Tag: Positive-only

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Mike Gayle – A Song of Me and You #bookreviews #positiveonly #5*

MY VERDICT? If you’re looking for a can’t put down summer read A Song of You and I by Mike Gayle is perfect. The story follows Ben and Helen, two old friends who reconnect after years apart and the ups and downs as they navigate their complicated past and present. Gayle’s characters feel so real and relatable, and his writing is touching and heartbreaking. I loved it, even though it made me cry. 5*

The Blurb:

Helen and Ben parted as heartbroken 18-year-olds and went their very separate ways. Twenty years later, mother-of-two-teenagers Helen is still in Manchester, a part-time primary teacher, stunned by the behaviour of her love-rat husband. In an old T shirt and scruffy jeans, she feels at the lowest point in her life. And suddenly, impossibly, Ben is standing on her doorstep. Tired maybe, lonely even, but clearly still the world-famous, LA-based multi-millionaire rockstar he has become.Can you ever go back? For Helen and Ben, so much has happened in the years between. But just to sit in the kitchen for a while and talk – that would be nice. Before the world comes crashing in. Friendship, love, heartache and hope collide in this unforgettable emotional journey, from the author of Half A World Away.

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Patrick Grant #bookreviews #positiveonly #5*

MY VERDICT? I really enjoyed Patrick Grant’s book Less. I expected it to focus on sustainability, which it did, but it also covered much more. The parts about the social impact of the decline in manufacturing, especially in northern towns, were very interesting. Grant explains how factory closures have hurt local economies and communities, leading to job losses and cultural decline. The book connects environmental issues with social and economic ones, using personal stories and historical context. Overall, Less is a powerful look at how our lifestyle choices affect both the planet and our communities.

THE BLURB:

In this passionate and revealing book about loving clothes but despairing of a broken global system Patrick Grant considers the crisis of consumption and quality in fashion, and how we might make ourselves happier by rediscovering the joy of living with fewer, better-quality things.

Weaving in his personal journey through fashion, clothing and the other everyday objects in his life, this is a book that celebrates craftsmanship, making things with care, buying things with thought and valuing everything we own. It explains how rethinking our relationship with clothing could kickstart a thriving new local economy bringing prosperity and hope back to places in our country that have lost out to globalisation, offshore manufacturing and to the madness of price and quantity being the only things that matter.

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Abi Dare – The Girl with the Louding Voice #bookreviews #positiveonly #5*

MY VERDICT? The Girl with the Louding Voice” is a total gem of a novel. Abi Daré’s poignant storytelling brings to life the journey of Adunni, a courageous young girl determined to overcome the many obstacles in her life. Adunni’s voice is as loud and compelling as her spirit, and drew me in from the very first page. 5*

THE BLURB:

Meet Adunni, a teenage girl born into a rural Nigerian village. Aged fourteen, she is a commodity, a wife, a servant. She is also smart, funny, curious, with a spirit and joy infectious to those around her. And despite her situation going from bad to worse, she has a plan to escape: she will find her ‘louding voice’ and get her education, so that she can speak up for herself – and all the girls who came before her.

As she turns enemies into friends and superiors into aides, Adunni will take you with her.

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Joe Hill – Heart -shaped box #bookreviews #positiveonly #5* #horror

MY VERDICT? Can you enjoy a book with a dislikable main character? Joe Hill’s Judas Coyne is an unpleasant misogynist who refers to his many younger girlfriends by the their birth state, not their birth name. He is, in short, a revolting man. But…the premise is fantastic; the tension unbearable and the plot hooked me in and didn’t let go. I didn’t know Joe Hill was Stephen King’s son until after I’d read it, but the influence is unmistakable. So, gross main character and dodgy attitudes aside, 5*.

THE BLURB:

Aging death-metal rock legend Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals…a used hangman’s noose…a snuff film. But nothing he possesses is as unique or as dreadful as his latest purchase off the Internet: a one-of-a-kind curiosity that arrives at his door in a black heart-shaped box…a musty dead man’s suit still inhabited by the spirit of its late owner. And now everywhere Judas Coyne goes, the old man is there–watching, waiting, dangling a razor blade on a chain from his bony hand.

