Reading List: July.

Non-Fiction: 

 

Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan: Regime Change. Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump. 

 

Fiction: 

 

Gabrielle Korn: Long Island Girls.

Paul Tremblay: Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep. 

Sara Hinkley: The Red Sacrament. 

Megan Bontrager: The Sea Hides Its Dead.  

Films: 

 

Phanakngan Mai (Prod Rap Wai Phicharana) (2025, Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit).

Marama (2025, Taratoa Stappard). 

Hana Korea (2025, Frederik Sølberg). 

The Ex-idol, Stuck in Life, Decided to Live with a Complete Stranger (2023, Mayu Akiyama). 

 

Shows: 

 

Thanai Pisat, Season One. 

The Dark, Season One.

Stuff the British Stole, Season One, Two. 

Treasure and Dirt, Season One. 

 

Other: 

Digital Abyss @ Immersive Light and Art.

Automation Bias @ FUTUREJUICE.

Actress & Suzanne Ciani present Concrète Waves, Lucrecia Dalt, YHWH Nailgun, Hania Rani presents Chilling Bambino @ Unsound Adelaide.

Reading List: June.

Non-Fiction: 

 

Eric Jay Dolin: The Wreck of the Mentor. 

 

Fiction: 

 

Benny P. Peterson: The Maidenheads.

Isabel J. Kim: The Sublimation. 

Lisa See: Daughters of the Sun and Moon. 

Jules Ohman: Body Grammar. 

 

Films: 

 

Namibia no Sabaku (2024, Yōko Yamanaka).

Bunnylovr (2025, Katarina Zhu). 

Summer's Camera (2025, Divine Sung). 

Samâ firumu ni notte (2020, Sōshi Matsumoto).

Yuyeolui eumagaelbeom (2019, Jung Ji-woo). 

Gespenster (2005, Christian Petzold). 

 

Shows: 

 

For All Mankind, Season Five. 

This Is Not a Murder Mystery, Season One. 

Reading List: May.

Non-Fiction: 

 

Thak Chaloemtiarana: Read till it shatters: Nationalism and identity in modern Thai literature. 

Ligang Song, Yixiao Zhou (eds.): The Great Energy Transformation in China.

Yanya Jakimow, Margaret Jolly, Sonia Palmieri, Ramona Vijeyarasa (eds.): Gender and Politics Reimagined. Centring Oceanic and Asian Lenses.  

 

Fiction: 

 

Monika Kim: Molka.

Kylie Lee Baker: Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng.

Tan Twan Eng: The Garden of Evening Mist. 

Pitchaya Sudbanthad: Bangkok Wakes to Rain. 

 

Films: 

 

Heldin (2025,  Petra Biondina Volpe).

Forbidden Fruits (2026, Meredith Alloway). 

Montréal, ma belle (2025, Xiaodan He). 

O Agente Secreto (2025, Kleber Mendonça Filho). 

Chime (2024, Kiyoshi Kurosawa). 

Linda Linda Linda (2005, Nobuhiro Yamashita).

Gyakusatsu kikan (2017, Shûkô Murase).

Loong Boonmee raleuk chat (2010, Apichatpong Weerasethakul). 

Reading List: April.

Fiction: 

 

Mieko Kawakami: Sisters in Yellow. 

Kiran Millwood Hargrave: Almost Life. 

Tana French: The Keeper. 

Jade Song: I Love You Don't Die. 

Kylie Lee Baker: Japanese Gothic. 

Rene Karabash: She Who Remains.  

James S.A. Corey: The Faith of Beasts. 

 

Films: 

 

Umimachi Diary (2015, Hirokazu Koreeda).

Umi yori mo mada fukaku (2016, Hirokazu Koreeda).

Manbiki kazoku (2018, Hirokazu Koreeda). 

Rental Family (2025, Hikari). 

Undertone (2025, Ian Tuason). 

Chun gwong ja sit (1997, Wong Kar-Wai). 

The Testament of Ann Lee (2025, Mona Fastvold).

The Chronology of Water (2025, Kristen Stewart). 

 

Shows: 

 

Jakeun assideul, Season One. 

Climax, Season One. 

Reading List: March.

Non-Fiction: 

 

Dan Wang: Breakneck. China's Quest to Engineer the Future.  

 

Fiction: 

 

Catriona Ward: Nowhere Burning. 

William Gibson: Pattern Recognition. 

Kim Fu: The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts. 

Avery Curran: Spoiled Milk. 

