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Continue reading →: Book Review: The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler
Quite honestly, despite looking forward to reading a book I’d heard so much about and thought of as a brilliant idea, I found Ensler’s ‘Vagina Monologues’ awful in the extreme. The principle idea was a superb one – giving voice to women who have had to suppress sexuality and honesty…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: The Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling: The Complete Jungle Books [The Jungle Book & The Second Jungle Book] by Rudyard Kipling My rating: 4 of 5 stars Bias Alert: Any book which deals in any way with India or the Indian subcontinent automatically makes me sad – both while reading it and especially when…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
I’ll be blunt and say ‘Tales of the City’ is not the kind of book I would normally bother to read; and having now read it, it’s not a classic, I should warn you. I got hold of it because it is a favourite book of a very special friend…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: The Butterfly Effect by Jon Ronson
The Butterfly Effect by Jon Ronson My rating: 5 of 5 stars I often find myself championing strange, even unpopular, causes. Prostitution, for instance, is something I’d like to see un-demonized. Not because of some perverse predilection of mine (I’ve simply never found the idea of ‘stranger sex’ appealing) but…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’ll confess that I have only come to read this classic sci-fi novel because of the movie Bladerunner. My love for that film has been rekindled because of the sequel newly released. Those of…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy is proving to be a most annoying author, to say the least. For much of this story, her second novel, I frowned. The sense that Roy is actually a bit of a loony hasn’t left me since reading her classic ‘The God of Small Things’. ‘The Ministry of…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
I have become accustomed to disappointment when picking up a relatively new book (as in, written with the last 15 years) which everyone tells me is ‘a classic’. I can think of several such books I’ve read where, at best, they are good – but certainly not worthy of the…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: Talking Heads by Alan Bennett
Talking Heads by Alan Bennett My rating: 5 of 5 stars I’m late to the Alan Bennett fan club, I’ll admit. I’m also not ashamed to say that a more urgent interest in him has directly arisen from watching the film “The Lady in the Van” which I thought was…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: Five Go Gluten Free by Bruno Vincent
Five Go Gluten Free by Bruno Vincent My rating: 4 of 5 stars I never read reviews of books before I write one myself. I’d rather give my own thoughts and find I’m a lone voice than be influenced by the opinions of the masses. However, after writing a review…
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Continue reading →: Book Review: Five on Brexit Island by Bruno Vincent
Sometimes, you just want a book to chill out with rather than tax your heart or your mind. For that reason I picked up my two ‘Enid Blyton for adults’ books, bought for me as a Christmas gift, and decided to plough through them. They were obviously going to be…
