New book releases to read this month from Laline Paull, Lauren Mackenzie and Naima Brown

My own list of favourite books is a bit of a mix. James A. Michener's Centennial is the book that made me want to be a writer (if this is what I am?). I read it late in high school and I knew then that I wanted to tell stories. It traces the history of the plains of Colorado from pre-history to the mid-1970s. It stretches from the dinosaurs to the modern day, telling stories of families, native Americans, settlers, fiction based on fact. A great expansive read that's intimate and personal at the same time.

For a rollicking read, pick up Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October. Sure, the film was fab too but Clancy jumped around from submarine to submarine, the pace was relentless.

For one of the most lyrical books you'll ever read, try Pat Conroy's The Prince of Tides. It's the story of Tom Wingo, a former football player from South Carolina who heads to New York to look after his mentally unwell sister and falls in love with her psychiatrist. It's about a lot more than that, family trauma, violence, manhood and more. Conroy's writing is life-changing. (It was made into a great film too, starring Nick Nolte and Barbra Streisand, and it was nominated for Best Picture Oscar in 1991.)

Another beautiful book is John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany. It's set in the summer of 1953 and when Owen hits a foul ball during a Little League game and kills the mother of his best friend John Wheelright, their lives are changed in an instant. Owen believes he has been put on Earth to be an instrument of God and his divine plan unfolds in remarkable ways. Or maybe the best Irving novel is The World According to Garp?

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A few years ago now, my daughter and I revisited the classic, Little House on the Prairie. We'd snuggle up in bed with Laura Ingalls Wilder and go back in time. The books are just beautiful. And so were our reading nights.

The Bees by Laline Paull is in my top 10. But trying to sell a book that's set entirely within a beehive is not easy. It's violent and sexy and the heroine, Flora 717, is a feisty little worker bee destined for bigger things.

So imagine my delight when I discovered Paull's got another book out. This time the heroine is Ea and the action is set in a dolphin pod. Pod (Hachette, $29.99) explores the meaning of family, belonging and sacrifice, all set in an ocean that's not the sanctuary it once was.

It's on top of my leading list.

Here's a few more.

Bit saucy this one. In Lauren Mackenzie's The Couples (John Murray, $32.99) three couples head away for Frank's 48th birthday and then the naughty bugger suggests they all swap partners. One night, no obligation, no expectations. The only rule is no falling in love. Yep, that's going to work out well.

Can't wait to see how this one works out either. In Naima Brown's The Shot (Macmillan Australia, $34.99) Kristy Shaw is offered a role on a new show called Total Body Transformation where she'll be rendered unrecognisable by extreme plastic surgery and she has 30 days to secure the heart of a man she's keen on. The catch? If she doesn't, the surgery will be reversed.

You'll think twice about staying at an Airbnb after reading The Guest Room. After the mysterious death of her sister, Tess is forced to rent out her old room to pay the bills. She spends a lot of time sticky-beaking in their stuff and when handsome (of course) Arran moves in, Tess finds his diary and things get very complicated. Tasha Sylva's book (Welbeck, $32.99) is for fans of such books as The Girl on the Train.

Monica Vuu's first novel When One of Us Hurts is another book I'm keen to get into. Set in a remote seaside town in Tasmania, it tells the storyof a murder-suicide in the town from alternating perspectives, that of teenager Livvy, and Marie, an older woman who's still considered an outsider in the town. This book (Macmillan Australia, $32.99) is twisty and turny and the pieces of the two storylines don't often fit together, which keeps the reader engaged.

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