T Kira Māhealani Madden: Whidbey. 

 

Films: 

 

Chungking Express (1994, Wong Kar-Wai).

Fallen Angels (1995, Wong Kar-Wai).

In The Mood For Love (2000, Wong Kar-Wai).

2046 (2004, Wong Kar-Wai).

Qian xi man bo (2001, Hsiao-Hsien Hou). 

Kataomoi Sekai (2025, Nobuhiro Doi). 

Resurrection (2025, Bi Gan). 

Dead Man's Wire (2025, Gus Van Sant). 

 

Shows: 

 

You and Everything Else, Season 1.

Deadloch, Season 2. 

Reading List: February.

Non-Fiction: 

 

Chris Baker, Pasuk Phongpaichit: A History of Thailand. 

Thongchai Winichakul: Siam mapped: a history of the geo-body of a nation.

 

Fiction: 

 

Margot Douaihy: Divine Ruin. 

Yoko Ogawa: The Memory Police.

Ellis Avery: The Teahouse Fire. 

Jean Kyoung Frazier: Pizza Girl.  

Tan Twan Eng: The Gift of Rain. 

Nina McConigley: How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder.  

 

Films: 

 

Qing mei zhu man (1985, Edward Yang). 

Kong bu fen zi (1986, Edward Yang).

Ma jiang (1996, Edward Yang). 

Yi yi (2000, Edward Yang). 

Revolver Lily (2023, Isao Yukisada). 

Rosemead (2025, Eric Lin). 

Kaj ti je deklica (2025, Urška Djukić). 

 

Shows: 

 

Pluto the Series, Season One. 

The Loyal Pin, Season One. 

Friendly Rivalry, Season One. 

Reading List: January.

Fiction: 

 

Nat Cassidy: When the Wolf Comes Home. 

Sarah Gailey: Just Like Home. 

R.O. Kwon: Exhibit. 

R.O. Kwon: Incendiaries. 

Kevin Chen: Ghost Town. 

Han Kang: The Vegetarian. 

Han Kang: Human Acts. 

Hang Kang: We Do Not Part. 

Clarissa Goenawan: The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida. 

Elizabeth Jolley: The Well.

 

Films: 

 

Daedosiui sarangbeob (2024, Eon-hee Lee). 

Affeksjonsverdi (2025, Joachim Trier). 

Happyend (2024, Neo Sora). 

Chan hang rawang rao (2025, Jirassaya Wongsutin). 

Yunhui-ege (2019, Dae Hyung Lim). 

Yeon-ae-dam (2016, Hyun-ju Lee).  

Beolsae (2018, Kim Bo-ra).

Billie & Emma (2018, Samantha Lee).
Lü ye (2023, Shuai Han).

Peter Hujar's Day (2025, Ira Sachs).

 

Shows: 

 

Jabaekui Daega, Season One. 

Shards of Her, Season One. 

Reading List: December

Non-Fiction: 

 

Brian Merchant: Blood in the Machine. 

Karen Hao: Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI. 

 

Fiction: 

 

Alex Gonzalez: Rekt. 

S.P. Miskowski: If You Knew Me. 

Kemi Ashing-Giwa: The King Must Die. 

Gretchen Felker-Martin: Black Flame.

Catherine Dang: What Hunger.  

Gemma Amor: Itch!

Chloe Michelle Howarth: Heap Earth Upon It. 

 

Films: 

 

The Penguin Lessons (2024, Peter Cattaneo).

Straume (2024, Gints Zilbalodis).

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (2025, Mary Bronstein).

Left-Handed Girl (2025, Shih-Ching Tsou).

One Battle After Another (2025, Paul Thomas Anderson).

Frankenstein (2025, Guillermo del Toro).

Wake Up Dead Man (2025, Rian Johnson). 

Kimi-tachi wa dô ikiru ka (2023, Hayao Miyazaki).

The Assessment (2025, Fleur Fortune). 

The Mastermind (2025, Kelly Reichardt). 

 

Shows: 

 

Last Samurai Standing, Season One. 

The Beast In Me, Season One. 

The Secret of Us, Season One. 

Whale Store XOXO, Season One. 

Runaway, Season One. 

Reading List: November.

Non-Fiction:

Eleanor Johnson: Scream with Me. Horror Films and the Rise of American Feminism (1968-1980)

Cory Doctorow: Enshittification.Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It. 

Siddharth Kara: The Zorg: A Tale of Greed and Murder That Inspired the Abolition of Slavery. 

