This book is stuffed full of important topics - from colonialist abuse, to FGM, via corruption, drug dealing and bullying at work. The problem for me This book is stuffed full of important topics - from colonialist abuse, to FGM, via corruption, drug dealing and bullying at work. The problem for me was it felt like there were just a few too many themes and they started to detract from the overall flow of the book.
There were too many sub-plots for my liking. I'm not saying it was too complicated (as I'm happy to read a lot of complex novels) but it just didn't entirely work for me.
I liked the policewoman protagonist, I cared about the dead school teacher (if not so much the dead headmaster) but it all just felt rather 'laboured'....more
This was the first book I ever bought about coaching, but I only read it recently after taking a lot of training on the topic.
I don't particularly recThis was the first book I ever bought about coaching, but I only read it recently after taking a lot of training on the topic.
I don't particularly recommend this for anybody wanting to be a professional coach, but I do recommend it for any manager/leader who wants to bring more coaching into their interactions with their team.
WHY?
The author's philosophy about coaching is that it's very simple. That's fine if it's a relatively small part of your job, but if you want it to be a profession, this book only scratches the surface of what you need to know and what you need to commit to.
But, since there are far more people looking for this brief and every actionable introduction than there are looking to do the hard graft of academic study on the topic, I recommend it to those for whom it is intended....more
I used to adore Marian Keyes. Half a lifetime ago, I remember reading Rachel's Holiday and Watermelon on my honeymoon. I think my husband even read onI used to adore Marian Keyes. Half a lifetime ago, I remember reading Rachel's Holiday and Watermelon on my honeymoon. I think my husband even read one of them. For about a decade I was a firm fan and I would buy each book as soon as it came out. I was hooked. And then I got a bad one. I forget the name. It was something a bit woo woo about a star. I stopped reading her completely.
And then I found The Woman Who Stole My Life on my shelf and I have no idea where it came from. I was worried that I might hate it. I was worried that half a lifetime later, I might think it was a bit rubbish.
I was wrong.
I loved it.
I didn't feel like I had outgrown her. Sure, Stella is a lot younger than me, but the lifestage isn't so different. I cared deeply. And it's the first book I've ever read about somebody having Guillain Barre syndrome (something the son of a friend of mine had in childhood), so that was also fascinating.
This is a lovely love story. I adored the 'love interest', cared about Stella and her family, and it was the first bit of chick-lit I've touched in a very long time.
I shouldn't be such a snob. It was excellent....more
It’s a source of some concern to me that several of my favourite writers of novels and mysteries set in India have decided to write books about compleIt’s a source of some concern to me that several of my favourite writers of novels and mysteries set in India have decided to write books about completely different places. I was intrigued to see how Vaseem Khan would handle the challenge of writing a whodunnit from the point of view of not one but two contemporary female American characters.
Would it be a compliment to his flexibility to say that I kept having to remind myself that this very accomplished novel came from the man behind the Baby Ganesh and Persia Wadia/Malabar House novels?
Of course, Khan is actually a British author and I can understand his urge to break out of his Indian storytelling niche, but I did wonder why he chose small-town America over a UK setting.
He did well. Very well.
The tale is of a murder in a small town with a dominant family influencing everything that happens in Eden Falls. A young woman was found guilty of murder and sent to jail. But did she really do it?
I’m not going to give you any clues. Too many books are spoilers and this plot requires protection.
Mandy Hickson spoke to a group of Air Ambulance volunteers a couple of years ago and blew me away. Her personal energy is infectious and inspiring so Mandy Hickson spoke to a group of Air Ambulance volunteers a couple of years ago and blew me away. Her personal energy is infectious and inspiring so I bought the book.
I think that if I hadn't met her and seen her in the flesh, I wouldn't have enjoyed this book as much. I needed to have her voice and her spirit in my head when I was reading. The book, sadly, is a bit 'dry'. There's only so much I can take of detailed descriptions of flying.
If you are looking for 'bursting through the glass ceiling' type stuff, she's done it, but she's remarkably understated about it. ...more
I found this book when I was clearing my bookshelves. I have no recollection of buying it, but I definitely did. And it must have been in India as theI found this book when I was clearing my bookshelves. I have no recollection of buying it, but I definitely did. And it must have been in India as the price on the back is in rupees.
I'm glad I found it.
Whilst some would think it might be a little bit dated - focussing as it does on events from 2011/2012, culminating in the shocking gang rape and beating of the girl on the bus - it's sad to say that this is still India today, was India centuries ago, and if nothing changes, will be India one hundred years from now.
