AT HOME, BY BILL BRYSON, RANDOM HOUSE, $55. Best-seller Bill Bryson has an exceedingly lively mind. Having tackled space, time and the mysteries of the universe in his award-winning A Short History Of Nearly Everything, he was casting around for something more domestic – a book he could write in carpet slippers in his own […]

29, BY ADENA HALPERN, SIMON & SCHUSTER, $29.99. Seventy-five year old Ellie Jerome, a wealthy widow living in Philadelphia, isn’t overjoyed about getting older and has more in common with her 25-year-old grand-daughter, Lucy, than she does with her 55-year-old daughter. Has she wasted her life marrying young and playing safe? She makes a birthday […]

SIZZLING SIXTEEN, BY JANET EVANOVICH, HACHETTE, $32.99. Everyone’s favourite larger-than-life bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum, is back in her 16th adventure. This time, her job at Vincent Plum Bail Bonds is on the line, her friend Lula is caught up in a shabby investment scheme and Stephanie still can’t decide between her two love interests – […]

The PassageBY JUSTIN CRONIN, ORION, $35. This, the first book in a trilogy from Harvard graduate, university English professor and novelist Justin Cronin, has already netted a $4.4million book deal and $2.07 million in film rights, with the movie due to be made by Robin Hood director Ridley Scott. This is a weighty (766 pages) […]

If you’re sick of your man becoming all “woe is me” and retreating under the duvet at the merest sign of a sniffle then help could be at hand: scientists have developed a pill that targets man flu. Australian researchers have created a daily lozenge that dramatically reduces the likelihood of being laid low by […]

It’s well known that taking omega-3 fish oil supplements can help to prevent mild to moderate depression and boost memory and cognition. Now it seems fish oil may play an even more dramatic effect in mental health, with a study in the Archives of General Psychiatry suggesting that it could help prevent psychotic disorders. In […]

It should have been a happy time but MasterChef Joanne Zalm’s return home after being evicted from the show was bittersweet, thanks to a frightening hate campaign. For the six long months she lived in the MasterChef house, Joanne Zalm dreamed of the moment she would return home to the welcoming arms of her beloved […]

The TV lifesaver tells Katherine Chatfield of his brush with death. As a star of Bondi Rescue, lifeguard Kobi Graham is known as a real-life hero whose experience in the surf has given him the skills to save lives on a daily basis. He never expected he’d need to call on those skills to save […]

What started off with private dance rehearsals is quickly becoming a family affair for Jo Beth Taylor and her Dancing With The Stars partner, Dannial Gosper. In the clearest sign yet that Jo Beth, 39, and Dannial are partners both on and off the dance floor, the 31-year-old performer took the significant step of introducing […]

**I love chocolate and have heard it’s good for me — great news! I know I’ll be eating lots of chocolate anyway but can you help me make the best choice at least. Jacqui** That’s a great attitude. What’s the point in total sacrifice at the expense of a whole lot of pleasure when you […]