Maybe I‘m a bit cynical, but I felt like some of the “dark secrets” revealed in The Favourite just really weren‘t all that dark. They seemed like normal family stuff, and the Fishers just an overdramatic lot who made mountains out of the proverbial molehills. Still, it was an interesting read about a family dynamic far removed from my own. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/the-favourite-fran-littlewood/

The Beatles and Philosophy falls at the more academic end of the spectrum, despite its pop culture focus. It‘s written for someone who‘s already across the basics of philosophical thought, and an intimate knowledge of the Beatles catalogue is pretty much essential. Luckily, I came equipped with both. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/the-beatles-and-philosophy-michael-baur-ste...

I'm roughly the same age as Alderton, so a lot of our perspectives and nostalgic memories revolve around the same touchpoints (like MSN Messenger being the epicenter of our social lives in our early teens). That familiarity was a big part of my enjoyment of this memoir, so I‘ll acknowledge that mileage might vary for readers of different age groups. https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/everything-i-know-about-love-dolly-alderton...

The Ones We Love has deeply ominous vibes, with its Bluebeard-esque forbidden room and a veritable mountain of clues in the first fifty pages, none of which seem to add up. Gradually, Snokestra leads the reader out of the woods, and the story comes together nicely in the end. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/the-ones-we-love-anna-snoekstra/

By The Book is very earnest – as you‘d expect from anything Disney branded – and a very slow burn. Izzy and Beau don‘t even kiss until about two-thirds of the way through. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/by-the-book-jasmine-guillory/

There‘s nothing groundbreaking or particularly surprising in Frog; it‘s not a work of high art, and doesn‘t do anything all that different to other paramedic memoirs. It‘s still fascinating, though, and as long as you‘ve got a strong stomach for confronting content, you‘ll probably enjoy it as I did. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/frog-sally-gould/

Sapiens isn‘t groundbreaking, but it is a decent introduction to the basics of sociology (i.e., thinking critically about social constructs that might appear intrinsic, like human rights), and a crash course in economics (which is particularly resonant in the current capitalist crisis). Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/sapiens-yuval-noah-harari-review/

The sexual tension between the characters is great, and the fulfillment of it is pleasantly spicy (but nothing that will blow your socks off). Thomas is a little too perfect, Simone shits on her ex-fiancee a little too much, and my eyes kind of glazed over some of the racing bits... but as far as an introduction to Formula 1 romance goes, Ride With Me does the job. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/ride-with-me-simone-soltani/

I doubt it's destined for the canon, but it‘s good fun and occasionally quite delightful. It‘s definitely not the sign of the end times that a bunch of literary snobs claimed it to be. A level of familiarity with fantasy worlds and paranormal creatures would enhance your reading experience and appreciation of the story. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/that-time-i-got-drunk-and-yeeted-a-love-pot...

Nightingale is a bit discombobulating, with moments of penetrating insight. On every page you‘ll find palpable frustration with the limitations placed on women, and the way that women‘s work, knowledge, and power is overlooked or – worse – actively dismissed. So, even though it might be challenging to follow the narrative itself, you‘ll still catch a very important ‘vibe‘. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/nightingale-laura-elvery/

Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil isn‘t so much about the murder of Danny Hansford as it is where the crime fits into Savannah society and the people impacted by it. It‘s an interesting way of telling a story, even if it means that the story loses some of the tension and propulsion a reader could rightfully expect from classic true crime. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/midnight-in-the-garden-of-good-and-evil-joh...

If you‘re getting big The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo vibes, you‘re not the only one. It‘s more of a family drama than a romance, in the end, and it‘s a serviceable read – just nothing groundbreaking or mind-blowing. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/great-big-beautiful-life-emily-henry/

Before I Go To Sleep is a well-executed version of what could have been a schlocky psychological thriller, with unexpected depths and surprisingly few foibles. Nuts to everyone who tried to steer me away from it; I thought it was (mostly) great! Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/before-i-go-to-sleep-s-j-watson/

I think it would have benefited from a strong single narrative threaded through the chapters, beyond simply “monsters are cool and I travelled around the world looking for them”. It‘s a chimera of history, anthropology, and memoir which will no doubt delight a niche of invested readers but may struggle to connect for a broader audience. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/monsterland-nicholas-jubber-review/

It is a truth universally acknowledged that I love a book that does exactly what it says on the tin. There are a few clunky moments, naturally, but overall the zombies are woven in far more smoothly than you might expect. I particularly enjoyed the expansion of Lady Catherine de Bourgh as a notorious highly-skilled zombie assassin. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies-seth-graham...

