Gill's bookshelf: read en-US Mon, 28 Apr 2025 05:29:48 -0700 60 Gill's bookshelf: read 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Killing (CHERUB, #4) 828483
James' latest mission looks routine: make friends with Leon's kids, infiltrate his home and dig up some leads.

But the plot James begins to unravel isn't what anyone expected. And the only person who might know the truth is an eighteen-year-old boy.

There's just one problem. The boy fell to his death thirteen months earlier.]]> 306 Robert Muchamore 0340894334 Gill 0 ya-children-s, pre-2006 4.13 2005 The Killing (CHERUB, #4)
author: Robert Muchamore
name: Gill
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/28
shelves: ya-children-s, pre-2006
review:

]]> Stealing Happy 228540594 304 Brian Conaghan 1526653982 Gill 4 4.00 Stealing Happy
author: Brian Conaghan
name: Gill
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/22
date added: 2025/04/28
shelves: 2025, library, month-04, ya-children-s
review:

]]> The Bletchley Riddle 205064698 This middle grade historical adventure follows two siblings at Bletchley Park, the home of WWII codebreakers, as they try to unravel a mystery surrounding their mother’s death.

Remember, you are bound by the Official Secrets Act�

Summer, 1940. Nineteen-year-old Jakob Novis and his quirky younger sister Lizzie share a love of riddles and puzzles. And now they’re living inside of one. The quarrelsome siblings find themselves amidst one of the greatest secrets of World War II—Britain’s eccentric codebreaking factory at Bletchley Park. As Jakob joins Bletchley’s top minds to crack the Nazi's Enigma cipher, fourteen-year-old Lizzie embarks on a mission to solve the mysterious disappearance of their mother.

The Battle of Britain rages and Hitler’s invasion creeps closer. And at the same time, baffling messages and codes arrive on their doorstep while a menacing inspector lurks outside the gates of the Bletchley mansion. Are the messages truly for them, or are they a trap? Could the riddles of Enigma and their mother's disappearance be somehow connected? Jakob and Lizzie must find a way to work together as they race to decipher clues which unravel a shocking puzzle that presents the ultimate challenge: How long must a secret be kept?]]> 392 Ruta Sepetys 0593527542 Gill 3
As an IT geek, I'd read a fair amount about Bletchley but it was interesting to learn about the enormous Polish contribution, and I enjoyed the inclusion of real historical characters like Alan Turing. Dropped a star for occasional Americanisms that took me out of the story - despite Lizzie and Jakob having an American parent, it's made clear that they are born and raised in London, where pedestrians walk on pavements, not sidewalks!

The ending is left open for more adventures and I would definitely read a sequel.]]> 4.12 2024 The Bletchley Riddle
author: Ruta Sepetys
name: Gill
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/25
date added: 2025/04/28
shelves: 2025, library, month-04, ya-children-s
review:
Middle grade historical fiction set during the early part of WW2, when the phoney war was over and it seemed like German invasion was imminent. 14 year-old Lizzie Novis and her 19 year-old brother Jakob are recruited to Bletchley Park's secret code-breaking operations.

As an IT geek, I'd read a fair amount about Bletchley but it was interesting to learn about the enormous Polish contribution, and I enjoyed the inclusion of real historical characters like Alan Turing. Dropped a star for occasional Americanisms that took me out of the story - despite Lizzie and Jakob having an American parent, it's made clear that they are born and raised in London, where pedestrians walk on pavements, not sidewalks!

The ending is left open for more adventures and I would definitely read a sequel.
]]> <![CDATA[CTRL HATE DELETE: The New Anti-Feminist Backlash and How We Fight It]]> 217464094

In the years since #MeToo � the largest social media facilitated feminist campaign in history � Roe v. Wade has been overturned in the United States, there have been attacks on reproductive rights in multiple countries and female political leaders have withdrawn from the world stage citing the level of abuse they get as a reason.


