Tag: non-fiction

WWW Wednesday: 4th November, 2020

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Taking on a World of Words. Anyone can take part and it is a great way of sharing what you have just finished reading, what you are currently reading and what is next on the TBR.

Links are provided for books already published – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases (at no extra cost to you!)

What have you recently finished reading?

I finished my audiobook of ‘The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid’ which was written and read by Bill Bryson. I really enjoyed this autobiographical tale of Bryson’s childhood in Des Moines, Iowa, in the 1950s and would recommend it.

Then I read ‘The Devil and the Dark Water’ by Stuart Turton which I LOVED! It’s a dark and twisty tale of murder and mayhem on a ship travelling between the Dutch East Indies and Amsterdam in 1634. My review is here.

Lastly, I read ‘The Whole Truth’, the new DI Fawley book from Cara Hunter which is due out in March 2021. What starts as a he said/she said investigation into a sexual assault becomes something much more deadly for Fawley and his team. Review will follow in the blog nearer to the publication date.

What are you reading now?

I’m reading ‘The Wrong Sort to Die’ by Paula Harmon for a forthcoming blog tour. This is about a female doctor in 1910, a pioneering pathologist and one making her way in a man’s world. It’s also a mystery story so it is keeping me guessing!

I’m still reading ‘Pandora’s Jar’ by Natalie Haynes – I really like it but it has been pushed aside for various blog tour books. I’m currently reading about Helen of Troy and it is very interesting to hear a different perspective to usual as she is normally portrayed quite negatively.

I’ve started listening to the audiobook of ‘Let’s Do It’ by Jasper Rees, the biography of Victoria Wood. It’s engaging so far and interesting to hear about the more private side of Wood, the shy perfectionist, rather than her on-screen persona. The cast reading this are absolutely brilliant so I’m glad I went for the audio version.

What do you think you will read next?

I am about to read ‘The Cousins’ by Karen McManus for a blog tour with The Write Reads. I’m looking forward to this one as it is a standalone mystery about secrets within a family and sounds very tense!

I am also determined to get to the books that are top of my pile on Netgalley – ‘The Shape of Darkness’ by Laura Purcell and ‘Hyde’ by Craig Russell. I’m so looking forward to these two above all others. I’m determined to make a dent in the NetGalley backlog so that will be the focus of the next month or so.

So that’s another WWW Wednesday done! This year is flying by and I’m on the countdown to Christmas now…

Header photo with thanks to Alisa Anton for sharing her work on Unsplash.

My Goodreads 100

In what might work out to be the geekiest post ever, I thought I’d have a closer look at the 100 books I’ve read this year. I completed my Goodreads challenge this week so it seems a good time to pause and take stock.

Things that don’t surprise me a bit…

I know that I read a lot of female writers, so the gender ratio 60:40 in favour of female writers didn’t surprise me at all. A lot of my favourite detective series are written by women (Rachel Lynch, Carla Kovach, Jane Casey, Elly Griffiths…I could go on!)

Also unsurprising was the number of books that I read for free this year – I’ve always read a lot through NetGalley, plus have done some blog tours, so it is to be expected that a huge proportion of my reads (74%) were free in exchange for an honest review. I am eternally grateful to NetGalley, blog tour hosts, publishers and authors for keeping me in reading material!

Finally, because of my NetGalley obsession, it makes perfect sense that my most read format this year was on Kindle (71%). I invested in a Kindle Oasis earlier this year because I thought the warm light feature might be kinder on my eyes, especially given how long I stare at it!

Things that did surprise me…

I know I read quite widely, but I thought I’d probably be very heavy on the crime and historical fiction. This did turn out to be true – 44% of my books had some kind of crime element, whether in a contemporary or historical setting. However, only 30% of my chosen reads had a historical setting – something I thought would be higher.

What I was pleasantly surprised by was the fact that 27% of the books were non-fiction. I do love non-fiction but thought it would be more overshadowed than that in the statistics. I was also happy to see that there was a range of genres in the mix too – poetry, humour, romance and ‘other’ (contemporary fiction, play scripts) made up a good chunk.