I never cease to be amazed by the creative mind of Kevin Wilson. He nailed magical realism in Nothing To See Here, and coming-of-age in Now Is Not The Time To Panic, and now he can add the road trip novel to his trophy shelf. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/run-for-the-hills-kevin-wilson/

Larrimah might not delight the true crime purists who need to see a bad guy locked up for life, but it will enthrall anyone with an interest in the outback, tall tales, and/or the search for answers. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/larrimah-caroline-graham-kylie-stevenson/

When Shadows Fall turned out to be cliched claptrap from start to finish. All the victims – blonde, white women, naturally – are targeted by the murderer because they put their location (where they were going hiking alone in the wilderness) on Facebook. This, in the year of our Lord 2025. And that just scratches the surface of my complaints... Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/when-shadows-fall-neil-lancaster/

If nothing else, My Friend Anna is an important reminder to listen to your instincts. I think it‘s incredibly brave of Williams to “out” herself as a mark, and to balance the narrative that has largely held Anna up to be some kind of folk hero, rather than the exploitative charlatan she truly is. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/my-friend-anna-rachel-deloache-williams/

Wild Dark Shore is likely to provoke some climate anxiety in sensitive souls. Even if the climate anxiety doesn‘t get you, the traumas the characters are reckoning with will. This book has A+ nature writing, and a fascinating premise, but it‘s a huge bummer, overall. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/wild-dark-shore-charlotte-mcconaghy/

Perfume is distinctly unsettling in the way that it sets up the story as the hardscrabble life of a gifted kid, worthy of any Dickensian novel, only to have him devolve into a particularly abhorrent villain. As readers, we‘re very familiar with seeing these characters overcome their hard-knock circumstances to “make good” – Jean-Baptiste does not do that. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/perfume-patrick-suskind/

First Name Second Name is an odd book, and I‘m not sure where to place it. It‘s not a straight ghost story, but it‘s not straight historical fiction, either. I think I would have been more engaged by it if it had been structured differently, or leaned more definitively in either direction. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/first-name-second-name-steve-minon/

I would recommend allowing yourself plenty of time to read Blonde – and be prepared for it to weigh on your mind for a long time after. It is both intimate and epic, deeply interior and panoramic simultaneously, and you probably won‘t look at another iconic image of Marilyn Monroe the same way ever again – even though Blonde is, as JCO has emphasised, actually fiction. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/blonde-joyce-carol-oates/

The Bluff is compulsively readable – I ‘just-one-more-chapter‘ed my whole way through. I was impressed with how Jenkins wove in legal issues that impact small town life: inheritance, divorce, development, discrimination. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/the-bluff-joanna-jenkins/

The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo is thoroughly readable, intriguing and compelling. Not only is its #BookTok popularity warranted, I think that it might actually be a force for good in society at large, as an introductory lesson to thinking critically about celebrity culture, and media literacy. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/the-seven-husbands-of-evelyn-hugo-taylor-je...

I can see why Helter Skelter has enjoyed such enduring popularity. It‘s gripping, it‘s scandalous, it‘s horrifying, and Bugliosi‘s role gives it a ring of authenticity that you don‘t get with an outsider‘s perspective on a crime. I wouldn‘t recommend it blindly, though – you need to have a stomach for graphic detail. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/helter-skelter-vincent-bugliosi/

Unfortunately, Noble Fragments suffers from a bit of an identity crisis. It is neither a straightforward explanation of Gabriel Wells‘ sales of the Gutenberg leaves and where they ended up, nor is it a memoir about Visontay‘s family connection to Wells. Instead, it‘s an uneven combination of the two, with many digressions. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/noble-fragments-michael-visontay/

I blame myself for going in with sky-high expectations, but The Jane Austen Book Club never quite took off for me. It‘s an interesting conceit, but maybe one I would‘ve preferred to see Fowler tackle later in her career, once she‘d really hit her stride. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/the-jane-austen-book-club-karen-joy-fowler/

First-Time Caller is a sloooooooow burn, best suited to readers in an ooey-gooey romance mood. Cynics will find it frustrating and a bit cringey. Much like the movie that inspired it, really… https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/first-time-caller-b-k-borison/

It‘s not one to read when you‘re in a dark state of mind, as it might be just enough to tip you over the edge, but it‘s a fascinating one to read when you‘re comfortable doing so. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/the-virgin-suicides-jeffrey-eugenides/

The epilogue of The Favourites is a bit schmaltzy, but aside from that it‘s an excellent and gripping read (even for those of us who know absolutely nothing about ice skating or high-level competitive sport). Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/the-favourites-layne-fargo-review/

After watching every single season of Grey‘s Anatomy at least a half-dozen times over, I‘m practically a doctor myself, but Kay offers a very different view of working in medicine than Meredith Grey and her friends. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/this-is-going-to-hurt-adam-kay/

The pacing of Panic is a little strange, in that there are two “climaxes” with a protracted trial briefly described in between. Even so, it‘s a solid Australian crime thriller that nails the cognitive dissonance of sovereign citizen nutjobs. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/panic-catherine-jinks/

The first half of Changeling is definitely spooky – at times, downright scary. It was silly of me to read it in the middle of the night, alone at home. I ended up having to finish it all in one sitting before I could confidently go to bed, otherwise I would‘ve been fretting over it and jumping up at every noise until dawn. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/changeling-matt-wesolowski/

The literal lols sealed the deal for me. I‘m so glad I set my skepticism aside and gave this one a real chance – I suspect it will be one of the best books I read this year. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/the-romantic-tragedies-of-a-drama-king-harr...

