Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a writer whose voice should be heard by all, yes all, and heard loud and clear. Her latest work is entitled “Dear Ijeawele; or a feminist manifesto in fifteen suggestions”. It grew out of a letter written to a friend who had asked for advice on raising her daughter, Chizalum, to be a feminist. This work feels more personal than her previous writing, it feels more urgent and unfortunately more necessary. When I read Adichie I feel empowered, I feel strong, […]
“High heels on the mossy path. Tippity-tap. Toddle on.”
Hilary Mantel, twice winner of the Man Booker Prize, released a collection of short stories – titled The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher and other stories – in 2014 and I have finally finished the compilation. This collection peruses a host of difficult topics; misogyny, culture shock, adultery, alternate realities and much more. While the subject matter is different across each story there are similarities that occur throughout the collection; Mantel has a great eye for the minutiae of suburban life, the dreck of urban reality […]
There is no such thing as perfection. . . .
Perfect is the conclusion of the duology which began with Flawed, it is their author Cecelia Ahern’s first time writing for a Young Adult audience. The narrative is set in the not-too-distant future, in an unnamed European country where anyone deemed to have transgressed the social rules is branded – literally – as Flawed. After she was branded Flawed by a morality court, Celestine’s life has completely fractured – all her freedoms gone. Since Judge Crevan has declared her the number one threat to the […]
I’ll be Mrs Messy then.
Tim Harford’s Messy is an exploration of how the highly valued human qualities; creativity, collaboration and resilience can all benefit from a little bit of mess. By embracing the by-products of disorder and confusion we can grow, develop and flourish. Each chapter outlines a specific topic that can benefit from a little bit of mess; perhaps by creating a new path which leads to improved outcomes. He provides concrete examples to back up his theory, he identifies what the mess disguises itself as ( no, […]
#dontfollowtheherd
“The Cows is a powerful novel about three women – judging each other but also themselves. In all the noise of modern life they need to find their own voice.” The Cows tells the story of 3 seemingly unconnected women living in the same city – Cam, is a feminist lifestyle blogger with no desire to be married or to be a mother, Tara is a TV documentary producer and a single mum and Stella is PA dealing with the grief of losing her mother […]
a dash of frightening, a dollop of blood-curdling and a spritz of spine-chilling.
“A blind teenager receives a corneal donation and begins to see and feel memories from their previous owner, a homicide detective, his father. As Joshua navigates a world of sight he gets glimpses of what these eyes might have witnessed in their previous life. What was his dad up to?” Paul Cleave is an author with the ability to write a thriller where the characters are totally and utterly believable – Joshua reminds me so much of a kid who lives at the end of […]