A sad but interesting collection of real crime stories from New Zealand. Braunias takes an interesting approach to storytelling here, thinking about what these stories tell us about what it takes to survive your life. This has the effect of being sometimes uncomfortably humanising, at others, relentlessly bleak, and at others again hopeful. It‘s a gritty picture of New Zealand society, one which it would be easy to look away from.

All the feelings of a big classic novel. This is old-fashioned storytelling, complete with lush prose, layers of characterisation, and a context that lives as much as the characters do. A really immersive story about struggles of class, race, sexuality, and family in post-war Britain. I wish I‘d been able to submerge myself in this more completely, a drawn out reading let me miss a bit of nuance I‘m sure. An excellent read.

A warm, appreciative memoir that is as much a story about a love for food, and the power of food to connect us, as it is about Stanley Tucci himself. You won‘t like this if you don‘t love food and eating, but if you do, it‘s a humorous, gentle, sensory reading experience. Audio read by the author works here.

Very interesting to read a hot take on the Kennedys that doesn‘t deify them. This story of the womanising, misogynistic, side of Kennedy privilege is grim reading, and when narrated cumulatively like this is shocking although nothing here is especially novel or new information. My only critique of this book is that I found the structure a little scattered.

A rare case of “I think the movie did it better.” Whale Rider is a powerful story, but I found it cinematically more moving (which is a rare take for me). I listened to the audio on this reread and think that perhaps it would have benefited from not being read by the author. Not my fave Ihimaera.

A fast-paced, but quite dated financial crime novel. Easy, entertaining, but superficial.

The best parenting book I‘ve read so far. Where Garvey really excels is in the packaging of this knowledge with meaningful, accessible, practical advice about things you can do in your own life. This advice is realistic as well as aspirational, and is framed with a humble and vulnerable acknowledgement that we won‘t always get it right, and that it is ok when we don‘t, because there‘s always an opportunity to do something different next.

In Playground, Powers turns his attentions to the magnificent, mysterious, absorbing world that are our oceans. Through this medium, he tells a story about big issues and ideas like technological development, AI, capitalism and its environmental impact, and the tentacles of colonialism. Where it could be didactic, it never feels it, because it‘s a story with a living, breathing heart.

Well, well, well. The cover says crime novel, and for 87% of this book, crime novel it was not. I spent several hours waiting for a murder to pop out and surprise me, from the pages of sad domestic drama. I even texted the cover to my friend and said “does this look like a crime novel to you?” Without being spoilery, the last 10% of this book gave slight crime vibes but this was framed in some substantially improbable content.

An interesting memoir about shark science, and being a scientist. I did think that it wasn‘t entirely sure what kind of memoir it wanted to be; a story about shark science, a story about the demands of academic scientific pathways, or a story about the racist flaws of academic pathways. It wasn‘t quite enough of any of these things to truly capture me, although all were relatively interesting. A bit superficial.

Wanted to love this more than I did. It was readable enough, the characters endearing enough, and the concept engaging enough. But it was also slow, and there was a bit too much going on. If Kinsella had stuck to the “burnout” concept, mined it a bit more deeply, and shaved 100 pages off this, it would have fired better for me.

I can‘t remember who recommended this to me, but I‘m grateful. Stolen is a really fast-paced, twisty mystery. Plenty of red herrings, plenty of unlikeable, flawed characters, plenty of drama. The easy, compelling read I needed. Thrilled to have discovered a new author with a back catalogue to explore.

One of Pomare‘s best! A twisty mystery, a bit of local flavour, a hearty dose of miscarriage of justice, small town crime vibes, rich people behaving badly, what more could you want?

I‘ve sat on writing a review on this book for a while, because while I really I liked it, I am finding it hard to explain why. Kushner is a sharp writer who knows how to mix big ideas, pointed social critique, and plot. This is quite a slippery story, nothing and no one is quite as it seems. A really enjoyable read for me, commanding of my attentive and propulsive although I can‘t really say why.

Normally I enjoy reading true crime narratives even if the case in question isn‘t resolved. Unfortunately this one didn‘t dig quite deep enough for me, and the reporter himself seemed to feel like a bit of a hero about his reporting of the case (and yet this didn‘t really lead anywhere). Anyway, didn‘t quite get the tone or the depth right for me.

As always it feels weird rating or even reviewing a memoir, not least one about such a traumatic event as this. I found Rushdie‘s account of the recent attack on his life, and its aftermath compelling, and moving reading. He‘s a quirky, interesting character, and I found this memoir generous in its vulnerability and honesty of its reflection. It was interesting too, to read about the long term impact of living with the fatwa of 1989.

This is a big, broad, expansive novel, that crosses decades, borders, and political climates. It‘s a tangled web of complex, flawed family history. It is always compelling, but managed to grow on me the more I read. A gritty look at identity, statehood, belonging, family (and all its attendant duties), and love. I know it will reward a reread. How did this miss the shortlist? I don‘t know.