It‘s nice that Fake isn‘t totally introspective, and Wood doesn‘t only focus on Joe‘s destruction in her own life. She gives significant weight to the harm he has done to others, and looks at other similar cases of emotional manipulation and fraud from around the world. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/fake-stephanie-wood/

I sat down to read a few chapters of Cold Truth before bed, and ended up finishing the whole thing in one sitting 😳 It‘s an intriguing mystery, with incredibly evocative place writing, a combination that‘s hard to beat. My favourite character was, of course, Caesar the Pomeranian, and I can happily confirm that he comes to no harm. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/cold-truth-ashley-kalagian-blunt/

I suppose this one needs some expectations management. Don‘t come to The Orchid Thief looking for a profile of an interesting man or an account of a baffling crime. Treat it more like a memoir, the story of Orlean‘s lost year (or two) following orchid obsessives around Florida and reading the police blotter for intriguing stories about plant crimes. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/the-orchid-thief-susan-orlean/

From a distance, The Hook Up looks great: snarky heroine, spunky hero, lots and lots of sex… but I‘m afraid the contents don‘t quite bear up to closer scrutiny. The passionate “banter” is very forced, and the characters are beyond melodramatic. Unfortunately, the spicy bits just weren‘t enough to overcome the cringe (especially with the cheesy ending). Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/the-hook-up-kristen-callihan/

This is a good book - a great one even - in the sense that it‘s incredibly creative and meticulously crafted and really well-written. I found it nearly frustrating to read, though, in the sense that I could just TELL I would need to re-read it two or three times to fully appreciate it 😵‍💫 Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/a-visit-from-the-goon-squad-jennifer-egan/

A couple of elements of The Grand Scheme Of Things felt undercooked – not disastrously so, but enough to distract me from the delicious schadenfreude of the villain‘s eventual take-down. I could‘ve done without the J.K. Rowling stand-in for instance, she seemed an unnecessary addition. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/the-grand-scheme-of-things-warona-jay/

The Reading List is very earnest, a little saccharine, occasionally wistful, and mostly cozy – but, most importantly, it‘s a testament to the importance of libraries and access to stories. It‘s one to pick up when you want a feel-good read that won‘t challenge your mind too much. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/the-reading-list-sara-nisha-adams/

It‘s an intricate and well-plotted mystery that will keep you turning pages. Burke maybe tries to do a bit Too Much with it, but she‘s crafted a really fascinating character in Kelsey, the real estate heiress who is widely suspected of murdering her estranged husband. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/the-note-alafair-burke/

The Ex Talk is a fine novel, but not the knock-it-out-of-the-park romance I‘ve come to expect from Solomon. If you‘re just starting out with her oeuvre, this isn‘t the one I‘d recommend. In retrospect, it‘s easy to see The Ex Talk as Solomon‘s warm-up act, the gentle trot around the track before she truly got off to the races. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/the-ex-talk-rachel-lynn-solomon/

If you‘re into sexual power games and revealing the seedy under-belly of the upper crust, you should probably read Dangerous Liaisons – maybe just check out a few Wikipedia pages on pre-Revolution French nobility, if you‘re not already familiar ahead of time. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/dangerous-liaisons-pierre-choderlos-de-lacl...

While Sheffield doesn‘t shy away from Taylor Swift‘s failures and missteps (“when she fails, she doesn‘t do it modestly,” page 9), it‘s not a critical work or a take-down. This is a book of admiration, of curiosity and wonder, one that highlights Taylor Swift‘s commitment to creative autonomy (e.g., the phenomenon of Taylor‘s Versions). Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/heartbreak-is-the-national-anthem-rob-sheff...

I mostly enjoyed Boy Swallows Universe, more than I thought I would, but it goes a bit off the rails in the third act 😕 It‘s definitely a different perspective on Australia – less sun-kissed beaches and beautiful bushland, more suburban noir and seedy underbelly. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/boy-swallows-universe-trent-dalton/

Matt, the love interest, is just a bit too perfect – if a male main character in a romance book can even be such a thing. Bonam-Young clearly knows just how hard to push the bounds of realism for the reader. With a caveat for trigger warnings (anxiety, grief, and PTSD), I‘d happily recommend Next To You to anyone looking for a spicy read with a hot mess heroine. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/next-to-you-hannah-bonam-young/

This is a contemporary Japanese re-telling of the Faustian bargain. It‘s an interesting philosophical novella, one that falls smack bang in the middle of Paulo Coelho and Haruki Murakami. Pick it up when you‘re in a pensive mood but short on time. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/if-cats-disappeared-from-the-world-genki-ka...

Look, the conceit is a bit of a stretch (I don‘t know much about the Canadian foster care system, but I feel like two young, single, first-time guardians would have a bit more oversight than the occasional phone check-in with their social workers?), but it's delightfully easy reading all the same. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/next-of-kin-hannah-bonam-young/