Wants to read Les Miserables
book
Wants to read The Methods of Nonviolent Action
Finished reading March: Book One
Edited 52d ago
Wants to read Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began
Rated Another England: How to Reclaim Our National Story 6/10
"Our diverse literary heritage reveals that we do not _need_ a single national story"<br/><br/>I bought and read this book after seeing Caroline Lucas speaking with Zack Polanski during a live session of Bold Politics. It's a book that tries to reclaim "Englishness" from the weaponising that the Far Right have been using it for.<br/><br/>Overall, it's an interesting read, lots of history, both good and bad, lots of literature and how stories and poetry has been used over the centuries to act as a force for political change for good.<br/><br/>Solidarity and standing up for what's right is the theme the ran through for me.<br/><br/>From a technical perspective, I didn't enjoy that nearly every single page also came with a long paragraph of footnotes - which normally I skip (because it goes off to the end of the book and back, but these were inline on the same page), and completely broke the flow of what I was reading. I wish that these had simply been part of the written content rather than regular sidebars.<br/><br/>Then as I read, I felt like perhaps I wasn't quite the audience to fully appreciate the book. There's certainly a good chunk that is accessible, but it often felt like if I worked in politics this content would make more sense.<br/><br/>---<br/><br/>I did come away with 23 highlights and wanted to highlight more, partly to remember what I had read, partly as a "wow, I did not know".<br/><br/>I think if you enjoy your history and commentary _and_ literature, then you'll enjoy this book. I struggle to read non-fiction in any reasonable amount of time, so I often find by the time I get to the end of a book, I forget the important things from the start!<br/>
Edited 52d ago
Wants to read Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It
Edited 23d ago
Rated Lost Lambs 8/10
Enjoyable, well drawn characters, a pleasure to read. <br/><br/>I really enjoyed reading this book. The story floats like a butterfly from one character to the next and it works without losing the reader. <br/><br/>The story, I think, follows the Flynn family and though they're painted as somewhat dysfunctional, they're all spirited in their own journey. <br/><br/>There's a line towards the end that reflects on the mother's character not having *given up* on her art career, but having chosen to be a mother. The book definitely left me with this sense: that we're okay.<br/><br/>There is a strong religious thread in the book (not being religious myself) but it wasn't an agenda being pushed, but rather something for some of the characters to hang on to.<br/><br/>Easily enjoyable. I loved the characters and would definitely recommend.
Rated The Air Raid Book Club 6/10
Quick easy read. Little repetitive, but shines a nice light.<br/><br/>The story starts in 1938 and we follow Gertie as she plans to retire as a widow having run a bookshop and successful book clubs for many years.<br/><br/>That's put on hold when she agrees to take in a child from the Kindertransport - which I'd know about but hadn't read a great deal of detail. <br/><br/>As a parent myself, this is the first part that breaks my brain a little, and indeed this part is entirely based in history. An amazing effort and so terrible too. <br/><br/>The story then follows Gertie as she takes care of Hedy, a 15 year old German Jew who also longs to be reunited with her family.<br/><br/>The story takes us through The Blitz, the air raid shelters, rolling blackouts and rationing that took place over the years as Hitler and the Nazis spread through Europe.<br/><br/>I've not read any wartime books, so this was an experience. Obviously: harrowing. The story does also do a good job of making me believe the life that tries to march on.
Reviewed Fundamentally
Loved it. Intelligent and genuinely made me laugh.<br/><br/>This book was recommended in our work Slack, and _just_ pull quote for the book description, I found myself instantly buying it:<br/><br/>> By normal, you mean like you? A slag with a saviour complex?<br/><br/>The story follows Nadia, an academic who is pulled into a job with the UN to apply her proposal to rehabilitate ISIS brides so they can leave the camps and return home.<br/><br/>What I really enjoyed about this book was the exposure to completely different backgrounds to my own. So for an example, Nadia is Muslim. She has turned her back on her faith. She's gone into academia, and she's now offered a job in the UN to help these ISIS brides.<br/><br/>Most of the characters are completely different to the people in my real life, but the writing is steeped in reality (the author's note at the end explains that she, Younis, was a humanitarian worker known for her expertise on contemporary Iraq, and that though fictionalised, there's a lot of real experience in the story).<br/><br/>Nadia's character is witty, flawed, pissed off, broken and I found myself actually laughing out loud at some of the lines from the book. The book's blurb includes the following line, which I absolutely felt was accurate:<br/><br/>> A bitingly original, wildly funny and razor-sharp exploration of love, family, religion, radicalism[…]<br/><br/>I really enjoyed the book, and found it hard to put down - as seen in my 10 day read of what normally takes me a month.<br/><br/>For a first novel, from someone that on paper is very academic and doing _very_ serious work, this is A*. Love it.
Wants to read The Origins of Totalitarianism
Rated Rivers of London 8/10
Vivid voice, fun and dark and original.<br/><br/>I wasn't sure what I was getting in to reading Rivers of London (recommended multiple times on socials), especially as I kept finding the teens/young adult book cover for it (reminding me of the multiple covers the Harry Potter books had) - but I decided to jump in.<br/><br/>I quickly got sucked into the book and the narrative style that Aaronovitch used. For some reason I had Millie Bobby Brown as the voice which caused me a little confusion when I learn that the protagonist and narrator is called Peter Grant (I really didn't read the blurb) - but decided that she could still run the inner monologue.<br/><br/>The Rivers of London is a very London and British book (which I always especially enjoy because I can vividly see the places, hear the accents and usually feel the weather) that's a mix of modern copper plod story with fantastical (and certainly for me: original) characters from gods to vampires to ghosts and wizards.<br/><br/>There's a good balance of funny and witting against the (some times) gruesome and frankly pretty terribly bad things that make for the primary investigation for the protagonist, Grant, to work through.<br/><br/>Really fun stuff - I can definitely see myself returning for more in this series.