 

Fiction: 

 

Joe Hill: King Sorrow. 

Wen-yi Lee: When They Burned the Butterfly. 

Yáng Shuāng-Zǐ: Taiwan Travelogue. 

Michael Wehunt: October Film Haunt. 

Anbara Salam: The Salvage. 

 

Films: 

 

Wanda (1970, Barbara Loden).

Klute (1971, Alan J. Pakula).

Town Bloody Hall (1979, Chris Hegedus, D.A. Pennebaker). 

Hedda (2025, Nia DaCosta).

Dìdi (2024, Sean Wang).

 

Shows: 

Death By Lightning, Season One. 

Queendom, Season One. 

 

Other: 

 

Embarking on a Drift to the Unknown @ Nexus Arts. 

World Skateboarding Tour Kitakyushu Street 2025 @ Kitakyushu Messe. 

Reading List: October.

Fiction: 

 

Mick Herron: Slough House novels. 

Sarah Gailey: Spread Me. 

Quan Barry: The Unveiling. 

Yume Kitasei: Saltcrop. 

Caitlin Starling: The Graceview Patient.

Mackenzie Nolan: Veal. 

 

Films: 

 

Judgment at Nuremberg (1961, Stanley Kramer).

La noire de... (1966, Ousmane Sembene). 

Night of the Living Dead (1968, George A. Romero). 

American Sweatshop (2025, Uta Briesewitz). 

Weapons (2025, Zach Cregger).

Good Boy (2025, Ben Leonberg). 

Eddington (2025, Ari Aster). 

Lurker (2025, Alex Russell). 

The Order (2024, Justin Kurzel). 

The Long Walk (2025, Francis Lawrence). 

 

Shows: 

 

Wayward, Season One. 

Mystery Road: Origin, Season Two. 

The Diplomat, Season Three. 

Task, Season One. 

Reading List: September.

Fiction: 

 

John le Carré: The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. 

John le Carré: The Looking Glass War. 

John le Carré: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. 

Olivia Wolfgang-Smith: Mutual Interest. 

Rachel Harrison: Play Nice. 

Kathleen Jennings: Honeyeater. 

Samantha Shannon: Among the Burning Flowers. 

Laura Jean McKay: The Animals In That Country. 

 

Films: 

 

Strangers on a Train (1951, Alfred Hitchcock). 

Tokyo Story (1953, Yasujirō Ozu).

Witness for the Prosecution (1957, Billy Wilder).

The Spy Who Came In From the Cold (1965, Martin Ritt). 

The Constant Gardener (2005, Fernando Meirelles).

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011, Tomas Alfredson).

Signature Move (2017, Jennifer Reeder).

Sneakers (1992, Phil Alden Robinson). 

 

Shows: 

 

Long Story Short, Season One.

Slow Horses, Season One, Two, Three, Four. 

House of Guinness, Season One. 

 

Other: 

 

Travis Cook, Somewhere, Lonelyspeck, Rắn Cạp Đuôi, Malibu live @ Hypercube Infinite, Queens Theatre.

Reading List: August.

Non-Fiction: 

 

Hannah Kent: Always Home, Always Homesick.  

Sarah Weinman: Scoundrel. How a Convicted Murderer Persuaded the Women Who Loved Him, the Conservative Establishment, and the Courts to Set Him Free.

Max Hastings: The Abyss. Nuclear Crisis Cuba 1962. 

Odd Arne Westad: The Cold War. A World History. 

Rodric Braithwaite: Afgantsy. The Russians in Afghanistan 1979-89. 

 

Fiction: 

 

Adam Rapp: Wolf at the Table. 

Graham Greene: Our Man in Havana.

Annalee Newitz: Automatic Noodle. 

Chuck Tingle: Lucky Day. 

 

Films: 

 

The Grapes of Wrath (1940, John Ford). 

The Stranger (1946, Orson Welles). 

Late Spring (1949, Yasujiro Ozu). 

The Quiet American (2002, Phillip Noyce). 

Our Man in Havana (1959, Carol Reed). 

The Hunt for Red October (1990, John McTiernan). 

28 Years Later (2025, Danny Boyle).

Eenie Meanie (2025, Shawn Simmons). 

Run Rabbit Run (2023, Daina Reid). 

Sorry, Baby (2025, Eva Victor).

 

Shows: 

 

The Deuce, Season One, Two, Three.

Bosch: Legacy, Season One, Two, Three.  

Reading List: July.