CTRL HATE DELETE takes a deep dive into how a collection of misogynists and their allies have turned male supremacist ideology from a niche set of beliefs into a mainstream movement.


With interviews from experts, influencers and activists, it outlines how to fight the rising tide of online misogyny and make online spaces more equal and inclusive.]]> Cécile Simmons 1447374851 Gill 0 to-read 4.67 CTRL HATE DELETE: The New Anti-Feminist Backlash and How We Fight It
author: Cécile Simmons
name: Gill
average rating: 4.67
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Murderer's Ape 33978302 A captivating story about dark truths and heinous crimes as well as unexpected friendships, with detailed black-and-white illustrations throughout. Perfect for fans of mystery and detective stories.

Sally Jones is not only a loyal friend, she’s an extraordinary individual. In overalls or in a maharaja’s turban, this unique gorilla moves among humans without speaking butunderstanding everything. She and the Chief are devoted comrades who operate a cargo boat. A job they are offered pays big bucks, but thedeal ends badly, and the Chief is falsely convicted of murder.

For Sally Jones this is the start of a harrowing quest for survival and to clear the Chief's name. Powerful forces are working against her, and they will do anything to protect their secrets.


From the Hardcover edition.]]> 605 Jakob Wegelius 1101931779 Gill 0 to-read 4.27 2014 The Murderer's Ape
author: Jakob Wegelius
name: Gill
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Accidental Tour-ist: (Final) Dispatches from the Road]]> 217387771 Ned Boulting's highly anticipated follow up to How I Won the Yellow Jumper

Picking up where his bestselling memoir left off 15 years ago, Ned Boulting's love for the greatest cycling race on earth has deepened, his fascination has been sporadically rewarded, his fitness has slowly declined and his hairline has receded�

Bringing the story up to the present day, Ned reflects on how the sport has somehow shrugged off the ghosts of its tainted past to reinvent itself. But his latest despatches from the front line of road racing don't stop at the finish line in Paris. Now graduated from reporting to commentating, his new role has seen him expand his horizons far beyond the reach of the Tour de France.

The Accidental Tour-ist takes us behind the scenes to bike races across the continent of Europe, to the Middle East, to China, Malaysia and around Italy six or seven times with a deep dive into life on the road of the Giro d'Italia.

Along the way, there is an unhealthy dose of confused encounters with surly waiters, mutual incomprehension in a variety of languages, sudden uplifting and bizarre encounters with strangers, wild dogs, Sicilian police officers, nonagenarian Presidents and lots and lots of professional cyclists. And there are stories born from the absurd rigours of weeks and weeks on the road surrounded by ex-racers who have become close friends, none of whom could be described as 'straightforward'. Quite the opposite.]]> 288 Ned Boulting 139941982X Gill 0 to-read 0.0 The Accidental Tour-ist: (Final) Dispatches from the Road
author: Ned Boulting
name: Gill
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Only Way Was Essex 16087434
In this bittersweet memoir Mays recreates the village, its travelling parson, local poacher and even the local drunkard. And in the bustling backstairs world of the squire's house where Spike served his apprenticeship we see a more privileged side to life. This warm and nostalgic portrait of a very different Essex opens a door to a distant past.]]> 320 Spike Mays 0349138796 Gill 0 to-read 3.25 1969 The Only Way Was Essex
author: Spike Mays
name: Gill
average rating: 3.25
book published: 1969
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Friends of Dorothy 203627418 The funny, wise and brilliant new novel from the star of QI and the author of Between the Stops

After much searching, the happily married young couple, Amber and Stevie think they have found the perfect spot in Grimaldi Square. Despite the rundown pub across the way, the overgrown garden and a decidedly nosy neighbour, number 4 is the house of their dreams. Stevie, a woman who has never left anything to chance, has planned everything so nothing can spoil their happiness. But ... upstairs in their new home, seated on an old red sofa is the woman they bought the place from - eighty-year-old foul-mouthed, straight-talking, wise-cracking Dorothy - who has decided that she's not going anywhere. It turns out that Dorothy will be only the first in a line of life-changing surprises.

