The Reading Room (2pm in the Library for a start @ 10.30am – 12noon)

This volunteer run reading and discussion group meets monthly. It is anticipated that members will read the selected book prior to attendance.
If you would like to be a part of this group (free to BMI members) please complete the Expression of Interest. We welcome your feedback through this form as we progress this great new initiative. 
 
Expression of Interest to participate >

 

For more information go to

Books That Saved My Life | Michael McGirr

More about the Author.

JUNE SESSION

Here are forty texts to read at some stage in your life- forty texts that can enrich you in all manner of ways. Some are recent, like Harry Potter; some ancient, like Homer and Lao Tzu. There are memoirs (Nelson Mandela), poetry (Les Murray) and many of the world’s great novels, from George Eliot’s Middlemarch to Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Our guide, in entertaining short essays about personal encounters with each of these works, is Michael McGirr- schoolteacher and former priest, reviewer of hundreds of novels and lifelong lover of literature.

His humour and insight shine through in stories that connect the texts he has selected with each other, and connect us to them. Never prescriptive, and often very funny, this book is an invitation to reflect on-and share with others-the extraordinary gift of reading. ‘It is a gift that is taking me a lifetime to unwrap,? McGirr writes. ‘The excitement has never worn off.?

About the Author

Michael McGirr is the bestselling author of Snooze- The Lost Art of Sleep, Things You Get for Free and Bypass. He has reviewed almost one thousand books for various newspapers; his short fiction has appeared in Australian and overseas publications; and he has been a publisher of Eureka Street and fiction editor at Meanjin. 

Review a title

Why not review a book for the benefit of our members. We will publish these reviews in our social media and website from time to time.

My Book Review >

This event is a BMI Community Art Project – Ballarat’s Oldest Cultural Institution

Rosemary’s Book of the Week

02/02/2026 No Comments

The Riviera Secret  Sarah Steele Nestled into the pine-dusted coastline of the Cap d’Antibes is the dazzling white Chateau Violette. When British diplomat Lord Sinclair Castlemere, his young Jewish wife Daisy and their four-year-old son move into the chateau in the summer of 1938, their home becomes a beacon for the glamorous expat set-rife with gossip about the Windsors, and everyone in denial about the grumblings across the border in Italy and northern Europe. But as Germany tightens its grip on

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Newsletter – February 2026

28/01/2026 No Comments

Rosemary’s New Releases and Recommendations | Author Talks – Live Music – Public Talk – Film – Live Comedy – LIve Theatre | The digital version of the newsletter will be available here after 5.15pm today. The interactive PDF is available here.

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A Message from the Chair | BMI Board of Directors | February 2026

27/01/2026 No Comments

Happy New Year to all our members and other subscribers and recipients of our newsletter. We are off to a flying start with all services resuming in January.  Congratulations to all who won a prize in the Christmas raffle and thank you to everyone who purchased a ticket or two!   Our book sale continues through January, with many shoppers picking up a bargain. Please let others know of this opportunity, it would be wonderful to not have to pack

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Rosemary’s Book of the Week

26/01/2026 No Comments

The Piano Woman Rozzi Bazzani Reeling from the breakup of her ‘forever’ romance, writer Maddison Brown is trying to rebuild her life and get her successful career back on track. But when a letter arrives from an English lawyer telling her that she is to inherit a piano from a great grandmother she didn’t know exhisted, everything she’d ever believed about her life is turned upside down. Travelling to Kent to explore this unknown connection Maddison is forced to use all her

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ABC Radio interview with BMI Heritage Collection Curator Ellen Becker

21/01/2026 No Comments

From the Heritage Collection Curator – Interview with ABC Radio Sydney | Nightlife – Tuesday 23 Dec 2025 at 10pm The Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute, or BMI, is celebrating 165 years since its reading room first opened in December 1860. It’s the oldest surviving cultural institution in Ballarat and has an incredible story. From hosting Mark Twain, screening some of Australia’s earliest films, to inspiring inventors like Henry Sutton. Joining Nic Healey on Nightlife to share the rich history of this

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Jerry Wong Piano recital | Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute

20/01/2026 No Comments

Jerry Wong Concert review by Bronislaw Sozanski… As part of the Ballarat Organs and Fine Music Festival this January, Jerry Wong delivered an outstanding recital, performing on the historic 1913 Bechstein piano at the Ballarat Mechanics Institute. The natural contrasts of dark and light in the human experience formed the basis of the program, supported by an instrument from a time when pianos displayed greater variety of timbre across their range. The Godowsky transcription of JS Bach’s Andante from the

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