Non-Fiction: 

 

Nick Turse: Kill Anything That Moves. The Real American War in Vietnam.

 

Fiction: 

 

Janelle Brown: What Kind of Paradise. 

Christina Li: The Manor of Dreams.

Vajra Chandrasekera: The Saint of Bright Doors.

Megan Abbott: El Dorado Drive. 

Claire Lynch: A Family Matter. 

Emily St. James: Woodworking. 

Marry Shelley: Frankenstein. 

 

Films: 

 

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930, Lewis Milestone). 

Frankenstein (1931, James Whale).

City Lights (1931, Charlie Chaplin).

Theater Camp (2023, Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman).

Sister Midnight (2024, Karan Kandhari).

Bring Her Back (2025, Danny and Michael Philippou). 

 

Shows: 

 

Lower Decks, Season One to Five. 

Ballard, Season One.

Why Didn't They Ask Evans?, Season One. 

Reading List: June.

Non-Fiction: 

 

Fergus Fleming: Ninety Degrees North: The Quest for the North Pole. 

Stefan Zweig: Die Welt von Gestern. Erinnerungen eines Europäers.

 

Fiction: 

 

Stephen King: Never Flinch. 

Caitlin Starling: The Starving Saints.

Mac Crane: A Sharp Endless Need.

Ocean Vuong: The Emperor of Gladness.

V.E. Schwab: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil.

Marie Rutkoski: Ordinary Love.  

S.A. Cosby: King of Ashes. 
Shoshana von Blanckensee: Girls Girls Girls.  

 

Films: 

 

Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922, F.W. Murnau).

The Big Parade (1925, King Vidor, George W. Hill).

Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed (1926, Lotte Reiniger, Carl Koch).

La passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928, Carl Theodor Dreyer).

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (2024, Rungano Nyoni).

The Wedding Banquet (2025, Andrew Ahn). 

Sinners (2025, Ryan Coogler). 

 

Shows: 

 

Dept. Q, Season One.

The Better Sister, Season One.

Bay of Fires, Season Two. 

Hal and Harper, Season One. 

Squid Game, Season Three.  

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Season One, Two. 

 

Other: 

 

Japanese Breakfast live @ Sydney Opera House. 

Reading List: May.

Non-Fiction: 

 

Kristen Kish: Accidentally on Purpose. 

Diana Preston: A First Rate Tragedy: Robert Falcon Scott and the Race to the South Pole.

Anthony Brandt: The Man Who Ate His Boots: The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage.

Brian Murphy with Toula Vlahou: Adrift: A True Story of Tragedy on the Icy Atlantic and the One Man Who Lived to Tell about It. 

Padraic X. Scanlan: Rot: An Imperial History of the Irish Famine.

 

Fiction: 

 

Tanya Huff: Direct Descendant. 

Ling Ling Huang: Immaculate Conception.

Emily Tesh: The Incandescent.

 

Shows: 

 

Near or Far, Season One.

No Good Deed, Season One.

 

Films: 

 

Tolkien (2019, Dome Karukoski).

Crimson Tide (1995, Tony Scott). 

Casino (1995, Martin Scorsese).

The Friend (2024, Scott McGehee, David Siegel).

Speak No Evil (2024, James Watkins).

The Monkey (2025, Osgood Perkins).

Izzy Gets the Fuck Across Town (2017, Christian Papierniak). 

Other: 

Lost Records: Bloom and Rage Walkthrough.

Reading List: April.

Non-Fiction: 

 

Roderick MacFarquhar, Michael Schoenhals: Mao's Last Revolution. 

Reid Mitenbuler: Wanderlust: An Eccentric Explorer, an Epic Journey, a Lost Age.  

Chris Hayes: The Siren's Call. 

Stephen R. Bown: The Company: The Rise and Fall of the Hudson's Bay Empire.

W. Scott Poole: Wasteland: The Great War and the Origins of Modern Horror.

 

Fiction: 

 

Hannah Deitch: Killer Potential.

Amy Shearn: Animal Instinct. 

Allison Gunn: Nowhere. 

S.A. Cosby: Razorblade Tears. 

Katherine Arden: The Warm Hands of Ghosts. 

 

Films: 

 

Y2K (2024, Kyle Mooney). 

Certain Women (2016, Kelly Reichardt).

In the Lost Lands (2025, Paul W.S. Anderson).

September 5 (2024, Tim Fehlbaum). 

My Dead Friend Zoe (2024, Kyle Hausmann-Stokes).

 

Shows: 

 

Dying for Sex, Season One.