Friends of Dorothy is a touching, funny novel about a family that is not biological, but logical; a story close to Sandi Toksvig's heart.<]]> 320 Sandi Toksvig 0349018987 Gill 4 2024, month-12, audio 4.02 Friends of Dorothy
author: Sandi Toksvig
name: Gill
average rating: 4.02
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/31
date added: 2025/03/11
shelves: 2024, month-12, audio
review:
Ludicrous premise aside, this is a funny and very readable work. I do enjoy intergenerational stories, and Dorothy is a great character.
]]> <![CDATA[The Wonder Team and the Forgotten Footballers (The Wonder Team #1)]]> 173510039
It's time to kick off a new adventure!

Loosely based on one of Leah Williamson's big inspirations, the Dick Kerr Ladies and their brave protest against the ban on women's football, The Wonder Team and the Forgotten Footballers is a fun adventure that comes from the heart.

When Leah discovers a mysterious time capsule with her two best friends, she opens up a whole new world of adventure! Transported a hundred years back in time, Leah, George and Mimi make an unexpected discovery � women’s football has been banned!

Along with their new friend Dot, Leah and the team must work together to make sure the all-important Championship Cup final still goes ahead. But with a mysterious figure working hard to ruin the team’s chances, Leah is in a race against time to put the clues together and catch the culprit before it’s too late!

The odds are against them, but time is on their side!]]> 210 Leah Williamson Gill 2 2024, month-12, ya-children-s 4.09 The Wonder Team and the Forgotten Footballers (The Wonder Team #1)
author: Leah Williamson
name: Gill
average rating: 4.09
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/21
date added: 2025/03/11
shelves: 2024, month-12, ya-children-s
review:

]]> Cupid's Revenge 121828145
Tilly isn't looking for a girlfriend, but her best friend Teddy is.

Enter Katherine beautiful, charming, and perfect for Teddy. So why does Tilly find herself using any excuse to join the theatre production they're starring in?

And why can't she stop thinking about Katherine?

