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Published 16:04 18 May 2026 BST
Updated 16:13 18 May 2026 BST

We recently caught up with holistic sex educator Jenny Keane to talk all things books, and she has recommended some seriously incredible books that we'll be adding to our reading lists immediately.
Jenny Keane's Current Read: Femme Feral by Sam Beckbessinger
"I'm only halfway through and already in love with this book. It’s about a woman working as a manager in a tech company who starts experiencing perimenopause and is slowly turning into a werewolf. Which, honestly, feels medically accurate.
"It’s part comedy, part horror, part painfully relatable commentary on what happens when women’s rage, exhaustion and changing bodies are ignored for too long. Mood swings, memory loss, hair growth, repressed anger, the deep urge to bite someone in a meeting, it’s all there. Completely feral in the best way."
Jenny Keane's Recent Reads: I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron
"I re-read anything written by Nora Ephron when I need to escape life for a while, but also want to laugh at the absurdity of everyday existence. If you don’t know Nora’s writing (or filmmaking), prepare to begin a full love affair, because once this book ends, you’ll want to stay inside the rawness, honesty and razor-sharp observations she makes about life, ageing, relationships and being a woman.
"This collection of essays moves through divorce, parenting, empty nesting and ageing with wit, vulnerability and the kind of self-awareness that makes you feel deeply understood. You’ll read it far too quickly and immediately wish there was more."
Slags by Emma Jane Unsworth
"Emma Jane Unsworth writes women in a way that feels wildly alive, messy and painfully real, and Slags has so much I love in one novel. Sisters, chaos, emotional spirals, travelling in a camper van, all wrapped up in humour that makes you snort laugh one minute and feel unexpectedly emotional the next. It’s outrageous and tender at the same time. I absolutely inhaled it."
Jenny Keane's Sex Book Recommendations:
"I’m not recommending the usual suspects for this section; these are two books that are not on every recommended list but definitely need to be read!"
BOY SLUT by Zachary Zane
Buzz by Hallie Lieberman
"This is everything you want it to be. Zane's irreverent, sassy writing about his own experiences with bisexuality, modern hookups and being a boyslut (a term coined by Zane) allows the reader to recognise that life has no time for inhibitions. While the book is not a how-to guide to curing sexual shame, I recommend this book for the queer and kinky people who need to see that you can navigate shame and still have fun, amazing sex. And if all else fails, it's a fun read and a good conversation starter."
"It’s known I’m a fan of sex toys, and that obsession has only grown since I opened my online sex toy shop. Hallie wrote her PhD thesis on sex toy history and then expanded the work into a full-length book. This micro history focuses on the period from the 1950s to the present, exploring sex toys as symbols of female emancipation, tools in the fight against HIV/AIDS, disability rights and activism, entrepreneurs, and obscenity laws. It is a must-read."
If you read one Irish novel this month then make it this one
Books