I seem to be heavily dependent on the 4* rating (71% of my books in 2020) but it was heartening to see that nearly 1/5 of the books I read this year were 5* ones. I wasn’t too surprised to see the small proportion of 3* rating (and nothing below) because I choose my books carefully and DNF any that won’t make 3 stars!

Some lists…

My 5 Star Reads of 2020 (so far) – links to reviews where possible!

‘The Devil and the Dark Water’ by Stuart Turton
‘Practically Perfect’ by Katy Brand
‘Essex Girls’ by Sarah Perry
‘Boy’ by Roald Dahl
‘More than a Woman’ by Caitlin Moran
‘Cows Can’t Jump’ by Philip Bowne
‘A Tomb With a View’ by Peter Ross
‘The Quickening’ by Rhiannon Ward
‘Longhand’ by Andy Hamilton
‘The Betrayals’ by Bridget Collins (review coming soon)
‘Death in the East’ by Abir Mukherjee
‘The Miseducation of Evie Epworth’ by Matson Taylor
‘Dead Famous’ by Greg Jenner
‘This is Shakespeare’ by Emma Smith
‘Grave Secrets’ by Alice James
‘Broken Silence’ by Liz Mistry
‘Daughters of Night’ by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (coming in 2021)
‘A Curious History of Sex’ by Kate Lister
‘The Graves of Whitechapel’ by Claire Evans
‘The Switch’ by Beth O’Leary
‘Difficult Women’ by Helen Lewis

Books I Bought With My Own Money and Read This Year:

‘The Devil and the Dark Water’ by Stuart Turton
‘The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid’ by Bill Bryson
‘Practically Perfect’ by Katy Brand
‘Essex Girls’ by Sarah Perry
‘The Princess and the Prick’ by Wallaburga Appleseed
‘Boy’ by Roald Dahl
‘More than a Woman’ by Caitlin Moran
‘A Tomb With a View’ by Peter Ross
‘Good Samaritans’ by Will Carver
‘The Book of Humans’ by Adam Rutherford
‘A Chip Shop in Poznan’ by Ben Aitken
‘Women Don’t Owe You Pretty’ by Florence Given
‘State of the Union’ by Nick Hornby
‘The Great Godden’ by Meg Rosoff
‘A Rising Man’ by Abir Mukherjee
‘Three Women’ by Lisa Taddeo
‘Dead Famous’ by Greg Jenner
‘This is Shakespeare’ by Emma Smith
‘A Murderous Relation’ by Deanna Raybourn
‘You Took the Last Bus Home’ by Brian Bilston
‘When the Dogs Don’t Bark’ by Angela Gallop
‘A Million Years in a Day’ by Greg Jenner
‘The Golden Tresses of the Dead’ by Alan Bradley
‘A Curious History of Sex’ by Kate Lister
’52 Times Britain was a Bellend’ by James Felton
‘Fleabag’by Phoebe Waller-Bridge

9 Writers I’ve Read More Than One Book By This Year:

  1. Ben Aitken
  2. Greg Jenner
  3. Abir Mukherjee
  4. Carla Kovach
  5. Rachel Lynch
  6. Andrew Taylor
  7. Nick Hornby
  8. William Sieghart (2 poetry anthologies)
  9. Elly Griffiths

Brilliant Debut Novels

  1. ‘Cows Can’t Jump’ by Philip Bowne
  2. ‘A Girl Made of Air’ by Nydia Hetherington
  3. ‘People of Abandoned Character’ by Clare Whitfield
  4. ‘The Chalet’ by Catherine Cooper
  5. ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ by Richard Osman
  6. ‘The Miseducation of Evie Epworth’ by Matson Taylor
  7. ‘The Eighth Detective’ by Alex Pavesi
  8. ‘Grave Secrets’ by Alice James
  9. ‘The Servant’ by Maggie Richell-Davies
  10. ‘The Quickening’ by Rhiannon Ward (first novel published under this name)

