Simply irresistible: The role that lured Julia Roberts back to the screen
Pip Cummings Last year, for the first time ever, Julia Roberts left her children - twins Hazel and Phinnaeus, 9, and Henry, 6 - to work on a film. For her to even contemplate that sacrifice, which left her ''heartsick at the idea'', the stakes needed to be very high.
Ahead by a whisker
Peter Craven Cats and humans have a close association extending back through the ages.
Booker winner a late bloomer
Michelle De Kretser Penelope Fitzgerald was 58 when her first book, a biography of the artist Edward Burne-Jones, was published in 1975. As Hermione Lee writes, Fitzgerald's story is partly about lateness: ''patience and waiting, a late start and a late style''.
Frank Camorra's decadent French toast
FRANK CAMORRA A classic breakfast dish gets a caramel makeover.
A New Leaf
Markus Zusak: how I let go of The Book Thief
Markus Zusak Markus Zusak expected his novel to flop. Instead, it sold eight million copies. On the eve of its cinema release, the author reflects on his wild ride.
Friendly fibre
Paula Goodyer A range of simple and tasty ingredients can help keep gut problems at bay.
Walking with Dinosaurs movie review: Grand ambitions
PAUL BYRNES Stunning scenery and effects are undermined by a cloying story.
Harry is a law unto himself
Sue Turnbull Perry Mason, Rumpole, Rake: the drama of the courtroom has always been compelling reading and/or viewing, especially when treated with the kind of insider waspishness only a barrister turned author can provide.
Helpful habits
RACHEL BROWNE A new breed of young, skilled volunteers has charities scrambling to catch up.
Life on the edge
Review By Beverley Kingston An attractive new history book plots the gradual settlement of the NSW coast.
Love for sails
John McDonald A celebratory show explores Sydney's most famous building from all angles.
Phew! At last a case of true class
RICHARD GLOVER The fancy word mispronounced signifies an inspiring journey that's under way, as opposed to a person who is just sitting still.
Chaka Khan powers the way for modern music queens
Jake Cleland The performer brings the every-woman touch to funk and soul.
Reality imitates life
Ruth Ritchie The season of junk TV shows breeds addiction to the oddly compelling antics of the ditzy and desperate.
Forever review: Ute Lemper shines as a composer
John Shand It could almost be a flaw from a classical tragedy. A gifted singer, swollen with acclaim and popularity, suddenly believes he or she can write songs. It's rife among jazz singers who, vexed by trying to make standards live anew, trot out trite ditties of their own, oblivious to their listeners' attempts to hide.
August: Osage County review: Sins of the mother
SANDRA HALL As a family gathers, its matriarch is unmasked as a monster.
Sips off the old block
Cheryl Maddocks Quench your thirst this summer with drinks made with herbs plucked from the backyard.
The don's party
Elissa Blake David Williamson has survived a stroke, a dodgy heart and the barbs of the critics. This year, he is mounting a comeback, with his plays dominating Sydney's stages.
Next chapter: must-read books for 2014
Jane Sullivan There's plenty across all genres to please bibliophiles this year.
Writings reveal deep affection
Joel Greenberg Christopher Isherwood and his lover assumed the playful roles of animals during their correspondence.
Markus Zusak expected his novel, The Book Thief, to flop
Markus Zusak expected his novel to flop. Instead, it sold eight million copies. On the eve of its cinema release, the author reflects on his wild ride.
Tenants
A new lease of life
Ali Gripper There is no need to buy your own place to make it feel like home.
A new lease of life
Ali Gripper There is no need to buy your own place to make it feel like home.
A real fixer-upper
Erin O'Dwyer Does everything have to be a case of out with the old, in with the new?
Can't you see I'm not working?
RICHARD GLOVER If you work in an office and have left for the holidays, you are supposed to program your computer to send an out-of-office message. "David O'Rourke will be on leave until January 13. If it's urgent please contact Sylvia Brennan in accounts." That sort of thing.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty review: Ben Stiller is a daydream believer
SANDRA HALL Comedy meets nostalgia in a story about an ordinary man's extraordinary imagination.
