The first novel from sensationally popular YA author and youtube personality John Green in five years, Turtles All The Way Down follows Aza Holmes. She is 16 years old, living in Indianapolis. The book follows Aza as she interacts with her friend Daisy, becomes involved in the mystery of what happened to the billionaire father of a childhood friend and through it all wrestles mentally with her anxiety.

After attempting to read "Gravity's Rainbow" some years back, I'd given up on Thomas Pynchon.He'd fallen into that "difficult" category of authors whose work seemed to sail too far overhead to really enjoy. However, since I liked Paul Thomas Andersons' film adaptation of "Inherent Vice" so much, I tracked down the novel and was pleasantly surprised  - yet totally flummoxed -  by what I read. There's not so much a "plot" here as much as a determinedly surreal noir-esque labyrinth of faux-conspiracies,scams,trysts and coincidences that morph into an ineffable, highly enjoyable shaggy dog story

The Brand New Retro book is a uniquely Irish compendium of over 700 images, adverts and articles. "This book is one for the memories of the 1960s and 1970s. It is wonderfully presented into different sections under different headings, such as: Fashion, lifestyle etc...Towards the end of the book I thought the section on “Reader’s Lives” was interesting as it reflects the topics that were relevant at that time. Such as a “Pleased to meet you section” “Social Know-how” and letters to the Editor.

Essentially: we’re born, we control a fragile body, we enjoy a small strip of sensory reality, and then we die. This book explains how science may give us the tools to transcend that evolutionary story. Read about hopes to have our brains downloaded and about those who are forking out considerable sums to have their severed heads committed to storage in canisters (that hold up to 5 heads) at -196 centigrade in the rather feint hope that someday the technology will exist to revive them and give them a further and indefinite term of life…presumably stitched back onto available, headless bodies

Donal Ryan’s third book has been criticised as being unrealistic, over-the-top and promoting stereotypes in it’s portrayal of the traveller community, and yes it is all those things, as well as having a singularly unsympathetic main character in Melody Shee, an unhappily married woman who is pregnant by her 17 year old literacy student. But I found it to be one of the most satisfactory reads of last year, the language is forceful, brutal at times, but refreshing, like a splash of cold water in the face. Rather than damn it as not being true to life I would class this novel as other-worldly

This book is based on the Sky1 programme of the same name which sees Karl Pilkington, having recently turned 40, travelling around the world to see how other cultures approach the big issues in life. The only time Karl ever asked himself “Why are we here?” was when his girlfriend booked them a surprise holiday in Lanzarote. This time he’s travelling alone, and without the sniggery, puerile bullying of Gervais & Merchant he is hilarious, self-deprecating, humane and at times pure genius. His unique, mundane way of seeing the world in contrast to the weird and wonderful freak shows he encounters