Cupid's Revenge by Wibke Brueggemann is a hilariously honest novel full of heart, from the acclaimed author of Love is for Losers .]]> 319 Wibke Brueggemann 1529033756 Gill 3 3.83 2023 Cupid's Revenge
author: Wibke Brueggemann
name: Gill
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/26
date added: 2025/03/11
shelves: 2025, ya-children-s, kindle-ebook, month-02
review:
Not as good as Love Is For Losers but gets an extra star for the depiction of Grandad and the cruel randomness of dementia.
]]> <![CDATA[East West Street: On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity"]]> 27068666
East West Street looks at the personal and intellectual evolution of the two men who simultaneously originated the ideas of “genocide� and “crimes against humanity,� both of whom, not knowing the other, studied at the same university with the same professors, in a city little known today that was a major cultural center of Europe, “the little Paris of Ukraine,� a city variously called Lemberg, Lwów, Lvov, or Lviv. It begins in 2010 and moves backward and forward in time, from the present day to twentieth-century Poland, France, Germany, England, and America, ending in the courtroom of the Palace of Justice at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg in 1945. The book opens with the author being invited to give a lecture on genocide and crimes against humanity at Lviv University, welcomed as the first international law academic to give a lecture there on such subjects in fifty years. Sands accepted the invitation with the intent of learning about the extraordinary city with its rich cultural and intellectual life, home to his maternal grandfather, a Galician Jew who had been born there a century before and who’d moved to Vienna at the outbreak of the First World War, married, had a child (the author’s mother), and who then had moved to Paris after the German annexation of Austria in 1938. It was a life that had been shrouded in secrecy, with many questions not to be asked and fewer answers offered if they were. As the author uncovered, clue by clue, the deliberately obscured story of his grandfather’s mysterious life and of his flight first to Vienna and then to Paris, and of his mother’s journey as a child surviving Nazi occupation, Sands searched further into the history of the city of Lemberg and realized that his own field of humanitarian law had been forged by two men—Rafael Lemkin and Hersch Lauterpacht—each of whom had studied law at Lviv University in the city of his grandfather’s birth, each of whom had come to be considered the finest international legal mind of the twentieth century, each considered to be the father of the modern human rights movement, and each, at parallel times, forging diametrically opposite, revolutionary concepts of humanitarian law that had changed the world. In this extraordinary and resonant book, Sands looks at who these two very private men were, and at how and why, coming from similar Jewish backgrounds and the same city, studying at the same university, each developed the theory he did, showing how each man dedicated this period of his life to having his legal concept—“genocide� and “crimes against humanity”—as a centerpiece for the prosecution of Nazi war criminals. And the author writes of a third man, Hans Frank, Hitler’s personal lawyer, a Nazi from the earliest days who had destroyed so many lives, friend of Richard Strauss, collector of paintings by Leonardo da Vinci. Frank oversaw the ghetto in Lemberg in Poland in August 1942, in which the entire large Jewish population of the area had been confined on penalty of death. Frank, who was instrumental in the construction of concentration camps nearby and, weeks after becoming governor general of Nazi-occupied Poland, ordered the transfer of 133,000 men, women, and children to the death camps. Sands brilliantly writes of how all three men came together, in October 1945 in Nuremberg—Rafael Lemkin; Hersch Lauterpacht; and in the dock at the Palace of Justice, with the twenty other defendants of the Nazi high command, prisoner number 7, Hans Frank, who had overseen the extermination of more than a million Jews of Galicia and Lemberg, among them, the families of the author’s grandfather as well as those of Lemkin and Lauterpacht.A book that changes the way we look at the world, at our understanding of history and how civilization has tried to cope with mass murder. Powerful; moving; tender; a revelation.]]> 448 Philippe Sands 0385350716 Gill 0 to-read 4.46 2016 East West Street: On the Origins of "Genocide" and "Crimes Against Humanity"
author: Philippe Sands
name: Gill
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Women 127305853 From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah's The Women—at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie� McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.]]> 471 Kristin Hannah 1250178630 Gill 0 to-read 4.58 2024 The Women
author: Kristin Hannah
name: Gill
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Worth Dying For (Jack Reacher #15)]]> 9460413 61 Hours, when he runs afoul of a local family with a stranglehold over the county and skeletons in their closet. An unsolved murder in the area from a quarter-of-a-century before draws Reacher in to the business of everyone in the area.]]> 511 Lee Child 0553825488 Gill 4 2013, month-12, library
The formula is familiar - Reacher comes across a dodgy situation in a small town and fights for truth, justice and the American way. This time it's a trio of brothers and their son who run the local trucking company, pretty much holding the local farmers to ransom by leaving crops to rot in the fields if anyone goes against them. Locals suspect something more sinister could be going on, but daren't step out of line.

Reacher's justice is swift and brutal. He uncovers the truth, and then goes on his American way. Simples.]]> 4.13 2010 Worth Dying For (Jack Reacher #15)
author: Lee Child
name: Gill
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2013/12/09
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: 2013, month-12, library
review:
It's been a while since I hung out with Reacher and I had a good time.

The formula is familiar - Reacher comes across a dodgy situation in a small town and fights for truth, justice and the American way. This time it's a trio of brothers and their son who run the local trucking company, pretty much holding the local farmers to ransom by leaving crops to rot in the fields if anyone goes against them. Locals suspect something more sinister could be going on, but daren't step out of line.

