The identity of Jack the Ripper, one of the longest unsolved mysteries of all time, has been discovered. Pretty crazy huh? Dr Jari Louhelainen, a senior lecturer in molecular biology at Liverpool John Moores, has used cutting-edge DNA techniques to prove Jack the Ripper was a Polish migrant named Aaron Kosminski. Kosminski lived in Whitechapel at the times of the savage 1888 murders of five wom... Read more

“They say you can tell a lot about a book by its first line.” – Andrew Cattanach, This Blog Post “Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday; I can’t be sure.” – Albert Camus, The Stranger “Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.” – Douglas Adams, The Hitch... Read more

We’re lucky to have some pretty special folks working at Booktopia. We’ve already told you about Anthony, our London Olympian, and John, our bestselling author, but we also have a very talented musician in the family. If you’ve ever called our customer service hotline, you might have spoken to Daniel, a member of the team since 2013. What you might not have realised is Daniel ... Read more

Today is Indigenous Literacy Day, and to celebrate Booktopia will be donating 10% of today’s profits to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. The Indigenous Literacy Foundation is all about making a positive difference in the lives of young Australian Indigenous children so that they are enabled to make the most of their educational opportunities in schools. Watch our video with Andy and fi... Read more

And as the boys crowd at the door catching their breath in amazement, Colt sees it all, suddenly, for what it is. His father spends money not merely on making his sons envied, but on making them – and the word seems to tip the floor – enticing. With Golden Boys, Sonya Hartnett has surely established herself as one of the finest Australian novelists of her generation, nearly twenty y... Read more

Yesterday was National Dog Day in Australia, with our American cousins celebrating their Dog Day today. Let’s be honest, we just wanted to post this awesome Shake video we found. So here it is. Enjoy. Shake by Carli Davidson Original, amusing, and brilliantly documented, Shake is a heartwarming collection of sixty-one beguiling dogs caught in the most candid of moments: mid-shake. This gl... Read more

World’s Best Diet is not a ‘diet’, it’s a lifestyle change designed for real people. Having achieved your goal weight, this is how you eat for the rest of your life. The program is based on one of the world’s largest dietary studies and combines a higher protein intake with low-GI carbs, which has been proven to prevent weight regain ‘creep’. With delic... Read more

Haruki Murakami’s quest to honour his literary hero Franz Kafka has resulted in Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, one of his most moving and accessible novels in years. While Franz Kafka remains best known for his genre-bending novella The Metamorphosis, most will point to his 1925 novel The Trial as his opus, a deeply personal meditation on sex, society and isolation.... Read more

The irony of Dave Eggers’ somewhat pretentiously named new novel Your Fathers, Where are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? is that it is a decidedly unpretentious work. But Dave Eggers knows that. He has more fun with his titles than most, from his breakout memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius to his 2004 novel The Unforbidden is Compulsory; or, Optimism. Your Fath... Read more

Dorothy Parker was born on this day 121 years ago. She was an extraordinary mind and a wonderful writer, capable of eliciting a giggle from absolutely anyone. To celebrate her genius we’ve put together 10 of our favourite Parkerisms. Enjoy! “I hate writing, I love having written.” “Four be the things I’d have been better without: love, curiosity, freckles and doubt.” “I require thre... Read more