This prequel/sequel to There There is a powerful piece of fiction when read as part of that whole story. As a novel itself, this one didn‘t work as well for me. The two parts of this novel didn‘t work equally well for this reader. As a result, although moving, and important, the messaging felt a bit too obvious to me, and accordingly the storytelling was a bit less resonant.

A new audio edition popped up while I was browsing Libby so had a little nostalgic re-read of this English teacher fave. It‘s still good.

Quite interesting, if very sensational memoir of a self-diagnosed sociopath. There‘s some valid messaging about negative inferences of popular use of labels like sociopath here. But it‘s a little difficult to glean just how accurate a retelling this is. Particularly when research into the author fails to deliver certainty on some of the credentials claimed. So definitely compelling, but to be taken with a grain of salt I think.

If you‘re considering reading this, really you know what you‘re getting here. I found #3 a little more ho-hum and with a few more loose threads and conveniences than the first two in this series. But nevertheless an enjoyable romp and the palate cleanser I needed.

Ah yes, finally a Booker Banger. Initially I thought My Friends might just be a story about friendship set against a political backdrop, but quickly it proved to be much more. Its consideration of the relationship between people and place, and the concept of home is really thoughtfully executed. this novel really excels in its unpacking of how we seek to mediate a world that can be cruel or inhospitable, and leave us feeling isolated or at sea.

The Safekeep was a bit of a slow burn for me. It‘s beginning as a story of a house, and an awkward family dynamic was almost too traditional for me. Once I dug into it a bit further and it really got going, it grew for me into an interesting story about possession, dispossession, and repression. While initially it felt like a character study, when it moved beyond this to a more thematically led story it shone brighter.

Orange tells an important story about the diverse and fragmented identities of colonised peoples in the United States. It‘s a story that very much centres the harms caused by colonisation. At times I found it a little meandering, and uneven, but ultimately, it‘s a gritty, person-centred novel that builds to a devastating conclusion, and it had my attention.

Another VERY interesting non-fiction read. Art crime is a very curious topic, and the story of Stephane Brietwieser‘s thefts is very compelling. With art at the centre, the motivation for these crimes becomes much more nuanced and complex than more traditional crime stories. In addition to this, the extent of Breitwieser‘s offending is truly wild to consider. A really interesting read on many levels.

Outrageous, compelling, literally unputdownable. I find most catfishing stories pretty engaging, because I both can‘t believe that people do it, and am amazed at how long people are taken in by catfish. This story blew me out of the park though. Even more compelling than the catfishing itself, is the unravelling of the work of the catfish by the three women at the centre of this story. This is like watching the best reality tv.

A slight novel that looks at ideas about our search for meaning and purpose, and the finality of death across four generations. Lots of moments of very resonant observation about these concepts which are of course, universal. Although I could see connections between the stories, and that Michael‘s was pointing to the ripples of consequence, I didn‘t feel like this hung together as a whole. A reader preference, rather than a critique of the novel.

This might be my sleeper hit of Booker season 2024. I really loved this gritty story of a young women‘s boxing tournament in Reno. Bullwinkel looks at how small and big moments in our lives lead to other, considers complex families, poverty, the trials of adolescence and identity, female aggression, and the issues in youth and women‘s sport. It‘s told in dispassionate, direct prose. Highly evocative of place, and very sensory.

Sid has been getting his inner Social Scientist in gear with this first edition of the young readers adaptions of Harari‘s Sapiens. This first book explores how humans (Homo Sapiens) came to dominate the planet, with particular focus on our dominance over other human species and animals in the Stone Age. Core concepts are really clearly and cleverly explained, the book is beautifully illustrated and it‘s a compelling narrative.

I found this slight novel to be wonderfully moving as it considered the triviality and momentousness of our lives on Earth. From the vantage of space, over 24 hours, Harvey‘s astronauts internal dialogues consider such a wide range of global, spiritual, and philosophical issues that I found almost every sentence said something profound, thought-provoking, or moving. Harvey succeeded in inspiring my awe at the magnitude and smallness of my life.

There‘s a lot to like here, some great Irish storytelling about a lives of crime, and crime-adjacent lives. There‘s some cracking dialogue and a rollicking plot. but in the end I wasn‘t really sure what it was saying about the way that crime ripples through lives, or about its characters. Very much a vibe-y novel which is great on that level, but was missing a little depth for me.

Look I love a trashy celebrity memoir but this one didn‘t fire. Was hoping for this to be more scandalous, or interesting, but this was bland and sad.

Reader, I wanted to love it more than I did. Wood is an interesting author who is able to write compellingly obscure stories. However, the deeply reflective nature of this one didn‘t work with the lack of narrative drive for me. There are some really interesting ideas here, about eschewing capitalism and the modern world for isolated introspection, and the role of ritual in helping us cope with, and/or avoid global and personal issues.

