Oh, me? I’m just reading this newly unabridged and translated South American magical realist novel by acclaimed Chilean author José Donoso. Yes, you can sit next to me.        

The train/tram/bus patrons are watching you. They’re intrigued. Who wouldn’t be? The way you’re confidently engrossed in your 500-page epic, the title and author of which is a barely recognisable string of constantans of a vaguely European origin. And this is only your en route literature. If you have exhausted your local bookshop’s staff-recommended readings then don’t fret, I’ve got you covered with these head-turning titles that are sure to make bookish commuters ask themselves, “Who is she!?”.

LAST VANITIES – FLEUR JAGGY Written originally in Italian by its Swiss author, Fleur Jaggy, there is so much that is contained in this slim 95-page collection of tales. Each poetic circumstance is written with chilling precision, and it’s quite hard to even compact this entire bleak, hypnotic and powerful selection into words, so I’ll leave you with this quote from the story, A Wife, that encapsulates the feelings evoked by Jaggy: “Aside from rotting, there's little flowers can do, and in this, they are not unlike human beings”.

HURRICANE SEASON – FERNANDA MELCHOR I can describe this novel in four words: intense, dirty, excessive and above all, violent. This is an unrelenting read from Mexican author Fernanda Melchor. Described as a ‘Gulf Coast noir’, “Hurricane Season” delivers multiple characters’ perspectives on the murder of a witch in their damned Mexican village, known as La Matosa. Translated from Spanish, this novel is harrowing in content and exhilarating in its pace. As the plot thickens and rumours spread, Melchor uses unreliable narrators to help deliver a stellar novel about crime, passion and undeniable humanity.

COLD ENOUGH FOR SNOW – JESSICA AU Written by Melbourne’s very own Jessica Au, “Cold Enough For Snow” tells the story of a mother and daughter travelling abroad to Tokyo where they visit galleries, share meals together, talk about horoscopes, weather and other objects. Against a lonely landscape, this short read highlights everything that is right in front of us, and the inability to truly know each other’s innermost selves. The prose is soft and certain, bringing importance to what is said (and unsaid).

MY STRUGGLE: BOOK 1 – KARL OVE KNAUSGÅRD Do you want to understand the male brain? Forewarning: it’s pretty long and stupid. But, in its stupidity, lie all of the eccentricities, which makes it fun. This is the first volume in a six-volume autofiction series, in which the Norwegian author describes the mundane and the humiliating moments of his life, all in incredibly sincere and excruciating detail. If you enjoy the meditative simplicity of a flawed man speaking for half a page about what groceries he bought, I cannot recommend this one enough.

SLOW DAYS, FAST COMPANY: THE WORLD, THE FLESH AND L.A – EVE BABITZ This book is all about a hot girl doing hot girl things, AKA a biographical essay collection about Eve Babitz’s life as the ultimate Los Angeles it girl in the 1960s. Her writing is gossipy and fully charged with dry humour and wit. Babitz’s unflinching honesty about the city and its culture can make one nostalgic for a place and time that I’ve never actually experienced – the power of books!