The Reading Stack aims to provide heartfelt recommendations from our readers to you and your readers. If we don’t like a book, you won’t find it in these pages. Although you will find the opinions of a wide range of reviewers of all shapes and sizes and ages.

We don’t claim to be a team of experts—we’re a raggle taggle bunch of people brought together by our love of books and our desire to tell as many people as possible about the ones we have enjoyed.

If you like what you find here, tell a friend about us..

SAMPLE REVIEWS FROM OUR FIRST ISSUE

The Patch J

by Justina Chen Headley - black dog books. Paperback rrp $16.95

For every young child who has to go through being “different” for one reason or another, this book is a great inspiration.

Five year old Becca has to wear an eye patch to correct her lazy eye. She changes into many different characters for her classmates, such as “Becca the Ballerina Pirate who dances across the seven seas” or “the One-Eyed Monster” to avoid explaining why she has to wear the patch.
The author has included a note about Amblyopia (lazy eye) to further explain the condition... (subscribe to read more)

Pharaoh

by Jackie French - Harper Collins. Paperback rrp $15.99

This is a marvellous piece of writing and an excellent history resource. There are many reasons to recommend Pharaoh, but perhaps most important of all, it is a wonderful story of adventure and conquest.

Pharaoh is set in 3000BC, in an Egypt most readers will find unfamiliar but fascinating, long before the time of the pyramids, hieroglyphics and mummies. Prince Narmer is destined to rule Thinis, the greatest city on the Nile. Beloved by all, talented and handsome, he is ‘the Golden One’. His life is perfect until his jealous elder brother, Hawk, lures him into the path of a crocodile. Narmer survives the attack, but now, physically disfigured, he is no longer considered fit to rule... (subscribe to read more)

Thirty-Three Teeth

by Colin Cotterill - Text Publishing. Paperback rrp $32.95

Dr Siri Paiboun is an unusual man. To begin with, he has thirty three teeth. The average person has only thirty two.

In his early seventies, Dr Siri has been recently appointed the Laotian National
Coroner. He is a man of contradictions. The grieving widow of a passionate communist activist, he finds much amusement and frustration with the new regime he now works for. A student of science and deduction, he is also the physical host of an ancient spirit and is visited by many others, including a newly dead elephant. In Dr Siri’s life and occupation, crossing the line between the real and spirit world is a regular occurrence... (subscribe to read more)