5 Surprises This Year

  1. Alice James’ ‘Grave Secrets’ – I don’t read a lot of fantasy novels, but this vampire and zombie one absolutely won me over. Well outside of my comfort zone, but it was just so funny and lively and immersive.
  2. ‘Longhand’ by Andy Hamilton – I had some reservations about reading a book written by hand (in beautiful handwriting though!) However, I was absolutely transfixed by this extremely quirky and humorous novel with a surprising Classical theme.
  3. ‘The Gran Tour: Travels with My Elders’ by Ben Aitken – the charming Bill Bryson-esque travel writing had me totally engaged in this (true) tale of a young man’s coach trips with Shearings (and his Gran!)
  4. ‘The Miseducation of Evie Epworth’ by Matson Taylor – I was prepared for a rom-com, but what I got was a gorgeous 1960s coming of age tale packed with humour and one of the best characters of the year.
  5. ‘A Tomb With a View’ by Peter Ross – I’ve tried to get everyone I know to read this! I thought I’d like this non-fiction telling of stories of graveyards and their people; I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did.

Affiliate links to my books of the year (so far) – I may earn a small commission on any purchases at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting my blog!

So that’s my Goodreads 100! It’s been an odd year – I don’t usually expect to read 100 books, let alone 100 books by October. I hope you’ve enjoyed my trawl through my reading so far this year and thank you for visiting and supporting my blog.

Header photo with thanks to Floris Andréa for sharing their work on Unsplash.

October Wrap-Up and November TBR

How is it that time again?! The end of another month and another step nearer Christmas (yay!) and the end of 2020 (*huge sigh of relief*).

This month I have read 11 books and hit my GoodReads Challenge target of 100 books for the year!

It’s been a funny month with some real reading slumps as well as some absolutely BRILLIANT books. So, without further ado, here’s what I read this month…

(Links to books already published are affiliate links – thank you for supporting my blog with any purchases).

October Wrap-Up

I started the month with the brilliant ‘More Than a Woman’ by Caitlin Moran – an often funny, fresh and brutally honest take on what it means to be a middle-aged woman. This was my first five-star read of the month – you can see my review here.

After this, I read ‘Jeeves and the Leap of Faith’ by Ben Schott, a new Jeeves and Wooster novel written with the blessing of the PG Wodehouse estate. Nothing quite hits the highs of Wodehouse’s original novels, but Schott has done a great job of the language and comic elements. You can read my review here.

Next up was a blog tour for ‘The Creak on the Stairs’ by Eva Bjorg Aegisdottir, a chilling and dark piece of Nordic Noir crime fiction. Set in Iceland, this follows Chief Investigating Officer Elma as she tries to solve a murder that is stirring up the unsavoury past of some people in the small town of Akranes. You can read my blog tour post here.

Then came ‘The Servant’ by Maggie Richell-Davies, a dark historical tale of a girl who has fallen on difficult times in Georgian London. This book won the Historical Writers’ Association award for a (then) unpublished novel and is definitely worth a read – my review is here.

One of my audiobooks (listened to in the car with my kids) this month was Roald Dahl’s ‘Boy’, read by Dan Stevens. We all enjoyed this one – a lively performance of a book that I’ve loved since childhood. It has been a joy to relive the experiences of Dahl at school at Repton, on holiday in Norway, with his eccentric family and upsetting teachers and sweet-shop owners alike.

Next up was ‘The Phoenix Project’ by Michelle Kidd for another blog tour in November. This was a fast-paced thriller with a wide scope – London, Paris, Africa, Russian spies and the British Government – and all very tense! Watch this space for my blog tour review.

Then I enjoyed Walburga Appleseed’s ‘The Princess and the Prick’, a short book with some very concise feminist retellings of fairy tales, myths and nursery rhymes. Beautifully illustrated, this managed to pack plenty of food for thought into a small space.

Another short but powerful book was ‘Essex Girls’ by Sarah Perry, a feminist celebration of the qualities of the Essex Girl stereotype. In Perry’s book, Essex becomes a state of mind rather than a geographical location and we are introduced to a host of fabulous women from history. My review is here.

Another of my five-star books this month was ‘Practically Perfect: Life Lessons from Mary Poppins’ by Katy Brand. Anyone with any love for the 1964 film should read this as it is fascinating but delightfully comforting. My review can be found here.

