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Absolutely Foxed
Book
'Wonderfully entertaining' Mail on Sunday; Profoundly important' Guardian Graeme Fowler - former...
The Analyst's Ear and the Critic's Eye: Rethinking Psychoanalysis and Literature
Benjamin H. Ogden and Thomas H. Ogden
Book
The Analyst's Ear and the Critic's Eye is the first volume of literary criticism to be co-authored...
House Rules
Book
Set in the familiar setting of a pub, House Rules follows the story of three unlikely heroes who...
Black Rainbow: How Words Healed Me: My Journey Through Depression
Book
Black Rainbow is the powerful first-person story of one woman's struggle with depression and how she...
Get Fit, Get Happy
Book
Get Fit, Get Happy isn't about just transforming the way you look. It's about transforming the way...
Healing the Heart and Mind with Mindfulness: Ancient Path, Present Moment
Book
Healing the Heart and Mind with Mindfulness is a practical book that provides strategies using...
ClareR (5542 KP) rated Mrs Death Misses Death in Books
Feb 15, 2021
This is such an original idea: Mrs Death. Death in this book is a black, working class woman. This turns on its head everything we’ve all grown up believing about Death, and I love this. Why shouldn’t Death be a woman? As it says in the book:
“For surely only she who bears it, she who gave you life, can be she who has the power to take it.”
Seems logical to me.
“And there is no human more invisible, more easily talked over, ignored, betrayed and easy to walk past than a woman; than a poor old black woman.”
The thought of walking past death on a daily basis and not realising that’s who you’re passing, is rather a disconcerting thought!
I liked the playful language, starting with the title and moving on through prose mixed with poetry, and parts were written in script form too. This wasn’t reading for the lazy: it kept me on my toes. The historical deaths seen from Death’s point of view were fascinating too.
I did find myself wishing that Mrs Death had found herself another ghost writer, because Wolf Willeford is clearly a vulnerable person with mental health issues - I did wonder if it was written to illustrate a form of psychosis.
Either way, I loved it and read it FAR too quickly. If this is Salena Godden’s first foray into prose, I will be looking out for what she writes next - and looking out for some of her poetry too, when I can get back in to a library!
Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with an e-copy of this book through NetGalley.
“For surely only she who bears it, she who gave you life, can be she who has the power to take it.”
Seems logical to me.
“And there is no human more invisible, more easily talked over, ignored, betrayed and easy to walk past than a woman; than a poor old black woman.”
The thought of walking past death on a daily basis and not realising that’s who you’re passing, is rather a disconcerting thought!
I liked the playful language, starting with the title and moving on through prose mixed with poetry, and parts were written in script form too. This wasn’t reading for the lazy: it kept me on my toes. The historical deaths seen from Death’s point of view were fascinating too.
I did find myself wishing that Mrs Death had found herself another ghost writer, because Wolf Willeford is clearly a vulnerable person with mental health issues - I did wonder if it was written to illustrate a form of psychosis.
Either way, I loved it and read it FAR too quickly. If this is Salena Godden’s first foray into prose, I will be looking out for what she writes next - and looking out for some of her poetry too, when I can get back in to a library!
Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with an e-copy of this book through NetGalley.
Hazel (2934 KP) rated Rabbit Hole in Books
Jul 20, 2021
The title of this book is absolutely perfect and after having read it, I feel like I went down a Rabbit Hole and am only just beginning to emerge!
I am a huge fan of Mark Billingham's work, particularly his Tom Thorne Series, but this is a standalone psychological thriller that explores the fractured mind of Alice Armitage and her quest to find a killer whilst an in-patient on an acute psychiatric unit.
I said I felt like I went down a Rabbit Hole and that's because the reader is immersed totally within Alice's mind; the whole of the book is written from her perspective and focusses on her trying to solve a murder whilst dealing with the mental health difficulties she and those around her are experiencing but from her point of view rather than a clinical one, i.e. simplistic, but with a bit of humour so it's not all dark and heavy going.
Alice is an unreliable narrator which had me scratching my head wondering what was actually real and what was only real from Alice's perspective. This, I think, was genius as it provided plenty of opportunities for distractions and mis-directions which worked well but mashed my head a little!
