Leos Carax film adaptation and I wanted to have a sense of what he was working with. I’ve paired it with a ‘Damn Good Ale’ from the team at Inner North Brewing (head brewer Zac provides an American connection to Melville). “Oh, what quenchless feud is this, that Time hath with the sons of Men!” #reading #literature #Melville #craftbeer

For this week’s #ThursdayBooksandBeer I’m reading Murray Bail’s 1998 classic, Eucalyptus, which riffs on fairy tale tropes in a rural NSW setting. After trying their VIC IPA for last week’s beer, it’s appropriate that I’m pairing this one with Reckless Brewing’s NSW IPA, made from all local ingredients. “It was virtually an outdoor museum of trees. A person could wander among the many different species and pick up all kinds of information, at the same time be enthralled, in fine cases rendered speechless, by the clear examples of beauty.” #reading #literature #fairytales #craftbeer

For this week’s #ThursdayBooksandBeer I’m reading the debut novel by John Morrissey, a Melbourne writer of Kalkadoon descent who just so happened to be a student at my school many years ago. I never taught John myself, but read his English essays which we all agreed were brilliant when we could decipher his impenetrable handwriting. Luckily his books are typeset and there’s no barrier to the brilliance. I loved his first book, Firelight, a collection of short stories, which has brilliant flashes of science fiction. This novel feels in the tradition of Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Word for World is Forest. It was a pleasure to be at the launch of the book at Readings last night. I couldn’t go past Reckless Brewing and their VIC IPA with its birds on the can to accompany it. “But warmth and light always drew him down again with a gentle gravity—drew him down, not to the river and the mud, but to shining white streets and buildings, a desert city. A city in a dream, certainly, but he knew that it was a real place; it had far more truth to it than all the memories of his life, even his memories of Eliza.” #reading #literature #sciencefiction #craftbeer

For this week’s #ThursdayBooksandBeer I’m reading Love in the New Millennium by the great Chinese writer Can Xue, translated by Annelise Finegan Wasmoen. I’ve paired it with a ♥️Hearts♥️ Cherry Ripe Pastry Red Ale, a collaboration between Working Title and Future Brewing. “I’m sorry Cuilan, I will keep my secrets. Life here is full of taboos. I know you want to ask why my wife and I sit in the tree. This is why: we want to get a little further away from the earth’s clamour, to become calmer, so that we can make certain decisions.” #reading #literature #canxue #translation #craftbeer

It’s a first week of the school year edition of #ThursdayBooksandBeer and I’m reading The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and his Mother) by Lebanese-American author Rabih Alameddine. The book won last year’s National Book Award for Fiction and is set in Beirut from the 1960s to 2023. I’ve paired it with ‘Mead in Brunswick’, a mead made with orange blossom honey and oranges from Gales Brewing. “Laundry rejuvenated my mother. Cleanliness made her happy. Washed away old sins, old mistakes flushed in the rinse.” #reading #literature #Lebanon #craftbeer