Then I listened to another audiobook, ‘The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid’, a charming and funny book about Bill Bryson’s experiences of growing up in the 1950s in Des Moines in Iowa. This one is read by Bryson himself and his dry wit really comes through in the recording.

Finally, I finished the month with ‘The Devil and the Dark Water’ by Stuart Turton, a historical crime novel that I absolutely loved. You can read my review here.

November TBR

I am absolutely awful at predicting what I will read in the future – I read according to my mood and who knows where that may take me!?

However, I do have a lot of NetGalley ARCs that I should read. Here is just a selection:

  • ‘The Shape of Darkness’ by Laura Purcell – I loved her previous books and this one promises to be equally fabulous.
  • ‘The Whole Truth’ by Cara Hunter – this is the latest in a great series of police procedurals in which we follow DI Fawley as he tries to uncover truth. I’ve loved the other books so have high hopes for this.
  • ‘The Dead of Winter’ by Nicola Upson – another series I’ve followed for a long time, this one puts crime writer Josephine Tey into the role of detective against the backdrop of Europe in the lead-up to World War II.
  • ‘Hyde’ by Craig Russell – Russell’s first book, ‘The Devil Aspect’, was amazing and I hope this one will be every bit as good. Set in Victorian Edinburgh and featuring a series of mysterious ritualistic murders, this looks like it will be a dark and thrilling read.
  • ‘Mr Wilder and Me’ by Jonathan Coe – I’ve loved previous books by Coe and this, set in the heat of the 1977 summer, looks glorious.
  • ‘Nick’ by Michael Farris Smith – this new book about the early life of the fictional narrator of ‘The Great Gatsby’ looks really interesting.
  • ‘Lie Beside Me’ by Gytha Lodge – the latest in another crime series that I’ve enjoyed vey much. This is the latest to feature DCI Jonah Sheens.
  • ‘Let’s Do It: The Authorised Biography of Victoria Wood’ by Jasper Rees – I’ve been granted this one on audiobook and am looking forward to learning more about Wood from her closest friends and colleagues (some of whom narrate the book).

This is ignoring the huge stacks of books in my house and my jam-packed Kindle so we shall wait and see what I actually manage to read!

Header photo with thanks to Alex Geerts for sharing their work on Unsplash.

WWW Wednesday: 28th October, 2020

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Taking on a World of Words. Anyone can take part and it is a great way of sharing what you have just finished reading, what you are currently reading and what is next on the TBR.

Links are provided for books already published – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases (at no extra cost to you!)

Hurrah! The reading slump appears to be at an end! I’d not read much in the past few weeks, despite having excellent books (and ones I’ve really enjoyed).

No more! It is no coincidence that this coincides with half term holidays, but I’ve managed to read a lot this week and I’ve LOVED what I’ve read.

What have you recently finished reading?

My kids and I finished our ‘reading’ (via audiobook) of Roald Dahl’s ‘Boy’. They both absolutely loved the stories and the narration by Dan Stevens (who brings the anecdotes to life with some great accents and voices).

I have also just finished ‘The Phoenix Project’ by Michelle Kidd, the first in a series featuring DI Jack MacIntosh. It’s a page-turner of a thriller on a huge scale with twists that just keep coming! This is for a blog tour in November so keep an eye on the blog for my stop on the tour.

Next up was ‘The Princess and the Prick’ by Walburga Appleseed, a collection of feminist retellings of fairy tales, nursery rhymes and myths. It’s clever and funny, although I anticipated a few more words – each story is encapsulated in a few sharp and to-the-point sentences and accompanied by some brilliant illustrations. It’s thought provoking about sexism, dodgy moral codes and issues around consent among other things and definitely worth a read!

Then I read ‘Essex Girls’ by Sarah Perry, a book I was really looking forward to as I am an Essex girl by birth. It was exciting to read Perry’s comments on Chelmsford, my home town, which is where she grew up too. I loved the feminist take on the notion of the ‘Essex girl’ as someone who is outspoken and fearless and unconventional. At only about 80 pages, this is a short but fascinating read about some historical Essex girls and their impact on the world. You can read my full review here.