Reacher's justice is swift and brutal. He uncovers the truth, and then goes on his American way. Simples.
]]> Fundamentally 213870133 A wickedly funny and audacious debut novel following an academic who flees from heartbreak and lands in Iraq with a one-of-a-kind job offer—only to be forced to do the work of confronting herself.

When Nadia Amin, a witty and bighearted PhD, publishes an article on deradicalization, everything changes. The United Nations comes calling with an opportunity to put her theory into practice and lead a rehabilitation program for women caught in the crosshairs of harmful ideology. And why not? Abandoned by her mother and devastated by unrequited love, she leaps at the chance.

In Iraq, Nadia quickly realizes she’s in over her head. The UN is a mess of competing interests, and her team consists of Goody Two-shoes Sherri who never passes up an opportunity to remind Nadia of her objections; and Pierre, a snippy Frenchman who has no qualms about perpetually scrolling through Grindr. But then Nadia meets Sara, a hilarious, foul-mouthed East Londoner who was pulled into radicalism at just fifteen. The two are kindred spirits, and Nadia vows to get Sara home.

As the rehabilitation program picks up traction, Sara reveals a secret that upends everything, forcing Nadia to make a drastic choice. In the fallout, Nadia’s brown-savior fantasies crumble, leaving her to wonder if she can save someone who doesn’t want to be saved.

A fierce, wildly funny, and razor-sharp exploration of radicalism, family, and the quest for belonging, Fundamentally boldly inspects one of the defining controversies of our age and introduces a fearless new voice in contemporary fiction.]]> 352 Nussaibah Younis 0593851382 Gill 0 to-read 3.81 2025 Fundamentally
author: Nussaibah Younis
name: Gill
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> We Are Definitely Human 201750777 An alien invasion story with a message about what it means to be human. When three mysterious visitors from "Europe" crash-land in Mr. Li's field, he does what any good host he invites them back to his farmhouse and offers to help fix up their "car". No, there's nothing strange about these guests at all. Just like other humans, they "make business", "play sportsball" and "wear hat". As the townsfolk also come to the aid of the visitors and the gathering turns into a little party, interplanetary relations reach an all-time high.]]> 48 X. Fang 1774882027 Gill 0 to-read 4.40 2024 We Are Definitely Human
author: X. Fang
name: Gill
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Straight Up 62804904 This is Ruby Tui. An open, raw and honest account of her journey from a troubled and unstable childhood, searching for a better option in life, to Olympic champion and the world's best rugby sevens player.

After a childhood filled with neglect Ruby yearned for another path. Determined not to let her upbringing limit her, she survived abuse, drugs and tragedy to become one of the most successful women's rugby players in the world.

The explosion of women's rugby on the global stage has matched the rise of Ruby's stellar career, as she has grown with the game from amateur to professional.

In Straight Up Ruby looks herself in the eye, understanding that she can turn pain into purpose.

It's time to be straight up.

#1 Best-selling Book!
]]> 365 Ruby Tui 1761185411 Gill 0 to-read 4.37 Straight Up
author: Ruby Tui
name: Gill
average rating: 4.37
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Lantern's Dance (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, #18)]]> 154462653 Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, hoping for a respite in the French countryside, are instead caught up in a case that turns both bewildering and intensely personal.

After their recent adventures in Transylvania, Russell and Holmes look forward to spending time with Holmes' son, the famous artist Damian Adler, and his family. But when they arrive at Damian’s house, they discover that the Adlers have fled from a mysterious threat.

Holmes rushes after Damian while Russell, slowed down by a recent injury, stays behind to search the empty house. In Damian’s studio, she discovers four crates packed with memorabilia related to Holmes� grand-uncle, the artist Horace Vernet. It’s an odd mix of treasures and clutter, including a tarnished silver lamp with a rotating an antique yet sophisticated form of zoetrope, fitted with strips of paper whose images dance with the lantern’s spin.

