Susan Johnson

Do you just stop and reread it or do you write down the line?

Now, this is a bit of speculation on my part, Kim, but whenever I read your work, the other writer who most comes to mind for me is the American writer Louise Edrick.

Is she somebody you read?

So she's a Native American writer and she's a beautiful writer, as you are.

There's just something very complicated about the way that you both deal with colonialism and frontiers and hope and brutality as well.

Because I think you both have moments of violence that are somehow saved for us.

Do you feel a weight of responsibility as you're writing things that are difficult?

Kim Scott, thank you so much for speaking to us here on the bookshelf.

I really like hearing about those books that writers recommend to us, Cassie, from Tom Sawyer to Lolita.

And Kim Scott also talked about Peter Carey's The Fat Man in History as a bold and magical novel.

But Cassie, I haven't had a chance for a while to find out what else you've been reading.

So what have you got there?

I'm really looking forward to it, Cassie, and I finished the book last night.

It's exhilarating and joyful and it has some pretty wacky things happening by the end of it.

I think it would make a really good movie.

I know people often say that about books, but it's so visual.

It has some moments that I can see on screen with a combination of the sort of quirky Australian character but with some real grit and heartbreak behind it.

Cassie McCullough, always good at spotting a trend on a bookshelf.

So many great books there.

And we do make sure that you can find the details of all of them online.