Everyone and Everything by Nadine J. Cohen Hard to sum up my feelings about this novel. There were elements of the story that I really enjoyed – the beautifully described relationship between the main character and her sister; the exploration of grief through a modern Jewish lens; and the scenes at the women’s baths at Coogee, where there is fantastic sense of community. Coincidentally, and oddly, so many of the story elements were similar to other things I’ve read relatively recently (notably Hospital and Body Friend). Perhaps because I was listening to this novel as an audio, I was aware of ..read more

Barbie and Ruth by Robin Gerber I knew the basics of Barbie’s history but didn’t quite appreciate the force of Barbie’s ‘inventor’, Ruth Handler. It was hard to gauge how much Gerber’s admiration for Handler skewed the story – was Handler loyal or overbearing? I shouldn’t be surprised by Handler’s relentlessness or perseverance but I was surprised by the fact that her risk-taking extended from Mattel to gambling in Vegas. And again, although I knew the basics of her legal trouble, I did not appreciate the extent and length of the legal battles. Gerber makes brief and respectful mention of Han ..read more

The Albatross by Nina Wan I know a little bit about golf. I don’t count myself as a golfer but much of my family is obsessed. Anyway, I do know what an ‘albatross‘ is and I understand why it is perhaps more prized than a hole-in-one. So I went into this novel expecting something rare to happen for the main character, Primrose. It didn’t. Instead, we have Primrose, who is under extreme stress (for a variety of reasons) acting fairly impulsively and perhaps a bit recklessly. It didn’t quite ring true for me, particularly as the actions did not line up with the emotions (no self-doubt, no guilt ..read more

Tracy Flick Can’t Win by Tom Perrotta From memory, I enjoyed Election (many, many years ago). I loathed the last Perrotta I read, so I wasn’t busting to read his latest… but I was prepared to chance it again for Tracy. Perrotta brings Tracy firmly into the here-and-now – she’s grown-up; has a job as an acting principal in a school she loves; and has her share of adult problems. The plot relates to #MeToo and violence in schools, and while there was interesting character development (adult Tracy is believable), Perrotta strays too far into making a political statement – it meant there was very ..read more

Your Brain on Art by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross This book examines ‘neuroaesthetics’- in other words, how our brains and bodies transform when we participate in the arts. I chose it because I’m interested in the emerging area of ‘social prescriptions‘ and ‘aesthetic prescriptions’ for mental health and other illnesses. The authors draw on a huge range of studies to support their thesis, and although much of it wasn’t entirely new to me, there was certainly lots of interesting detail (for example, learning dancing for improvements in mobility for Parkinson’s patients). The definition of ‘art ..read more

The Hemsworth Effect by James Weir This is Weir’s long-form version of the Netflix car-crash reality series, Byron Baes. Yeah, I watched it – screaming with laughter the whole way. Alas, Weir fails to capture the same so-bad-it’s-good vibe in this light (but relatively long) novel. The story focuses on what happens for Byron Bay* locals when influencers and the filming of a reality-TV series descend on the town. I picked up the novel on the strength of Weir’s reality TV recaps – he’s funny. But column-length recaps don’t stretch to a 4oo+ page novel, and the jokes about Byron culture and fame ..read more

Dear Dolly by Dolly Alderton Dolly Alderton continues to hit the right note for me – somewhere between your bestest, most reliable friend and the person you can have a screamingly wild night out with. I guess that’s the perfect person to have writing an advice column! In Dear Dolly she brings together the topics that crop up most frequently when people are seeking help and unsurprisingly the focus is on relationships. What I most appreciate about Dolly’s approach is her ability to normalise what troubles others, and she often does this with a funny or revealing anecdote. She says that her aim ..read more

Yep, running out of time to draw a line under the reviews for the year. Some of these I’ve been meaning to write for eleven months. Lucky it doesn’t actually matter… Ruth & Pen by Emilie Pine There was an appealing warmth to this novel, and although it didn’t break new ground, Pine’s approach to a woman’s fertility challenges and to another’s neuro-diversity was fresh. Enjoyed the Dublin setting. 3/5 Think Again by Adam Grant Intelligence is usually seen as the ability to think and learn, but there’s another set of cognitive skills that might matter more: the ability to rethink and unlear ..read more

I’m certain there’s no shortage of books that examine the intricacies of a friendship over decades. Friendships can be tested at various junctures in a person’s life, particularly when people choose partners, become parents, experience successes or failures, or if there is significant financial inequity. The challenge in writing a novel about such events and the impact of these on the friendship, is that the compressed timeline can render events overly dramatic. Another danger in the friendship story is that it becomes one-sided. Invariably, one friend has all the luck while the other has only ..read more

The Chancellor by Kati Marton When you understand Merkel’s childhood (the daughter of Lutheran pastor and growing up behind the Wall in East Germany), and her career path (she is a scientist, and seeks to question and understand everything in a methodical but curious way), and put those two factors in the context of the world events that she governed through (the 2008 world financial crisis; Brexit and keeping the EU together; the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014; the influx of refugees into wealthy European countries; the rise of nationalism; and COVID), her record is nothing short of ast ..read more