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Stephens has developed into a very fine fiction writer. She has the critical knack of getting inside her characters’ heads, and taking readers with her.

I really enjoyed this memoir about a group of Melbourne girls who became friends – not groupies – with Skyhooks and AC/DC in the mid ’70s, before those bands became really big.

Subtitled Inside the Systems That Shape Our World this is a superb book, potentially life-changing at every level, from the most individual to the largest big scene imaginable.

My Top Ten books for 2023

Many of Philip K. Dick’s books seem to be generated by a single central idea, off which he then spins speculative stories that often explore human psychology and social behaviours. In this case, this idea might be described as “How could you bluff someone who can read your mind?”

Another fascinating memoir of life backstage in the Australian rock biz, this one by the long time manager of Cold Chisel. I devoured it in a single Sunday sitting.

This is a biography of the 35th US President that sets out to place him in the context of the start of “the American Century”.

Sure, you know what the Limbo dance is, but do you know of its origins on slave ships? How the Slinky came to be? Who invented Scrabble? Jigsaw puzzles? Safety pins? Who the Huldufólk are, or what a Balikbayan box is?