The book follows three key stories that were reported on by the Wall St Journal. They are the killing of a Catholic nun in a rural community, the shocking abuse of a toddler in Delhi, and the killing of the girl on the bus. Each story is shocking without being unnecessarily graphic. I have read other accounts of the bus killing and I wish those other authors had perhaps pulled a few punches as some of those images are very hard to erase from the memory. All of these reports went in newspapers, and perhaps for that reason some of the shock-factor has been dialled down.
In the case of Sister Valsa, we see a strong woman, not afraid to stand up to big mining companies and to attempt to support a young rape victim. But women who stand up sometimes get cut down. Life is cheap for women in such places.
For Baby Falak, a toddler bitten and beaten by her 14-year-old carer, whose older partner 'bought' a daughter, the hundreds of millions of people praying for her recovery, whilst her birth mother, almost as much a victim as her baby, is many miles away in Rajastan, married off to a man who bought her because the availability of young women for wives was so low in his part of the country. Mother is lured away from her first husband, a violent abuser, by a charming stranger who says he wants to marry her and give her a good life in Delhi. She's passed between various people who attempt to get her into prostitution before selling her to a new (quite caring and kind) husband, but not without separating her from her three children.
And finally, we have the Delhi bus rape story, probably the one that more of the world knows about. In December 2012, a young physiotherapy student had been to the cinema with a friend and was waiting for a bus to take them both back to her district of Delhi. Lured onto a bus that wasn't in regular service, the pair were beaten severely, she was violently raped, and the pair were thrown out on the street naked. She survived long enough to be flown to Singapore for treatment before dying of her injuries.
The style of the book was a little confusing and inconsistent. The Sister Valsa story flowed, the baby Falak jumped about a little, but the bus rape story was presented as what seemed like a series of newspaper articles, with some repetition. The telling of the story doesn't matter - these women's deaths are so powerful that any change in style is just a minor irritation.
I am not going to comment on Indian society - there are many people better qualified than me to do that. I have been travelling there for nearly 30 years and it pains me deeply that so little seems to be improving in the country that I love....more
I'm not a big fan of self-help books in general and this one hasn't changed my mind very much.
I find that usually there's a central argument that needI'm not a big fan of self-help books in general and this one hasn't changed my mind very much.
I find that usually there's a central argument that needs about 50 pages to explain, and the rest is fluff and repetition. Perhaps that's part of the technique - keep on saying it until the poor reader finally 'gets it'. Personally, I'd rather just have the gist of it.
The principles all make sense. There's nothing very surprising or innovative. Common sense advice.
I will download the templates at some point. And I'm sure I'll take some of his ideas into my coaching practice. But did it change my world? No....more
I'm going to struggle to say I've 'read' this book. It's not really that kind of book.
It's a bilingual visual dictionary - it can be used by people whI'm going to struggle to say I've 'read' this book. It's not really that kind of book.
It's a bilingual visual dictionary - it can be used by people who speak either language to identify the words they need in the other language.
Dorling Kindersley are particularly great at this type of thing, and undoubtedly the war in Ukraine has gifted them a best-seller. The book is ideal for both guests from Ukraine finding their way in the UK, and for their hosts. So much easier to look for a picture and find the right word than to plough through a thick conventional dictionary.
The layout is quite logical. It starts with 'people' - how to describe the human body, your family, your relationships and even your emotions. A pretty good place to start.
Next it's appearance and health, then home and 'services' - from banking to emergency services. Over more than 300 illustrated pages, it gives a lot of very valuable words.
What you won't get is any kind of sentence structure. This dictionary won't teach you a language any more than any other dictionary will.
In reality, most of the communication I see between Ukrainians and Brits is via Google Translate - but this book gives you something a bit more controlled and offers more of a chance of learning words, rather than leaving Google to do all the hard work.
Personally, I'm longing for the day when the war is over and I can take my basic Duolingo Ukrainina and this little book and go to visit what's left of this amazing country. ...more
This beautifully illustrated book tells of the history of Lloyd Loom furniture, the man who invented it, how it spread around the world, and how it's This beautifully illustrated book tells of the history of Lloyd Loom furniture, the man who invented it, how it spread around the world, and how it's still being made today.
Unless you live in a world entirely full of IKEA, you will have come across Lloyd Loom - probably in the home of an older relative. In my childhood, it was deeply unfashionable, especially as a lot of low-grade copies were knocking around. Reading this book gives you a sense of the genius of Lloyd, a man who believed in having creative ideas, and then letting other people commercialise them.