Reading List: March.

Non-Fiction: 

 

Frances Fitzgerald: Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam.

Max Hastings: Vietnam. An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975.

Yang Jisheng: Tombstone: The Great Chinese Famine, 1958-1962.

Elizabeth Becker: When the War Was Over. Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution.

Fiction: 

Lucy Rose: The Lamb.

Graham Greene: The Quiet American.

Trang Thanh Tran: They Bloom at Night. 

Liz Moore: The God of the Woods.

Liz Moore: The Unseen World.

Kristen Arnett: Stop Me If You've You Heard This One.

 

Films: 

 

Sinister (2012, Scott Derrickson).

The Black Phone (2021, Scott Derrickson).

Presence (2024, Steven Soderbergh).

A Quiet Place: Day One (2024, Michael Sarnoski).

A Real Pain (2024, Jesse Eisenberg).

Dating Amber (2020, David Freyne).

 

Shows: 

Dope Girls, Season One.

A Thousand Blows, Season One.

Toxic Town, Season One.

Adolescence, Season One.

Long Bright River, Season One. 

The Residence, Season One.

 

Other: 

 

Still 默默 @ Nexus Arts.

Cat Power Sings Dylan. The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert @ Adelaide Festival Centre. 

Reading List: February.

Non-Fiction: 

 

Richard Overy: Blood and Ruins: The Great Imperial War, 1931-1945.

Steve Coll: The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq.

 

Fiction:

 

Taran Hunt: The Immortality Thief.

Hayley Scrivenor: Girl Falling.

Sara Gran: Come Closer.

Virginia Feito: Victorian Psycho.

Virginia Woolf: The Years.

Heather O'Neill: When We Lost Our Heads.

 

Films: 

Clementine (2019, Lara Gallagher).

Nosferatu (2024, Robert Eggers).

Charlie Says (2018, Mary Harron).

Companion (2025, Drew Hancock).

Nickel Boys (2024, RaMell Ross).

 

Shows: 

 

The Listeners, Season One.

The Newsreader, Season Three. 

Apple Cider Vinegar, Season One. 

Girls5eva, Season One, Two, Three.

 

Other: 

 

Rona, Clairo, Beabadoobee, Barry Can't Swim, Charli XCX live @ Laneway.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch @ Queen's Theatre.

Reading List: January.

Non-Fiction: 

 

Manisha Sinha: The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920.

Wright Thompson: The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi.

John Ganz: When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s.

Richard Flanagan: Question 7.

 

Fiction: 

 

Susan Stinson: Martha Moody. 

Richard Powers: Prisoner's Dilemma.

Chris Hammer: Ivan Lucic & Nell Buchanan series (Treasure & Dirt, The Tilt, The Seven, The Valley).

Melissa Larsen: The Lost House.

Colson Whitehead: The Nickel Boys.

 

Films: 

 

Wicked, Part 1 (2024, Jon M. Chu).

We Were Dangerous (2024, Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu).

Bloody Axe Wound (2024, Matthew John Lawrence).

I Used to Be Funny (2023, Ally Pankiw).

Lizzie (2018, Craig William Macneill).

Shows: 

Showtrial, Season One and Two.

 

Other: 

 

Hamilton @ Sydney Lyric Theatre.

Cao Fei: My City is Yours 曹斐: 欢迎登陆 @ Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Reading List: December.

Non-Fiction: 

 

Erik Larson: The Demon of Unrest.

Amitav Ghosh: Smoke and Ashes. 

Becca Rothfeld: All Things Are Too Small.

 

Fiction: 

 

Richard Powers: Playground.

Paolo Bacigalupi: Navola.

Sofia Samatar: The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain.

Asako Yuzuki: Butter. 

Jane Pek: The Verifiers. 

Jane Pek: The Rivals. 

Gabrielle Korn: The Shutouts.

Michelle de Kretser: Theory & Practice.

Monika Kim: The Eyes Are the Best Part.

 

Films: 

 

Smile (2022, Parker Finn).

Smile 2 (2024, Parker Finn).

National Anthem (2023, Luke Gilford).

Des Teufels Bad (2024, Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala).

Heretic (2024, Scott Beck, Bryan Woods).

Conclave (2024, Edward Berger).

Juror #2 (2024, Clint Eastwood). 

The Green Knight (2021, David Lowery).

The Wild Robot (2024, Chris Sanders). 

 

Shows: 

Black Doves, Season One.

Squid Game, Season Two.