Finally, I read ‘Practically Perfect: Life Lessons from Mary Poppins’ by comedian Katy Brand. I read this in one sitting, absolutely loving the nostalgic tone of the writing combined with some really incisive ideas about the film and its messages. You can read my review here.

What are you reading now?

I’m still reading (or have started reading) an awful lot of books and I cannot decide what to finish first as they are all great!

I’m still reading ‘The Devil and the Dark Water’ by Stuart Turton, a fabulous historical murder mystery – I’m rattling through this now and it is gripping.

My reading of ‘Pandora’s Jar’ by Natalie Haynes is also still ongoing – I love the depth of analysis of the women from mythology.

I’m also nearing the end of my audiobook, Bill Bryson’s ‘The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid’ – this autobiography about growing up in 1950s small-town America is fascinating, funny and read by Bryson himself.

Finally, I’ve also started ‘Books for Living: A Reader’s Guide to Life’ by Will Schwalbe which someone on Twitter (sorry, I can’t remember who!) recommended when I wrote my post on The Best Books about Books. It’s very promising so far – I love reading about other people’s reading experiences.

What do you think you will read next?

As my book buying habits haven’t taken into account the reading slump, I have plenty of options!

I’m looking forward to moving onto the audiobook of ‘Let’s Do It’ by Jasper Rees, the biography of the late, great Victoria Wood.

I’m also hoping to clear some of the NetGalley shelf over half term – Laura Purcell’s ‘The Shape of Darkness’ and Cara Hunter’s ‘The Whole Truth’ still await, as does ‘Hyde’ by Craig Russell which looks amazing – I loved his previous book, ‘The Devil Aspect’, so I am looking forward to this.

I don’t know why I even try and predict what I’ll read next…I’m such a mood reader that it is impossible to tell where I’ll end up. I am quietly craving a vampire book though… (*buys ‘The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires’ by Grady Hendrix*)

‘Essex Girls’ by Sarah Perry

I wanted to read this as soon as I heard about it! I was born in Essex myself (in Southend-on-Sea) and have had rather negative experiences of the ‘Essex Girl’ stereotype, so any discussion of this was absolutely welcome – and probably well overdue.

Having grown up with the Essex Girl jokes – white stilettos, Sharon and Tracy, blonde hair, ha ha bloody ha – I was intrigued by this book. No-one I knew fitted the stereotype that I was constantly being faced with, yet it endured.

Sarah Perry, author of ‘The Essex Serpent’, has written this book for – as she puts it on the cover – ‘profane and opinionated women everywhere’. She attempts to reclaim the ‘Essex Girl’ as a type – someone who is strong-minded, unconventional and unafraid to be herself. In this book, Essex isn’t a geographical location, it’s a state of mind.

It’s only a short book, but it covers an awful lot of ground – the historical roots of this brand of womanhood (witchcraft – Essex did more than its fair share of witch-burning), some inspirational historical women (some from Essex, some with the mindset) and Perry’s own experiences of growing up in the county are all explored. It’s engagingly written and I really loved the feminist reclaiming of the stereotype – Perry sets up Essex womanhood (geographical or metaphorical) as something to take pride in, to celebrate.

‘It has become a habit to conceive of women – both historically and currently – not by their achievements, but by the restraints placed upon them; to study the locked door, and fail to see the windows broken from inside.’

– Sarah Perry, ‘Essex Girls’

I found Perry’s arguments interesting and convincing – it is definitely a thought-provoking read and introduced me to some characters from history who were fascinating and ground-breaking in their own ways.

The added bonus for me was the focus on the Essex landscape in which I grew up – St John’s Hospital, Widford, Moulsham and Wood Street all feature and reminded me of my life in Chelmsford as a child and teenager.

Even without the familiarity with Essex, there is plenty to enjoy here as Perry unpicks the Essex Girl stereotype and reassembles it into something much more positive – and much more inspiring! She – quite rightly – shows us that there are many models of ‘Essex Girl’ and the common ground between them – the strength, the authenticity, the outspokenness – is what should be celebrated.

If you’d like a copy of this book, please use my affiliate link below – I earn commission on any purchases at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting my blog!