The book will help you to identify the age of any LL that you have, as well as understand its construction. Some of the photographs show beautiful and rare examples. Others cover designs you've almost certainly seen.
There is no direct pricing indication in this book - which is probably not a bad thing. My mother had an antique shop in the nineties and could bank on getting £60-£100 a time for some of the finer armchairs, but 20 years later, couldn't give them away. Furniture goes in cycles and Lloyd Loom will probably have its day again.
I have more than I really need - but find it hard to part with the chairs, in particular. I would eat my own liver for a fine example of one of their early sofas or coffee tables.
Strictly for those with an interest in the topic. ...more
I've been dabbling in Mind Maps for over 20 years, finding that a good one can be spectacularly useful but very hard to achieve.
I've tried both paid fI've been dabbling in Mind Maps for over 20 years, finding that a good one can be spectacularly useful but very hard to achieve.
I've tried both paid for and free software - because I get so frustrated doing them manually. I always want to move things around part way through.
I need to get back into Mind Mapping in the new year, so I pulled this one off my shelf as a quick reminder.
I know it works. I also know why it doesn't always work for me. So a quick scan through to get me back on track is always handy.
I think Mind Mapping has gone out of vogue. It's not quite the Pitman Shorthand of business, but it doesn't seem to be getting the attention that it used to. But I guarantee you, if you rock up for an interview for a job with all your important points captured in a Mind Map, your interviewer is either going to be so impressed they grab you straight away, or they're going to think you are absolutely crazy. ...more
If you are looking for a book about Ikigai as applied to business, this is not the book for you.
I was, and I feel a bit foolish for picking probably tIf you are looking for a book about Ikigai as applied to business, this is not the book for you.
I was, and I feel a bit foolish for picking probably the only book on the topic that doesn't cover the intersecting Venn diagram that most westerners think of as the Ikigai image.
That said, as the author points out, there's no particular reason why WORK should be your ikigai. For many of us, it doesn't need to be.
If you're looking for the reason why you jump out of bed with a smile on your face every morning and it isn't work, then I'd guess that's pretty normal and healthy.
It's a small book - not a tiny one, but certainly a small one. It took about 40 minutes to read from cover to cover.
A lot of it hit me with a sense of "Well, that's just obvious" but some things did resonate. I now 'get' why Marie Kondo is so big on 'joy'. Ikigai and Joy are intrinsically linked. Joy is also a word I use A LOT, so this book was speaking my language.
The best bit - for me - was the set of interviews with Japanese people explaining their own ikigai. I thought that illustrated the breadth and diversity of where joy comes from and what it means to people.
I bought this one for my Coaching and Mentoring course. I found it handy to dip in and out of, but it's not a book you can sit down and read from coveI bought this one for my Coaching and Mentoring course. I found it handy to dip in and out of, but it's not a book you can sit down and read from cover to cover.
Personally, I'm not sure it's my style. I don't struggle too much to come up with good questions, but I can see it may have its place if there's a particular direction you need help with.
It's one of my less used books on these themes....more
If this were the author's first book I could maybe have understood how awful it was. But clearly it's not. This guy has written dozens of books - indeIf this were the author's first book I could maybe have understood how awful it was. But clearly it's not. This guy has written dozens of books - indeed, I think there are 11 with this protagonist alone. I really don't get it. I could have believed it were self-published, it's that bad.
Finn Wright is suspended from the FBI so decides to come to the UK and stay with an old friend in the police force. They just happen to be in the right place at the right time when the local 'Lord' is murdered at his stately home during a cricket tournament.
This reads like the author has never been outside the US and did all his research by watching episodes of Downton Abbey. Nobody in the 21st Century calls somebody 'Old Bean'. The language is straight from the early 20th Century.
There is nothing to commend this book except that it's short. And even then, it felt too long to me. ...more
I've read Vox and Femlandia, so I wasn't too surprised at the tone of Q. It would say I liked it better than Vox, and on a par with Femlandia. If you'I've read Vox and Femlandia, so I wasn't too surprised at the tone of Q. It would say I liked it better than Vox, and on a par with Femlandia. If you're looking for a feminist near-future dystopia, Christina Dalcher is a safe bet.
In Q, every human being has a ranking - a Q - that indicates how smart and valuable they are to their society. We're with the first generation for whom this has become a standard, with the main protagonist's two daughters being born at a time when this is the norm. Their mother - Elena - is a school teacher, and their father Malcolm works for the organisation that created the Q system.
