"Josh, you never read anything recent! You're so out of touch with the current market!"

I hear you. I spend so much time catching up with the books I've missed, I end up lagging behind the hype train for whatever's hot at the moment. So, I made a conscious effort to give you some recommendations of what's worth buying right now.

Here are just a few of the latest releases, a mix of autobiographies and romcoms, I've been able to get my hands on.

Yearbook by Seth Rogen

This is by far the funniest I've ever read.

This collection of essays by the multi-talented stoner is exactly what you'd expect, but also not. For instance, there are drug stories, of course, but they range from being downright hilarious to cautionary and even enlightening. Not only does Rogen preach how good weed is, but also how it's better than alcohol, and he talks about how it has been criminalised as a tool to oppress POC.

I don't think people give Rogen enough credit for how smart and politically conscious he is. I feel like he's always trying to highlight something in his movies (there are the obvious ones like Long Shot and The Interview, but there's also the feminist exploration of college rape culture in Bad Neighbours 2 and satire of right-wing neo-Nazism on social media in American Pickle), and his autobiography if you can call it that, is no exception.

Throughout the book, Rogen details how he’s used his platform to try and do good as he feels his privilege gives him a responsibility. For instance, when he recalls repeatedly hounding Jack, the CEO of Twitter, to get rid of anti-Semitic trolls. But Rogen isn’t trying to look like a woke, white saviour or anything. He admits he doesn’t have all the answers; he’s just a down-to-earth guy trying his best, raising valid points to start a conversation.

Rogen is genuinely unapologetic. He isn’t afraid to talk about anything, whether it’s embarrassing encounters with celebrities (e.g. peeing in a bottle on Tom Cruise’s CCTV) or calling out their shitty behaviour. He truly doesn’t give a fuck. This is the very antithesis of sanitised memoirs you often get.

But Rogen’s honesty also extends to recognising his flaws and sharing relatable stories such as never meeting your heroes (like Hollywood weirdos George Lucas).

Yearbook is an absolute page-turner. Written in a conversational style, you can hear Rogen’s voice and distinctive laugh in your head as you laugh along too. I can’t wait to listen to the audiobook with its ridiculous all-star cast. It’s probably the best way to read this? But I’d also recommend getting the hardback just for the sick cover design.

The Road Trip by Beth O'Leary

I’ve waited a year for this. Beth O’Leary took the publishing world by storm last year, enchanting readers, including myself, with back-to-back bestsellers. Now, she’s back with her long-awaited romcom about a pair of exes who are forced by fate to drive to a friend’s wedding together and recall their relationship.

I won’t lie, I wasn’t sure how I felt about this book until quite near the end, but I think that was the point. The question The Road Trip poses is: can people change? And, I believe, like most people, I swayed towards no without even realising it. Generally, I do think people can change and become better. I’d like to think I have! But for some reason, I’ve always been stubborn that once a couple breaks up, they shouldn’t get back together. Yet, it’s a popular trope of romance! The genre is predicated on misunderstandings and couples breaking up and getting back together all the time. So, why was I not rooting for Dylan and Addie for the majority of this book?

Not to go into too much detail, but I found myself constantly frustrated by Dylan being a bad boyfriend in the chapters set in the past. But this just means Beth O’Leary is doing her job right! You’re supposed to feel how Addie feels, how Dylan feels about himself. It took me far longer than I’d like to admit to realise he was the actual protagonist and appreciate the author’s portrayal of anxiety. There isn’t much evidence of Dylan being a completely new man by the end of the book because he’s still a work-in-progress. The changes in him are subtle.

In fact, O’Leary uses all the characters in different ways to show how it can take a long time to improve yourself and be worthy of redemption. She challenges the reader to forgive some truly detestable behaviour, almost as if to say, “If you think you’re better than them, then prove it.”