WWW Wednesday: 21st October, 2020

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Taking on a World of Words. Anyone can take part and it is a great way of sharing what you have just finished reading, what you are currently reading and what is next on the TBR.

Affiliate links are provided for books already published – thank you for supporting my blog with any purchases.

What have you recently finished reading?

It hasn’t been a great reading week for me – I’m finding it hard to concentrate on books at the moment, even ones that I am loving!

I have just finished ‘The Servant’ by Maggie Richell-Davies, an immersive historical crime novel set in Georgian London and featuring a fabulous heroine who really does get put through some tough times. You can read my review here.

What are you reading now?

Because I can’t focus on any one thing for very long, I’ve started a lot of books!

I’m listening to the audiobook of Roald Dahl’s ‘Boy’ with my children which is read – rather well, it must be said – by Dan Stevens of Downton Abbey fame. We are all loving this one and anything that can get my 9 year-old interested in an actual book is nothing short of a miracle!

I’m also listening to Bill Bryson’s ‘The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid’, the story of Bryson’s childhood in 1950s America. I’ve always enjoyed Bryson’s travel books but hadn’t come across this collection of autobiographical tales before. It’s (as expected) funny, interesting and engagingly read by the writer himself.

I’ve finally started reading Stuart Turton’s ‘The Devil and the Dark Water’ which is…dark so far! It’s early days but it seems to be building a historical setting that I can really buy into.

I’m also still reading ‘Pandora’s Jar’ by Natalie Haynes. I really like this exploration of the (perhaps unfair) portrayals of women from the world of Greek myth. It is a very involved read though and requires concentration so I’m not progressing as quickly as I thought I would.

What do you think you will read next?

Unfortunately, my reading slump hasn’t coincided with a desire to stop requesting books on NetGalley or buying even more 99p Kindle deals. I am not short of books to read.

Catching my eye at the moment though are the new Cara Hunter book, ‘The Whole Truth’ and ‘The Shape of Darkness’ by Laura Purcell.

Given my new-found love of audiobooks, I’m also thrilled to have been given access to the audiobook biography of Victoria Wood, ‘Let’s Do It’ by Jasper Rees and narrated by a selection of Wood’s friends and colleagues including Julie Walters and Celia Imrie. It’s a slightly daunting 20 hours of listening but I loved Victoria Wood and am looking forward to finding out more about her life.

Header photo with thanks Joanna Kosinska for sharing their work on Unsplash.

‘More than a Woman’ by Caitlin Moran

I love Caitlin Moran. I think she is funny, brave and always readable. I love the fact she has turned her considerable journalistic writing skills into a career in which she produces brilliant fiction and non-fiction books. She is the reason I have a Times subscription (she is a regular writer for them) and a shelf full of her previous books.

That needed to be said up front. Although I read and review lots of books, I’m not the most impartial reviewer in this case. Evidence: I pre-ordered this book and paid out of my own pocket! No ARC, no waiting for the prices to come down, no second-hand copy, no waiting for Christmas…honestly, this is all so out of character for me!

With that said, I did wonder how she would have enough to say about the topic of being a woman. She covered a lot of ground (rather marvellously) in her book ‘How to be a Woman’ ten years ago – how much more is there to say?

Loads, it turns out. Moran is now in her forties (like me) and has plenty to say about this stage in her life. It is in middle age that (Moran observes) life becomes less about you and more about everyone else – your children growing up, pressures of work, ageing parents – and it is really tough. You aren’t the same person as you were ten years ago and it needs a whole new way of navigating. Add into this the current state of society – it’s safe to say the patriarchy hasn’t yet been smashed – and Moran has plenty to write about.

This book is structured into chapters denoting an hour in the middle-aged women’s day. Thus, we are taken from 7am (The Hour of ‘The List’) through various points in the day – The Hour or Parenting Teenage Children (eeek – not looking forward to this myself!), The Hour of Housework, The Hour of Crisis… It is all hugely relatable and it is strangely comforting that the things I stress about seem to be universal.