Rated The Satsuma Complex 6/10
Light on the brain.<br/><br/>Just the kind of read I wanted after a few longer books. Not 100% even throughout the book - but I'll come to that.<br/><br/>The squirrel from the cover features a nice silly-ish part of the story where the main character will often run into a local squirrel and add his own voice in a back and forth between him and the squirrel. The sort of thing I'd expect from a Bob Mortimer book.<br/><br/>I'm not 100% sure where the book's tone is supposed to sit. Some parts are particularly dark - police corruption, police harassment and modern day slavery. Juxtaposed next to funny little things like socks, squeaky shoes, a cranky neighbour and dog who's constantly disappointed with our main character.<br/><br/>The pages did turn quickly though, and it was easy reading. Nothing particularly to shout about, but not bad either.
Rated In Bloom 8/10
No quite the same murderfest from Sweetpea 1, but still enjoyably angry at the world.<br/><br/>I think I expected the same kind of murder spree from the first book, and it's not that at all (although Rhiannon, the protagonist, desperately wants that). It's actually written on the tin, In Bloom is Rhiannon's experience of being pregnant - which, for a change, rolls up all the shitty experiences into one.<br/><br/>I enjoyed, and laughed at, the cutting turn of phrases - the kind of brutal honesty that you might reserve for the closest of friends knowing that it's for the "inside voice".<br/><br/>I can see myself reading the next instalment in the book (though perhaps not so soon) and I'm not entirely sure where the character can go given the way the book ends, so that's definitely intriguing.<br/><br/>But just for the the record (my record!), Rhiannon is a terrible person!
Rated The Man Who Died Twice 8/10
Wreaks of "cosy crime" - and that's good.<br/><br/>There's a reason that Richard Osman's series has been a runaway success for many people (or at least I can believe it) - the story is well written, the characters are extremely well drawn and the pages are a pleasure to digest.<br/><br/>I keep thinking I'm further along in the series than I actually am because the characters have quickly become a staple of crime fiction in my head.<br/><br/>Although I did find I was a little suprised at the some of the more grusome passages (realising that doesn't really fit the "cosy crime" sub-genre). Those parts did take me out of the story a little. Again, I feel like I've had more of these characters than I actually have (this is the second Thursday book I've read), so there's no reason why a few hard edges wouldn't be part of the story.<br/><br/>I did, however, have one complaint. I was quickly getting annoyed with the diary that Joyce would write in. For some reason I was having a hard time believing that Joyce was writing diary entries in such a conversational style as a pen and paper job, especially when the style of her writing/thoughts read as if she would be telling her husband… who's already shuffled off. I'm not 100% sure why I found it distracting, but I suspect that's not going to reduce any amount in the next Thursday books, so I'll probably need to find a way around it.<br/><br/>Otherwise, a lovely read. Definitely feels as if I'm visiting these characters, and it's always a pleasure sharing a bit of time with them all.
Rated The Left Hand of Darkness 6/10
300 pages but wow it felt 4 times longer...<br/><br/>I found the writings quite difficult to consume. A lot, if not all the names were sounds but without any familiar rhythm, and Le Guin was describing, with I assume great accuracy a world with locations, cities, regions and mountains - but I was struggling to map it all. <br/><br/>Then the story was thread through this detail, which left me struggling to read and struggling to enjoy the book.<br/><br/>It's only when I hit around 60% and the two characters embark on a journey across the ice did I finally manage to engage properly. I really did feel the characters relationship change through their journey and felt their struggle, which I think is what turned this book, for me, from 2 star to 3.<br/><br/>There's a scene towards the end when the protagonist revisits the King of {whatever the name of the city was}, and the protagonist reflects on how the time has passed since his first visit much earlier in the book. I could empathise! It felt like a lifetime!<br/><br/>Probably a great book. Maybe passed me by though.
Rated Minority Rule: Adventures in the Culture War 10/10
> Maybe you've read this book, and you feel a sense of despair.<br/><br/>I think _before_ read the book I had a sense of despair. This book did an excellent job of articulating my despair. Articulating ideas that I couldn't put words to on my own.<br/><br/>I bought this book on pre-order after seeing Ash Sarkar on Pod Save the UK. An articulate, intelligent individual with strong opinions, and though I always struggle to read non-fiction, I didn't find this book hard in the way I had expected (sure, still took me a month, but that's pretty good for me).<br/><br/>It's hard to write a review without wanting to just repeat the entire book back to you. If you consider yourself a progressive, left or left leaning, I'd recommend this book. It's definitely not cherry, but it's not angry either. It does the work of laying out what we sort of already know. And importantly it's not anecdotes, around 20%+ of the book are external references that are peppered throughout the main text.<br/><br/>I've highlighted a lot of the content and hope that the messages will stay with me as I feel like her book is a useful tool for arming myself for the political battle we face in the age of 2025.