Han Kang’s The Vegetarian is one of these novels that I fundamentally fail to understand. There – I’ve said it – think of me as badly of me as you like. The story begins when a hitherto well-behaved and traditional wife, Yeong-Hye, suddenly decides to become a vegetarian. Her husband and her family are outraged. But is it really a simple case of ethical guilt … Continue reading Han Kang “The Vegetarian”- book review
There haven’t been any reviews on this blog for a while – I’ve been reading a few books, but of the sort that I’m usually slightly embarrassed about reviewing online (but read anyway). In the same way as I read a book about perfect skin, because of my acne…. I read a self-help book about finances, because my finances are not as great as I’d … Continue reading Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez – book review
The Good Immigrant is a collection of 21 essays by BAME (black, Asian, minority ethnic writers) exploring what it’s like to be an ethnic minority in the UK. As in all essay collections, (they share this strange quality with boxes of chocolates), there are some essays I love to bits, and some that left me with nothing more than a vague sense of appreciation. It’s … Continue reading The Good Immigrant edited by Nikesh Shukla – book review
As you might have realised, I have something of an embarrassing weakness for self-help books. Hand me anything that promises to help me improve myself and I will probably grab it. This particular book had a positive review in the Financial Times, and so… I bought it. When I was reading the review, I somehow managed to miss the fact that the book is about … Continue reading Perfect Skin by Alexandra Soveral
I wasn’t quite sure what I expected when I first picked up The Souls of Black Folk – but I certainly did not expect to encounter quite as many statistics… W.E.B. Du Bois wrote his PhD, The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America, 1638-1870, at Harvard, and his scholarly apparatus is in evidence in his essays examining “the problem … Continue reading The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois – book review
I listened to Stephen Fry’s Mythos as an audiobook – a version I highly recommend, as it is read by the author himself. I ended up listening to Mythos because I had a few credits on Audible that I had to spend very quickly, as I had decided to unsubscribe. Stephen Fry’s retelling of the Greek myths was on the bestseller list and I … Continue reading Stephen Fry’s Mythos – book review
This was my first Agatha Christie novel! Continue reading Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express”- book review
I reached for this book because I realized that although I had read several fictional accounts of slavery, I had not read any first-person accounts. I thought Frederick Douglas’s autobiography might be the perfect place to start. It is the first of three autobiographies that Frederick Douglass wrote in his own lifetime. It covers only the years of his enslavement, up to the point … Continue reading A Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave- book review
This book is absolutely fascinating, and here’s why anyone with an interest in history should consider reading it… Continue reading Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs & Steel – book review
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. You can find a list of topics for each week at That Artsy Reader Gir if you’d like to join in! This week’s topic is a Love Freebie – so I decided to list just a few of the literary couples that have happy … Continue reading February 13: Love Freebie (Romances, swoons, OTPs, kisses, sexy scenes, etc.)