Diary of an avid reader
Keith Austin There are plenty of unexpected choices for the resourceful book hunter.
New Year's Eve 2013: Reg Mombassa is the master of ceremonies
Nick Galvin New Year's Eve was never a big deal for Reg Mombassa - until he found himself at the helm of Sydney's extravagant shindig. His oddball visions will make the last night of 2013 a celebration to remember.
Music
Tom Thum: Out of the beatbox
George Palathingal From trumpet to didgeridoo, Tom Thum can make any noise with his voice.
Pitiless vision of males with guns
Review By Adrian McKinty A disastrous deer-hunting expedition in 1978 is the scene of a new novel by David Vann.
Frozen review
Frozen review: a tale of fire and ice
PAUL BYRNES It has all the hallmarks of an old-school Disney animated fairytale, but Frozen marks a subtle, and welcome, changing of the guard.
The Dreyfus disgrace
Review By Michael Sexton A British novelist revisits one of France's most infamous spy scandals, the framing of a Jewish army officer for espionage.
Train of thought
Stephanie Bunbury A POW's widow recounts the long battle for forgiveness that became The Railway Man.
Violet is a flower plucked many times in old Shanghai
Review By Claire Scobie Amy Tan's first novel in eight years is told from the perspective of Violet, the daughter of Lucia Minturn, an American living in Shanghai who runs a high-class courtesan house for Chinese and European men. Set in the early 1900s, as China's imperial Qing dynasty crumbles, the savvy Minturn runs Hidden Jade Path with aplomb. At a time when the two races did not mix, she alone has the ''ability to put men and prospects together for profit''.
Yule be right
Ruth Ritchie A show that plays like panto all year round is just the ticket for the festive season.
Queen of Broadway Bernadette Peters: making a song and dance about it
Darryn King In a career spanning more than 60 years, Bernadette Peters' voice has filled Carnegie Hall, the Royal Festival Hall and the Sydney Opera House. It has earned her seven Tony Award nominations and two wins. It has elevated the work of some of the most illustrious composers of the 20th century: the soaring sunny highs of Rodgers and Hammerstein, the soapy emoting of Andrew Lloyd Webber, the complex curlicues of Stephen Sondheim.
Christmas pageant
Ruth Ritchie The birth of Jesus is forgotten as half a billion people tune in to a bejewelled catwalk lingerie show.
Dicing with disaster
James Walker Board games can expose a family's character flaws in terrifying detail.
Happiness is a homemade pie
FRANK CAMORRA It's a trusty take-away staple, but there's nothing like making your own with imaginative ingredients beneath the crust.
Saving Mr Banks
Saving Mr Banks: Mary Poppins creator gives 'Uncle Walt' Disney hell
Karl Quinn The creator of the magical nanny was at loggerheads with the maker of the classic film.
Prankster finds his ethical side
Gareth Hutchens John Safran's book is everywhere at the moment. It stares at you from airport bookshops. It sits in the hands of bus passengers. It's piled in bookshop windows. But don't let those things put you off. It is a fun read. By the time you finish it, you wish it was longer.
Sex and skulduggery in past ready-made for Hollywood
Simon Caterson Though as a novelist he is prepared to expose his characters to what the jacket blurb promises will be ''unimaginable depravity'', Matthew Reilly retains a sense of authorial responsibility to the reader. Reilly recommends that The Tournament, a historical adventure set in the 16th century and featuring the English teenage princess destined to be crowned as Elizabeth I, ''be read by mature readers''.
State of the national mind
Andrew Riemer The annual collections of Australian writing give a glimpse into our social and spiritual condition.
The grim reaper would not stop calling
Owen Richardson Jesmyn Ward's remarkable memoir is also an elegy for five young men.