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Mrs England – Stacey Halls #bookreviews #positiveonly #5* #gothicfiction

MY VERDICT? I’ve read – and loved- all Stacey Hall’s books. Historical fiction is one of my favourite genres and I really enjoyed this Edwardian Bronte-esque tale of family secrets and deception set in the wonderfully gothic Hardcastle Hall. 5*.

THE BLURB:

West Yorkshire, 1904. When newly graduated nurse Ruby May takes a position looking after the children of Charles and Lilian England, a wealthy couple from a powerful dynasty of mill owners, she hopes it will be the fresh start she needs. But as she adapts to life at the isolated Hardcastle House, it becomes clear there’s something not quite right about the beautiful, mysterious Mrs England.

Distant and withdrawn, Lilian shows little interest in her children or charming husband, and is far from the ‘angel of the house’ Ruby was expecting. As the warm, vivacious Charles welcomes Ruby into the family, a series of strange events forces her to question everything she thought she knew. Ostracised by the servants and feeling increasingly uneasy, Ruby must face her demons in order to prevent history from repeating itself. After all, there’s no such thing as the perfect family – and she should know.

Simmering with slow-burning menace, Mrs England is a portrait of an Edwardian marriage, weaving an enthralling story of men and women, power and control, courage, truth and the very darkest deception. Set against the atmospheric West Yorkshire landscape, Stacey Halls’ third novel proves her one of the most exciting and compelling new storytellers of our times.

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Just. Got. Real – Jane Fallon#bookreviews #positiveonly #5*

MY VERDICT? Humour and heart-tugging moments abound in this exploration of the pitfalls of online dating and the forming of unexpected friendships. Jane Fallon never disappoints. 5*.

THE BLURB:

She’s faked her profile picture. He’s just a fake . . .

When happily divorced Joni finds Ant via a dating app, neither is entirely honest about who they are.

But when they meet in real life, they fall for each other. Soon they are a happy, steady item. Until Joni discovers Ant is still on the app, still dating other women . . .

Having secret rivals devastates Joni. So she decides to take revenge. But not on them.

Can she turn these rivals into allies to get back at the real enemy . . . Ant

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Abi Morgan -This is Not a Pity Memoir #bookreviews #positiveonly #5* #audiobook #bbcsounds

MY VERDICT? I love using the BBC Sounds app for audio books when I’m out walking the dogs, so was very pleased to find Abi Morgan’s compelling memoir on there. What a book! Heartwrenching, darkly humorous in parts, honest and moving. Beautifully narrated by Nicola Walker. 5*.

THE BLURB: One morning in June, Abi had her to-do list – drop the kids to school, get coffee and go to work. Jacob had a bad headache so she added ‘pick up steroids’. She returned home and found the man she loved and fought and laughed with for twenty years lying on the bathroom floor.

And nothing would ever be the same again.

But this is not a pity memoir. It’s about meeting your person. And crazed late night Google trawls. It’s about the things you wished you’d said to the person that matters then wildly over-sharing with the barista who doesn’t know you at all. It’s about sushi and the wrong shoes and the moments you want to shout ‘cut’. It’s about the silence when you are lost in space and the importance of family and parties and noise.

It’s the difference between surviving and living.
It’s a reminder that, even in the worst times, there is light ahead.

Listen on BBC Sounds: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0c63xnz

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What I'm Reading

All the Lonely People – Mike Gayle #bookreview #positiveonly #5*

MY VERDICT? I loved this! Books with two time lines always hit the spot for me, and this was no exception. The depiction of loneliness seems especially poignant after the lockdowns. This book certainly had all the feels.

THE BLURB: In phone calls to his daughter in Australia, widower Hubert Bird paints a picture of the perfect retirement, packed with fun and friendship. But Hubert Bird is lying. Something has made him turn his back on people, and he hardly sees a soul. So when his daughter announces she’s coming to visit, Hubert faces a race against time: to make his real life resemble his fake life before he’s found out.
Along the way Hubert renews a cherished friendship, is given a second chance at love and even joins an audacious community scheme. But with the secret of his earlier isolation lurking in the shadows, is he destines to always be one of the lonely people?

Buy from ukbookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/all-the-lonely-people-a-warm-life-affirming-story-from-the-author-of-the-richard-and-judy-bestselling-half-a-world-away/9781473687387?aid=3892

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