Clever, inventive storytelling in this book which is both closely and loosely inspired by the life of Australian author Stella Miles Franklin, and her book My Brilliant Career. this is a novel that asks about the tension between expectation and desire, the weight of motherhood, and whether anyone truly lives without regret about paths untraveled. I found it super immersive and very thoughtfully executed.

I love a big, sprawling character story, and I love a crime novel. Rarely do these two loves meet effectively, but occassionally they do, and Whitaker has nailed it here. A bleak, gritty story about a crime and the ripples it leaves in the lives of its two central characters. Whitaker somehow manages to make a story that sprawls over 600 pages, and across decades feel pacy. An immersive, compelling read.

Another very impressive addition to Boyne‘s elements series. Earth does all the good things that Water does- it‘s taut, sparse, unflinching, observational writing about an extremely confronting topic. Earth is a bit more direct in its storytelling than Water is, which will appeal to some readers, while others will miss the subtleties. I loved seeing how Boyne would unspool the connections between the stories.

A very interesting story about the life of Pippa Latour who worked as a secret agent in Nazi-Occupied France during WWII. Pippa‘s made such a courageous contribution to the allied war effort and her stories are told in a really engaging personal voice. For anyone interested in this part of History, this will be a compelling read. Very accessible.

So fun to revisit this childhood fave with Sid. As with all short story collections this is a bit uneven but there are some real bangers in here- namely The Giant‘s Bath, The Devil and the Corner Grocer, and The Pumpkins of Witch Crunch. These are beautifully told, imaginative stories, of worlds like our own but just a little bit different and more magical. Stories that twist and turn and go where you never quite expect them to. Such fun.

A really gentle, earnest, but also vulnerable story. Nicholls manages to be light, funny, and hopeful in the telling of the story that is in many parts sad and longing. It was a nice change of pace and tone for me to read this novel about the distance between lives imagined and lived, feeling lonely and left behind, and our drive to only connect. Extra points for well-produced audio with 2 narrators.

This was recommended to me as a book for fans of Strout and Kingsolver and so of course I was right in. This story is told in a measured, dispassionate, observational tone which reminded me a lot of Strout‘s writing in a good way. It‘s about loss and hope, connection and disconnection in a marriage, and it‘s one of those stories that just really gets people for all their flaws. Everything about it felt three dimensional and real.

A very emotive, and confronting story which addresses some of the most uncomfortable experiences. It‘s told with honesty, it doesn‘t shy away from the trauma it discusses, and doesn‘t soften its edges for the sake of a narrative. In many ways, it‘s well told. However, I did find it just a smidge too much, I am not sure it needed everything it had going on, because for me, it made elements that could have been especially moving a bit too didactic.

The dialogue is sharp as a knife, and Kay and Cyril leap from the page, vivid and fully formed. It‘s a novel that asks big questions about what it means to be in control of your life, the dynamics of a marriage, familial duty and love and the toll it takes on our individual lives, the shape and purpose of a society and its role in our individual lives, and most directly about getting older, and how we navigate our own unravelling.

Look it‘s just a really magical story isn‘t it? Perhaps the only thing more magical than reading it yourself for the first time, is reading it to someone else for their first time (even if they‘re a bit too little to remember it). Already looking forward to reading this together again.

Everest Inc explores the development of the Everest industry, with particular focus on guiding and the commercialisation of mountaineering experiences for inexpert climbers. If you‘ve been aboard that Into Thin Air train, this book is for you. It takes us beyond the 1996 tragedy, exploring stories of the mountain both older and more recent, to paint a comprehensive picture of the place, and the people. Really engagingly told, and informative.

Fast-paced, blockbuster, natural disaster nonsense. Exactly what I needed. The perfect Father‘s Day book. Divine.

An excellent collection of science fiction short stories. Suzuki‘s stories are accessible and clear in their telling, and explore interesting ideas like the impenetrability of the minds of others, the shape and role of society, gender, and imperialism. This is science fiction as I enjoy it the best, thought-provoking, at times surprising, and unburdened by excessive detail.

The blurb made me think I was the target audience for this book but I‘m really not. I was interested by the geopolitical and global economic influence of chip technology, and although this was a thread which ran through the book, for much of the book this is bogged down in highly detailed discussion of the mechanics of chip technology. I was not smart enough to penetrate this and I got bored. On reflection I should have quit while I was ahead.

I was shocked and challenged, both by some of the flaws, gaps, and inadequacies of early reading instruction in schools, and the faith I‘ve put into the ‘reading family culture‘ approach to child-rearing. I‘d consider this critical reading for parents and educators, and it made me realise the privilege I have because I know enough to be able to ask the right questions, provide the right support and interventions, and advocate where needed.

I think by now we all know that this reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, from the perspective of Jim (or James) is excellent, incisive storytelling. Everett does his best here- makes his readers a little bit uncomfortable, asks us to reconsider, to see things from another angle, and he does it so well. A novel deserving of awards which I am sure will be coming its way.