Particularly striking for me was ‘The List’ as I’ve done a lot of thinking about mental load recently and the fact that women seem to bear the brunt of the thinking about things. It was heartening to read Moran’s own list and think that I am not the only one trying to keep on top of work, parenting, marriage, life admin, pet care…

Yes, there are a lot of serious points made here about women’s place in society and the pressures to ‘have it all’ (read: ‘do it all’). However, it is also absolutely hilarious and Moran is unafraid to share some rather intimate things. It is like a chat with your best friend, if your best friend is a totally unfiltered over-sharer! The bathwater thing (you’ll have to read it) really made me laugh out loud…

As well as being laugh-out-loud funny in places, there are some really serious points, especially Moran’s daughter’s fight with anorexia. I found the story extremely moving and am glad that Moran (and her daughter, because it was shared with her permission) included this intimate story that shows that each family has its struggles behind closed doors.

This is a feminist book but one that should be required reading for everyone – it is so insightful and engaging that I think anyone would enjoy it (and probably learn something along the way).

Please do go and buy a copy of this book. If you are a women of a similar age to Moran (or live with one) then you will recognise a lot here. It is uplifting and extremely funny, but will leave you with a lot of food for thought.

If you’d like a copy of this, please use my affiliate link below – this earns my blog commission at no extra cost to you.

‘A Tomb With a View: The Stories and Glories of Graveyards’ by Peter Ross

This book was one of the huge number published on 3rd September and one that I had pre-ordered because I had heard such good things about it. This turned out to be money extremely well-spent!

I realise that a book ostensibly about death, graveyards and memorials isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I urge you to trust me on this one.

This book is actually so much more about life than death – Ross explores some brilliant life stories and – over the course of the book – speaks to lots of people who speak passionately about graveyards, memorials and the rituals surrounding death. These range from someone who manages and cleans remote war graves for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, makers of memorials, those who tend graveyards, those involved with burials of all forms, historians overseeing ossuaries and people mourning their own lost loved ones. All are fascinating and passionate about their topics, their stories at once moving and often humorous or quirky.

Ross has sought out a whole range of stories around his central theme of graveyards – the book is more than Ross visiting tombs and telling the stories of the occupants. Instead we hear of unmarked graves for babies, a witch, a prostitutes’ graveyard finally being recognised by the church, groups of volunteers fundraising to save burial grounds, Karl Marx cookie-cutter souvenirs, conscientious objectors and so much more. All of life is here.

As much as death, life and the people left behind are the focus and there are moments of joy and comfort here as well as grief and tragedy.

Although Ross’ role in this book is to illuminate, to interview, to document, he is also a brilliant guide through the diverse topics that the book covers. He writes beautifully and is unafraid to ask questions or seek out the unusual – a bit like a Louis Theroux of graveyards! It is clear that he is hugely invested in the stories he is telling and the stories are thoughtfully and respectfully told. It never steps into the realms of the mawkish or distasteful.

Reading about all these people united by the theme of death was an incredibly intense experience, but one I found ultimately and profoundly comforting. There was a real sense of the cycles of life, the respect for the dead and the care for the living that was strangely uplifting.

I highly recommend this book – it isn’t depressing or a tourist’s guide to graveyards as you may expect. It is life-enhancing, always fascinating and beautifully-written.

A (fairly rare!) five stars from me.

If you’d like your own copy of this brilliant book, please use my affiliate link below. I may earn commission on purchases at no extra cost to you.

‘Life in Pieces’ by Dawn O’Porter

This book, to be published on 1st October, is a non-fiction journal of the lockdown period in spring/summer 2020 by the journalist, writer and television presenter, Dawn O’Porter.

I really like Dawn O’Porter. Having watched several of her documentaries and read a couple of her novels, I’d say I was pretty much sold on her work and so was very much looking forward to reading this book, a diary of her lockdown experiences. She lives in LA with her actor husband and two small sons so I was fairly confident that her experiences of lockdown wouldn’t be anything like mine!

Saying that though, O’Porter’s experiences are pretty relatable for anyone who has lived with small children. The potty training, the sleep deprivation, the repetitive questions about favourite dinosaurs…I think most people would recognise something there! Add into this pet ownership, navigating the weird new world of lockdown, preparing for a house move, cooking, and the ups and downs of marriage and I expect that something in this book will strike a chord with everyone.