This wasn't an easy book to read and I have a feeling it won't appeal to everyone but if you want to read something a bit different, I would recommend but be prepared to join Alice in the Rabbit Hole.
Many thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK and NetGalley for my copy in return for an unbiased and unedited review.
I am a huge fan of Mark Billingham's work, particularly his Tom Thorne Series, but this is a standalone psychological thriller that explores the fractured mind of Alice Armitage and her quest to find a killer whilst an in-patient on an acute psychiatric unit.
I said I felt like I went down a Rabbit Hole and that's because the reader is immersed totally within Alice's mind; the whole of the book is written from her perspective and focusses on her trying to solve a murder whilst dealing with the mental health difficulties she and those around her are experiencing but from her point of view rather than a clinical one, i.e. simplistic, but with a bit of humour so it's not all dark and heavy going.
Alice is an unreliable narrator which had me scratching my head wondering what was actually real and what was only real from Alice's perspective. This, I think, was genius as it provided plenty of opportunities for distractions and mis-directions which worked well but mashed my head a little!
This wasn't an easy book to read and I have a feeling it won't appeal to everyone but if you want to read something a bit different, I would recommend but be prepared to join Alice in the Rabbit Hole.
Many thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK and NetGalley for my copy in return for an unbiased and unedited review.
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated The Disappeared (Jenny Cooper #2) in Books
Dec 11, 2020
205
Kindle
The Disappeared ( Coroner Jenny Cooper book 2)
By Matthew Hall
Review via Smashbomb! Link posted in commenonce read.
Two missing students. One sinister cover-up.
Two young British students, Nazim Jamal and Rafi Hassan vanish without a trace. The police tell their parents that the boys had been under surveillance, that it was likely they left the country to pursue their dangerous new ideals. Seven years later, Nazim's grief-stricken mother is still unconvinced. Jenny Cooper is her last hope.
Jenny is finally beginning to settle into her role as Coroner for the Severn Valley; the ghosts of her past that threatened to topple her, banished to the sidelines once more. But as the inquest into Nazim's disappearance gets underway, the stink of corruption and conspiracy becomes clear . . .
As the pressure from above increases, a code of silence is imposed on the inquest and events begin to spiral out of all control, pushing Jenny to breaking point. For how could she have known that by unravelling the mysteries of the disappeared, she would begin to unearth her own buried secrets?
I enjoyed this book so much! I really connected with Jenny I found a lot of common ground with her and with the two surrounding cities of Birmingham and Bristol! I sometimes struggle when a male author writes a female lead but Hall does it brilliantly! The story was interesting it kept you gripped from the start. The struggle for Jenny is balancing her being a mother with her high powered career all while having mental health issues caused by real life situations! I genuinely couldn’t put it down!
Kindle
The Disappeared ( Coroner Jenny Cooper book 2)
By Matthew Hall
Review via Smashbomb! Link posted in commenonce read.
Two missing students. One sinister cover-up.
Two young British students, Nazim Jamal and Rafi Hassan vanish without a trace. The police tell their parents that the boys had been under surveillance, that it was likely they left the country to pursue their dangerous new ideals. Seven years later, Nazim's grief-stricken mother is still unconvinced. Jenny Cooper is her last hope.
Jenny is finally beginning to settle into her role as Coroner for the Severn Valley; the ghosts of her past that threatened to topple her, banished to the sidelines once more. But as the inquest into Nazim's disappearance gets underway, the stink of corruption and conspiracy becomes clear . . .
As the pressure from above increases, a code of silence is imposed on the inquest and events begin to spiral out of all control, pushing Jenny to breaking point. For how could she have known that by unravelling the mysteries of the disappeared, she would begin to unearth her own buried secrets?
I enjoyed this book so much! I really connected with Jenny I found a lot of common ground with her and with the two surrounding cities of Birmingham and Bristol! I sometimes struggle when a male author writes a female lead but Hall does it brilliantly! The story was interesting it kept you gripped from the start. The struggle for Jenny is balancing her being a mother with her high powered career all while having mental health issues caused by real life situations! I genuinely couldn’t put it down!