The action takes place in contemporary patches and flashbacks. In the former, Elena is bringing up her two girls who benefit from a 'best of the best' education in a so-called Silver School. Elena teaches in that same top level. If you're Q isn't high enough for Silver schooling, there's also a Green level but nobody wants to let their score slip too far, or they'll be sent out of state on the Yellow buses to be housed at a Yellow 'school' - where, let's say, not too much schooling is happening.
In this vision of America, they've got rid of all the immigrants and automated the low paid jobs. The top Q people get shorter lines at the supermarket, fast track access to all the good things in life, and better conditions. The rest are distinctly second or third class.
When Elena's younger daughter slips below the Q score needed to stay in her privileged school, she's sent a summons to go to the Yellow school in Kansas. Elena can't understand how the score slipped so low, nor how other girls in the neighbourhood have also been sent to Kansas, including ones she knows are smart. She arranges to flunk her own Q testing and get sent to Kansas to see what's really going on.
Husband Malcolm is a nasty piece of work. He adores his older daughter but is less engaged with the younger one. He holds all the cards. With a higher salary and position with the administration, he knows that if Elena wants to divorce him, he'll get the girls, the house, and maintain his Q standing.
The flashbacks are fascinating and start to reveal how Elena and Malcolm's teen years have had a direct impact on the Q system. Think of it as an extreme case of 'Revenge of the Nerds' but taken way too far. Malcolm is fully committed to a smarter America, no more stupid people, no more opportunities for the kind of people who would have treated him as an outsider in his teens.
How far with Elena go to bring down Malcolm's house of cards? How much will a mother do out of love for her daughter?
It's pretty smart. Not too 'clever', and very easy to follow the thinking. With Elena's grandmother a survivor of the Hitler Youth, there are plenty of parallels to be drawn although the level of jeopardy seldom goes even close to that of the Nazis. It's still pretty shocking.
You can't spend much time in India without the issue of the religious conflicts in Ayodhya raising their heads. Whilst this book isn't set there, the You can't spend much time in India without the issue of the religious conflicts in Ayodhya raising their heads. Whilst this book isn't set there, the action occurs under a cloud of the simmering racial tensions of a city where competing claims over a holy site have caused decades of trouble between India's Muslim and Hindu populations.
In this book, a group of local Hindus are preparing to take holy 'bricks' to Ayodhya for use in a controversial new temple.
Set in Uttar Pradesh, the book starts with the aftermath of a riot that left eight people dead, including Priscilla, the idealistic 24-year-old American who had been volunteering at a women's health clinic. The story is told through diary extracts, letters, police and journalist reports and interviews. There are plenty of voices chipping in with their take on the issues. Priscilla's parents have just arrived - bitterly divorced years earlier after the father's affair with his local secretary - hoping to understand what happened and to collect their daughter's effects.
This book is about prejudices - between religions, nationalities, castes and values. It's also a love story about two people divided by age, status, nationality and attitudes to relationships. Priscilla's married lover is the local bigwig, trapped (by tradition and perhaps a bit by choice too) in a loveless marriage. He wants to be with her but struggles with all he'd have to give up. She wants him to go to America with her, having the sense to see that she'd never be accepted in India as his partner. Despite having a wife and daughter, he can't handle HER not being a virgin. It's crazy, but entirely believable.
And against this backdrop, the locals are brewing for a fight.
It's very cleverly done. It touches so many different aspects of people's differences - of opinion, of belief, of heritage and much more.
I have to confess that by the end, I still wasn't entirely sure who killed Priscilla or why. And, oddly, I'm not sure that I needed to know.
A little like Kushwant Singh's 'The Train to Pakistan', this book takes major historical issues and humanises them through a love story and a tragedy.
It's good. Well worth a read and highly recommended....more
You can rely on Kathy Reichs and her protagonist, Tempe Brennan, for a good read, and this is no exception.
That said, it felt a bit longer than it neYou can rely on Kathy Reichs and her protagonist, Tempe Brennan, for a good read, and this is no exception.
That said, it felt a bit longer than it needed to be. Sometimes you only need a few cases to spot a pattern and this seemed to labour that pattern a little.
Daughter, Katy, is home from the army with a bit of PTSD. Tempe is getting annoyed with colleagues and neighbours, and everybody's running off in different directions trying to solve a bunch of crimes that don't - to start with, at least - seem to be related to one another. Once the pattern becomes clear, the motive is still very hard to discern.
This book is 21st in a series so of course there will be times when it feels a bit 'samey', but it gets there in the end, and I was pretty close to the end before the baddie showed their hand. ...more
Loading...
