I #buddyread this book over Easter in the Flinders, which brought home the beauty of the landscape in Arnott‘s writing. I enjoyed the playful nature of this debut as well as the lyrical, assured writing, even if the plot and characters sagged a little at times. Mystical and fun - kind of like a Tasmanian ‘American Gods‘.

I can‘t quite believe this was a debut. Diaz‘s take on the Western is alien, spare and haunting. Håkan leaves his native Sweden in 1850 with his brother Linus, heading for New York. They are separated almost immediately and Håkan must walk the breadth of America to find him. His detached narration belies the depth of feeling that lurks beneath his imposing demeanour, and the result is an intense meditation on loneliness, home and friendship.

“Who knew it could be so gratifying—so exhilarating—to destroy something you love, to ruin it for anyone else?”

‘Sliding Doors‘ meets ‘Orlando‘: this entertaining and thought-provoking novel tells a life lived two ways, as Lou is born male in one strand and female in another. In all other respects they are the same person on the inside, but how will the perceptions of the world around them change the path their lives take? Cohen juggles the parallel narrative with skill and the characters are sensitively drawn. Recommended holiday reading in January.

A tender, serious and intimate book about two young people who fall into each other‘s orbit and the uses and abuses of power within relationships. I was immediately drawn into Connell and Marianne‘s lives through Rooney‘s assured and perceptive writing, and cared about them long after I put the book down. A well-earned Man Booker nomination that deserves all the praise it is getting. Plus, our next #booksonthego read!

Warm, meditative and joyful, Helen Jukes‘ account of a year spent keeping bees was just the read I needed as I wait impatiently for spring to arrive. The book blossoms as her hive (and her obsession) develops, and she muses about care, openness, and closeness to our environment and those around us. Interspersed with history and mythology about bees, I would highly recommend this to nature lovers or fans of quiet, introspective memoir.

Helen Thomson travels the world to meet some of the people behind the unusual brains she has read about for so long in scientific journals. She talks to them about what it‘s like to live with their different perceptions and experiences - which to them are the only normal they‘ve ever known. A great mix of scientific research and compassionate journalism, Thomson takes us inside the heads of nine fascinating people.

Give Me Your Hand is a taut, atmospheric thriller set in a lab which is studying PMDD (an extreme form of PMS). Kit, the only female grad student in the lab, is set reeling after a dark stranger from her past joins the team. This is an intelligent, well-written book that examines politics in science while keeping you on the edge of your seat.

A sexy, sad, darkly funny tale of obsession and modern love. I have conflicting feelings about this book - I cackled my way through it and really felt like Broder got to the heart of relationships and womanhood, but felt distanced from the characters and sometimes had to force myself to plunge back in. Very unsettling, sometimes confronting but never boring. 🧜🏼‍♂️

Don‘t you love it when you finish a book and look again at the cover, only then realising how perfectly it fits the text within? ‘An American Marriage‘ is beautifully crafted, with plot and character both perfectly poised. It is the story of loving, losing and dealing with forces entirely outside of your control. I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes their fiction real, complex and tender.

Reading this book gave me a brain-baby. Simultaneously profound, funny, and perceptive, I felt like this book flipped a coin with my soul. Issues of womanhood, relationships, art and intergenerational trauma are mixed up in this auto-fictitious story of a woman deciding what to make of her life. I loved it so much and have much to ruminate on.

I did want to find out what was going on in this rural thriller, but the characterisation left a lot to be desired. Maybe it‘s just not my usual read, but I found Scrublands to be very schlocky with some occasional overblown introspection from the protagonist. And don‘t get me started on the representation of women ... although in fairness, most of the characters were one dimensional. Could have been half the length.

I loved the start of this but felt it trailed off towards the end. Can definitely see it as a film but the first person blog format couldn‘t entirely carry the narrative for me. Eleanor was a snappy, hilarious character but didn‘t feel she got enough of an arc over the course of the book.

“Don‘t they realise I‘m here because I‘m strong?” Golnaz Hashemzadeh Bonde isn‘t pulling any punches here and I love it.

An intoxicating story of two young people navigating the tricky waters of desire and power. Rooney creates living, breathing, feeling characters out of little more than reported speech and a little internal monologue. A truly skilled look at contemporary relationships.

Oof, Sally Rooney gutting the literary machine. This is maybe the best book I‘ve read all year.

Pulsing with life, Winterson explores love, lust and longing in this short but meaty novel. The characters are almost from a fairytale, although recognisable in their desires and search for understanding. What glorious technicolor she paints in - and that language! I could have highlighted the whole book.

This book was a pure joy to read. ‘Happiness‘ is a sprawling, humbling tale of people who find themselves in London over the same two week period, each of whom manages to heal the others in ways they may never know. These people form the best kind of community even though (or perhaps because) none of them are what remain voters might consider ‘Brits‘. They show resilience, fortitude, grace and, above all else, love towards their fellow creatures.

A society went numb ... as much as from being battered by fate as from never being touched. The untouched, who were raised under glass, who had never felt the rain or the wind, had never been caught in a storm, or run from the thunder and lightning, could not bear to be reminded of their own mortality.

Engineering-lite for the complete novice, Agrawal takes complex concepts and reduces them to simple analogies (often involving rubber bands). Her love of built structures shines through, showing human history in a different light. The tone is humorous and includes just enough personal anecdotes to give a sense of the author. I learnt a lot and will now look at the buildings around me in a different way!

This book made me roll my eyes into the back of my head so hard that they stayed there and then I couldn‘t read any more of the book. A blessing in disguise. I don‘t think I have ever hated a book this much!

My favourite kind of science book: well-researched but engagingly told, focusing on the obsession and greed prevalent in the obscure Victorian fly tying community. Johnson pitches a strong argument for scientific integrity and the value of museums, even while the suspects go free from justice. One thing that strikes me, as in Susan Orlean‘s ‘Orchid Thief‘ and Emily Voigt‘s ‘Dragon Behind the Glass‘ - why are so many of these obsessives men?

What a truly magical experience! A wondrous reimagining of New York City replete with mechanical inventions, ciphers and incredible action scenes. A very fun romp with a killer cliffhanger!!

I did want to find out what happened in this mathematical mystery tour, but ultimately everything ended up a little too neat for my liking. Was also annoyed that she described the reason people work in bookshops “to catch up on reading” - any bookseller will tell you this is an impossible dream!

This is the most invigorating book I‘ve read in ages. Laing chews up the trashfire of a year that was 2017 and digests it into an urgent, funny and profound novel. Kathy Acker is dragged kicking and screaming into the present moment (back from the dead) - the book is an homage to her life and work, as well as many other New York artists. Crudo made me laugh, gasp and roll my eyes into the back of my head - plus, the sentences are just delicious.

I struggled with the format (transcriptions of interviews with Tracker and many of those who knew him), but was educated and invigorated by the ideas that arose. Ultimately I think the problem was me not Tracker and fans of biography/history will fare better.

Maggie Nelson mixes true crime, memoir and cultural commentary to create a sad picture of the American justice system and the confusing nature of grief. This is a smart, analytical and poetic look at our obsession with death and truth.

A book about power and how we use it to further our own cause as well as those we care about. Wolitzer questions what defines success and leaves one wondering how we can create a world that leaves no one behind.

Funny, inventive and reflective, A Line Made by Walking is the story of a young artist‘s gradual return to the world following a period of mental ill-health.

My mother knows everything. I used to think all mothers did but in recent years I‘ve come to realise it‘s just mine. My mother alone knows that, in point of fact, nothing is extraordinary.

Miller brings the classics to life like no one else - a book full of gods grappling with very human emotions.