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- Third strike and you’re out… April 5, 2016
- “Angela’s Ashes” by Frank McCourt (1997) – a blistering if controversial tale of an unforgettable childhood March 28, 2016
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- Wish List old and new : March 2016 March 6, 2016
- “L’Amica Geniale” / “My Brilliant Friend” by Elena Ferrante (2011) – taking the world by storm February 24, 2016
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Category Archives: Non-fiction
“Angela’s Ashes” by Frank McCourt (1997) – a blistering if controversial tale of an unforgettable childhood
That was the month (of March) that was, and ‘Tis an understatement to say how frustrating it was that reading had to take such a back seat. Have relished following so many stories of everyone’s Irish Reading Month adventures and … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, Non-fiction
Tagged Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
13 Comments
“Cider with Rosie” by Laurie Lee (1959) – poetry in motion
Nothing whatsoever to do with “Under Milk Wood”, in fact couldn’t be a more innocent portrayal of youth in many ways – and there’s nothing even remotely as flamboyant about this man’s somewhat idyllic childhood in a remote village set in a … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, Classics Club Challenge, Non-fiction
Tagged Cider with Rosie, Classics Club, Laurie Lee
20 Comments
“The C-Word” by Lisa Lynch (2010) – telling it like it is
It’s not bloody right. Have just finished reading “The C-Word” and am feeling indignant and fed up with the injustice of it all. Lisa Lynch was diagnosed with breast cancer at just 28 after having already experienced the heartbreak of … Continue reading
“I Am Malala” by Malala Yousafzai (2013) & “Creating Room to Read” by John Wood (2013) – hope springing eternal
In these uncertain times of mass migration and seemingly solution-less problems, I have been bowled over by two very different yet parallel stories of hope in a world that is now struggling to deal with global issues on a scale … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, Non-fiction
Tagged Creating Room to Read, I Am Malala, John Wood, Malala Yousafzai
7 Comments
Literary Trail I – New York: Helen Mirren, “The Lady/Woman in Gold” & “The Audience”
Miracles never cease. If D hadn’t pulled off an amazing one-time-only week of work placement in New York, and if N hadn’t mentioned the idea of going to the cinema there and seeing “The Woman in Gold” before it came … Continue reading
“Teatime in Paris: A Walk Through Easy French Pâtisserie Recipes” by Jill Colonna (2015) – book review
Well, what a turn out for the books! Bit of a departure from the norm for me, but simply too good to resist… Found myself by sheer coincidence in just the right place at the right time last week: took … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, Non-fiction
Tagged Cookbooks, French pâtisseries, Jill Colonna, Mad about Macarons, Paris, Saint Germain des Prés, Teatime in Paris, Treize
13 Comments
“Love, Nina: Despatches from Family Life” by Nina Stibbe (2013) – book review
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. HAHAHA. Laugh-out loud funny. Thank you for the recommendation, S. Not since the original Bridget Jones hit the shelves back in 1996 has a book made me cackle so merrily. Helen Fielding had us all … Continue reading
Wellcome Trust Book Prize – winner announced 28th April 2015, and “The Iceberg: A Memoir” by Marion Coutts (2014) – book review
The 2015 winner of the perhaps not so well known “Wellcome Book Prize” has just been announced from its shortlist. Established all the way back in 1936, the Trust is the UK’s largest non-governmental source of funds for biomedical research, … Continue reading
Posted in Book Prizes, Book Reviews, Non-fiction
Tagged Andrea Gillies, Bill Bryson, book review, books, Do No Harm, Henry Marsh, Keeper: Living with Nancy, Marion Coutts, Mark Haddon, Rebecca Skloot, The Guardian, The Iceberg: A Memoir, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, The Observer, Tom Lubbock, Wellcome Book Prize
3 Comments
“Do No Harm – Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery” by Henry Marsh (2014) – book review
“What a bloody, splendid book” (The Observer). If K had not recommended this book, I probably couldn’t have touched it with a barge pole. Famous in the family for fainting and banging my head on radiators when children have picked … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, Non-fiction
Tagged book review, books, Do No Harm, Henry Marsh, The Guardian
14 Comments
“Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier (1938) and “Daphne du Maurier” by Margaret Forster (1993) – book reviews
Dare I say it – we got there first… Read of the month for our book group in March 2015 was none other than the British classic “Rebecca”. Some of us were revisiting it, others were coming ‘fresh’ to Daphne … Continue reading