In the same crate is an old journal written in a nearly impenetrable code. Intrigued, Russell sets about deciphering the intricate cryptograph, slowly realizing that each entry is built around an image—the first of which is a child, bundled into a carriage by an abductor, watching her mother recede from view.

Russell is troubled, then entranced, but each entry she decodes brings more questions. Who is the young woman who created this elaborate puzzle? What does she have to do with Damian, or the Vernets—or the threat hovering over the house?

The secrets of the past appear to be reaching into the present. And it seems increasingly urgent that Russell figure out how the journal and lantern are related to Damian—and possibly to Sherlock Holmes himself.

Could there be things about his own history that even the master detective does not perceive?]]> 300 Laurie R. King 0593496590 Gill 4 2024, kindle-ebook 4.24 2024 The Lantern's Dance (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, #18)
author: Laurie R. King
name: Gill
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/10
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: 2024, kindle-ebook
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World]]> 54561146 Alternate cover edition can be found here

From Steven Johnson, the dynamic thinker routinely compared to James Gleick, Dava Sobel, and Malcolm Gladwell, The Ghost Map is a riveting page-turner about a real-life historical hero, Dr. John Snow. It's the summer of 1854, and London is just emerging as one of the first modern cities in the world. But lacking the infrastructure—garbage removal, clean water, sewers—necessary to support its rapidly expanding population, the city has become the perfect breeding ground for a terrifying disease no one knows how to cure. As the cholera outbreak takes hold, a physician and a local curate are spurred to action—and ultimately solve the most pressing medical riddle of their time. In a triumph of multidisciplinary thinking, Johnson illuminates the intertwined histories and inter-connectedness of the spread of disease, contagion theory, the rise of cities, and the nature of scientific inquiry, offering both a riveting history and a powerful explanation of how it has shaped the world we live in.]]> 332 Steven Johnson Gill 0 to-read 3.94 2006 The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World
author: Steven Johnson
name: Gill
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Learned by Heart 62874041 Eliza and Lister have never been this wide-awake in their lives, and the Slope, with its curtains drawn wide, is bright with starlight. They talk in whispers, not to disturb the maids who lie sleeping on the other side of the box room. The question Eliza’s been needing to ask swells like a great berry in her mouth, and all at once she’s not scared to let it out, not scared at all, not scared of anything . . .

In 1805, fourteen-year-old Eliza Raine is a school girl at the Manor School for Young Ladies in York. The daughter of an Indian mother and a British father, Eliza was banished to this unfamiliar country as a little girl. When she first stepped off the King George in Kent, Eliza was accompanied by her older sister, Jane, but now she boards alone at the Manor, with no one left to claim her. She spends her days avoiding the attention of her fellow pupils until, one day, a fearless and charismatic new student arrives at the school. The two girls are immediately thrown together and soon Eliza’s life is turned inside out by this strange and curious young woman.

Learned by Heart, Emma Donoghue’s mesmerising new novel, tells the heartbreaking story of the tangled lives of two women whose intense, and unlikely, relationship will change them for ever.]]> 336 Emma Donoghue 0316564435 Gill 0 to-read 3.47 2023 Learned by Heart
author: Emma Donoghue
name: Gill
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Ophelia After All 56978109 A teen girl navigates friendship drama, the end of high school, and discovering her queerness in Ophelia After All, a hilarious and heartfelt contemporary YA debut by author Racquel Marie.

Ophelia Rojas knows what she likes: her best friends, Cuban food, rose-gardening, and boys - way too many boys. Her friends and parents make fun of her endless stream of crushes, but Ophelia is a romantic at heart. She couldn't change, even if she wanted to.