Initially, I wasn’t invested in the characters and the love story until this became apparent, and I began to relate hard to Dylan. That said, I was hooked from the go. I felt as if O’Leary had stuffed me into the claustrophobic car with the other characters, and I was taken along for the ride.

Despite the deep themes, this might be the author’s most romcommy novel yet. She also really knows how to write sexy without being porny or gratuitous, putting you right in the characters’ horny shoes. Also, I love me some past-present parallels, and this book is all that.

The Roadtrip managed to take me on an unexpected journey that left me reflective and gasping for more of Beth O’Leary’s addictive writing style.

The Dog Share by Fiona Gibson

I bought this impulsively for my fiancée for Valentine’s Day based on the cover alone. It looked like a cute romcom involving a dog, and on that front, it did not disappoint. But it’s also not what I expected, and better!

Forgetting the age-old advice not to judge a book by its cover, I initially dismissed this as a rip off of our previous author’s best-known title, The Flat Share. I mean, a publishing person probably did pick it deliberately, but do not be mistaken. Even though it is a romcom written in dual-perspective where the characters, through a bunch of contrivances, don’t meet until halfway through, this is nothing like The Flat Share! In fact, the romance arguably isn’t even the main focus of the novel at all.

The Dog Share focuses on a pair of middle-aged divorced parents whose lives are brought together by an abandoned dog and a whiskey distillery on a Scottish island. It’s a unique concept that enables well-established author, Fiona Gibson, to reassure her readers that it’s never too late to fall in love again or embark on a new career and that it’s totally okay if the plan for your life doesn’t quite work out because you’ll fall on your feet and find people who will support you through the rough patches.

Unlike many romcoms, where I’ve noticed a propensity for posh protagonists with jobs, homes and lavish lifestyles I’ll never have, Gibson’s unconventional leads are relatable and real people. We need more working-class, older love stories! And this one is lighthearted and feelgood.

A Promised Land by Barack Obama

Finally, another autobiography that took me the entire month to listen to! Technically released last year, I kept seeing this promoted everywhere that sold books once the shops re-opened. Physically, Obama’s memoirs of his early years and first three years in the White House is a tome and an expensive one at that. So, (rightly) anticipating it to be dense, I decided to use my monthly Audible credit on it. If you’re going to read this, I’d recommend doing that, even if it means getting a free trial. It’ll save you money, and it’s totally worth it to hear Obama’s soothing tones.

A Promised Land is an absolutely fascinating insight into the origins, personal life and day-to-day challenges of the 44th President, beginning with his unique upbringing to his inspiring election race and the hurdles his monumental victory threw his way.

Rather than just being a list of what he’s done, Obama is a proper cohesive storyteller, turning political figures into recurring characters, real-world events into enticing plot threads and bringing it all together to make a thematic point. Even though you might know a lot of what he talks about simply from living it or hearing it on the news, he makes his time in office an incredibly compelling narrative.

However, it did sort of lose me towards the end when he delves into the nitty-gritty of passing various legislation - I’ll tell you, the man loves an acronym. The book is at its best when the President ties what was going on in front of the cameras to behind closed doors, the intersection between his politics and his home life. That said, he does end it on a high note, recalling the assassination of Osama Bin Laden.

I don’t believe there’s been any leader who’s taken the time to be so open and thorough about their time in office. If anything, I didn’t think he’d be allowed! And sure, he probably does omit a lot, but whether it’s because of his smooth voice or the fact I’ve always liked the guy, I admire how honest and introspective he is. Especially when he discusses his failings, how he’s essentially a killer for signing off on wars he never wanted to wage. The impression I get from A Promised Land is that Obama is a highly empathetic soul whose Presidency was tarnished by bad luck, and it’s a shame his ideals were not all achieved because of things out of his control.

At 29 hours, this is only volume one! Somehow there's more to come and I can’t wait for the rest.

Thank you for reading this month's book corner! If you have any recommendations yourself, please comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram @jstodtv. And keep up to date with what I’m reading on Goodreads.