Rather than providing a matter-of-fact account of what she has done and when, Hurston mixes together fiction to create an origin story for herself. That said, the book was first published in 1942, and it shows many signs of its time. Continue reading Zora Neale Hurston “Dust tracks on a road”- book review
Deckard earns as much as he kills. He is a bounty hunter, whose job is to kill “andys” (androids) who have escaped to Earth. Continue reading Philip K. Dick “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” – book review
Naturally I was very excited to find that Joseph Conrad visited Mauritius too – and that he wrote about it. Continue reading Joseph Conrad’s “A Smile of Fortune”- book review
What better time to read Jared Diamond’s Upheaval? After all, the world is having a crisis of some sort at the moment. Sadly, the book doesn’t lay out a ten-step-plan to get ourselves out of the COVID-19 crisis, as it was published in 2019, a world away from what is actually going on now. Still. Jared Diamond’s Upheaval is a case study of 7 nations … Continue reading Jared Diamond’s “Upheaval” – book review
Girl Woman Other chronicles the lives of black British women who are linked either by family relations (the book covers several mother-daughter pairs) or tangential connections. Be warned though, the novel uses no formal sentences. Apart from commas, there is little punctuation. However, the sentence “chunks” tend to be separated by line divisions which makes me the book relatively easy to read. Girl, Woman, Other … Continue reading Bernardine Evaristo’s “Girl, Woman, Other” – book review
When I picked up The Secret Barrister, I expected something similar to a diary – the anonymized trials and privations of a barrister working in court. Instead, the book is a depiction of the functioning of the criminal justice system with a chapter each dedicated to the victim, the Prosecution (Crown Prosecution Service), the Defendant, the Magistrates Court, the Crown Court – you name it. I … Continue reading The Secret Barrister – book review
I have a history of not receiving feedback terribly well. When I was little and my Mum had the audacity to say that I was not vacuum cleaning in the corners, I would cross my arms and reply “You can do it yourself if you don’t like it”. The slightest criticism was a risk of me either giving up or bursting into tears. Obviously, as … Continue reading Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen “Thanks for the Feedback” – book review
If this was a realistic novel about spies in suits, I’d be so happy… Continue reading Jason Matthews “The Red Sparrow” – book review
Did I really ‘read’ William Dalrymple’s The Anarchy?
I let it waft around me, listening on Audible as I cooked dinner and I cleared the kitchen. That is surely not the reading it deserves. Continue reading William Dalrymple’s “The Anarchy” – book review
Though the Brave New World was written in 1932, its unashamed dualism feels eerily contemporary. Continue reading Aldous Huxley “Brave New World” – book review
