C&G Summer Reads

Local Community


Bayside is the place to be this summer, with plenty of beaches and cafes to sit and read by the ocean. And if there’s one essential item for your beach bag, it’s a good book. C&G has handpicked five of the best that the season has to offer.


The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins

Gritty, dark and deeply human, this page turner is the cracking debut of British journalist Paula Hawkins. Hailed by Good Reads as a Hitchcockian thriller, it all begins with Rachel’s regular commute from Ashbury to London. From the train she watches, speculating about the lives of “Jess and Jason”, whose deck is in perfect view of the signal stop. Then, one morning she bears witness to a shocking event that will affect her more than she could have imagined.

Reckoning: A Memoir by Magda Szubanski

The autobiography of one of Australia’s favourite icons has been described as a ‘startling migrant story’ (Crikey), an ‘illuminating family saga’ (New Daily) and ‘a brave and tender book about everything that matters in life’ (Cate Blanchett). From her father’s espionage background in WWII Poland to escaping the trappings of suburbia in Croydon North, Szubanski bravely details her life’s journey and the events that helped shape her identity, reconciling her past with prose.

A Spool of Blue Thread, Anne Tyler

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Anne Tyler’s latest novel tells the story of the Whitshanks from the perspective of their matriarch. Commencing in 1959 and going back three decades, Abby Whitshank recounts how she met her husband and how their experiences, coupled with the experiences of their ancestors three generations back, has come to define their family through hope, rivalry and tensions. 

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Stephen King

Stephen King is the original gangster of suspense – and his latest book, the Bazaar of Bad Dreams, is no exception. A collection of twenty thrilling stories, each tale is introduced with a message from the King himself, who warns readers that ‘the best of them have teeth.’  Themes include morality, death, guilt, time and of course, the supernatural. The endings will “make the final page resound like a slammed door” (The Guardian). 

Career of Evil, Robert Galbraith

The third installment of the Cormoran Strike series of crime thrillers, Career of Evil is a cleverly written mystery novel by J.K Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith. Strike is British Army veteran turned private detective, and his brilliant assistant Robin Ellacott is a complex, modern woman struggling with her identity in the aftermath of tragedy. When Robin receives a severed leg in the mail, it becomes apparent that someone has a vendetta against Strike, and the clock is ticking as they race to find the brute before he kills again.