Other reviewers have mentioned that it is a bit soon to be reading about lockdown. As we seem poised on the edge of a second wave of coronavirus, I can totally understand that this book might be a bit too much for some people. As it was, I didn’t particularly focus on the lockdown theme as O’Porter writes engagingly about things not connected to the virus.

Yes, it was lockdown that meant she had to spend more time with her kids, but the anecdotes about family life are funny and entertaining. Indeed, there’s plenty here that’s not corona-themed, such as O’Porter’s grief about the death of her friend, Caroline Flack, or her musings on the death of George Floyd from the centre of LA’s protest-zone (where she lives).

At its best, this book is hilarious and fresh – a funny and lively take on a time that challenged most of us. However, for me, the political elements of the book were slightly less successful and a bit discordant after the candid, confessional style of the rest. It was interesting to hear O’Porter’s views on racism and anti-racism, but it did move the book from something fairly light and entertaining to something more didactic, which wasn’t really what I was after.

Overall. if you like Dawn O’Porter’s writing then there is a lot you will like here. Some of the things she writes about are relatable, some are a bit banal and some are a bit odd (she lost me at the crystals). Some things are very funny and others sad. What isn’t in doubt is O’Porter’s ability to entertain with her writing and it is for this reason that I’d recommend this book.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Header photo with thanks to engin akyurt for sharing their work on Unsplash.

WWW Wednesday: 16th September 2020

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. It’s open for everyone to join in and share what they have been/are/will be reading!

Affiliate links are provided for books already available – I may earn commission on any purchases at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog!

What are you currently reading?

I’ll admit that I’m still reading ‘Unto This Last’, the fictionalised biography of John Ruskin, for a blog tour later in the month. The length of the novel and the complexity of the writing mean that I’m slowing and savouring this one!

I’ve just started my buddy read with the lovely Jodie at Relish Books – we are tackling ‘Good Samaritans’ by Will Carver. It’s early days but all good so far.

What have you recently finished reading?

I’ve just read Gill Sims’ latest book in her ‘What Mummy’ series – this one, the fourth and last – is called ‘Why Mummy’s Sloshed’ and follows Sims’ protagonist Ellen through the parenthood highs and lows of having teenage children. My review will be on the blog nearer to publication date (1st October) but it is – delightfully and hilariously – more of the realistic and relatable views of parenting we have come to expect from Sims.

I’ve also just finished Ruby Wax’s ‘And Now For the Good News’, an uplifting non-fiction book about the things that humanity is getting right – something I really needed to hear about! The review will follow on the blog nearer to the publication date next week.

Finally, I finished an audiobook by Adam Rutherford called ‘The Book of Humans’. It is a really interesting analysis of how humans differ (or perhaps don’t!) from other animals. I also love Adam Rutherford’s voice and could probably listen to him read the phone book so all was good!

What do you think you will read next?

I am absolutely never accurate with this because new things arrive and bump everything else down the TBR!

I’m still very excited to read some of the line-up of ARCs I’ve got on NetGalley, although I’m trying to prioritise in order of publication. I’m keen to read Stuart Turton’s ‘The Devil and the Dark Water’, Laura Purcell’s ‘The Shape of Darkness’ and Nick’ by Michael Farris Smith (based on the narrator of ‘The Great Gatsby’).

I’ve also just received this glorious-looking book, ‘Cows Can’t Jump’ by Philip Bowne for a blog tour in October that is just calling out to be read! It’s a debut novel that’s already won a Spotlight First Novel prize and I am looking forward to it. It will be published on 24th September.

My non-fiction TBR is also looking huge and precarious! Jilly Cooper’s ‘Between the Covers’ (ARC), Dawn O’Porter’s ‘Life in Pieces’ (ARC) and Olivia Williams’ ‘The Secret Life of the Savoy’ are all clamouring for my attention!

I received these books (apart from the Will Carver and Adam Rutherford ones) from NetGalley or a blog tour company in return for an honest review.

Header photo with thanks to Robert Anasch for sharing their work on Unsplash.