So when she finds herself thinking more about cute, quiet Talia Sanchez than the loss of a perfect prom with her ex-boyfriend, seeds of doubt take root in Ophelia's firm image of herself. Add to that the impending end of high school and the fracturing of her once-solid friend group, and things are spiraling a little out of control. But the course of love--and sexuality--never did run smooth. As her secrets begin to unravel, Ophelia must make a choice between clinging to the fantasy version of herself she's always imagined or upending everyone's expectations to rediscover who she really is, after all.]]> 341 Racquel Marie 1250797306 Gill 0 to-read 4.06 2022 Ophelia After All
author: Racquel Marie
name: Gill
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> When Our Worlds Collided 59681819 400 Danielle Jawando Gill 4
With echoes of the Stephen Lawrence case, as another GR review says, it is confronting but ultimately uplifting.

In Oct 2023 copies of this book were delivered to all secondary schools in Southend-on-Sea as part of Jacqson Diego Story Emporium's "Book Elves" initiative.]]> 4.29 When Our Worlds Collided
author: Danielle Jawando
name: Gill
average rating: 4.29
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2023/10/19
date added: 2025/01/23
shelves: book-elves, 2023, ya-children-s
review:
UK contemporary YA that grips you from the outset.

With echoes of the Stephen Lawrence case, as another GR review says, it is confronting but ultimately uplifting.

In Oct 2023 copies of this book were delivered to all secondary schools in Southend-on-Sea as part of Jacqson Diego Story Emporium's "Book Elves" initiative.
]]> Raising Hare: A Memoir 214269337 A moving and fascinating meditation on freedom, trust, loss, and our relationship with the natural world, explored through the story of one woman’s unlikely friendship with a wild hare.

Imagine you could hold a baby hare and bottle-feed it. Imagine that it lived under your roof and lolloped around your bedroom at night, drumming on the duvet cover when it wanted your attention. Imagine that, over two years later, it still ran in from the fields when you called it and slept in your house for hours on end and gave birth to leverets in your study. For political advisor and speechwriter Chloe Dalton, who spent lockdown deep in the English countryside, far away from her usual busy London life, this became her unexpected reality.

In February 2021, Dalton stumbles upon a newborn hare—a leveret—that had been chased by a dog. Fearing for its life, she brings it home, only to discover how impossible it is to rear a wild hare, most of whom perish in captivity from either shock or starvation. Through trial and error, she learns to feed and care for the leveret with every intention of returning it to the wilderness. Instead, it becomes her constant companion, wandering the fields and woods at night and returning to Dalton’s house by day. Though Dalton feared that the hare would be preyed upon by foxes, stoats, feral cats, raptors, and even people, she never tried to restrict it to the house. Each time the hare leaves, Chloe knows she may never see it again. Yet she also understands that to confine it would be its own kind of death.

Raising Hare chronicles their journey together, while also taking a deep dive into the lives and nature of hares, and the way they have been viewed historically in art, literature, and folklore. We witness first-hand the joy at this extraordinary relationship between human and animal, which serves as a reminder that the best things, and most beautiful experiences, arise when we least expect them.]]> 285 Chloe Dalton 0593701844 Gill 0 to-read 4.42 2025 Raising Hare: A Memoir
author: Chloe Dalton
name: Gill
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/07
shelves: to-read
review:
In Dec 2024 this was serialised as BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week, beautifully read by Lisa Faulkner. Available on for 28 days only.
]]> <![CDATA[Saving Alex: When I Was Fifteen I Told My Mormon Parents I Was Gay, and That's When My Nightmare Began]]> 25817288
Alex knew she was holding a secret that could shatter her family, her church community, and her life. Yet when this secret couldn’t be hidden any longer, she told her parents that she was gay, and the nightmare began. She was driven from her home in Southern California to Utah, where, against her will, her parents handed her over to fellow Mormons who promised to save Alex from her homosexuality.

For eight harrowing months, Alex was held captive in an unlicensed “residential treatment program� modeled on the many “therapeutic� boot camps scattered across Utah. Alex was physically and verbally abused, and many days she was forced to stand facing a wall wearing a heavy backpack full of rocks. Her captors used faith to punish and terrorize her. With the help of a dedicated legal team in Salt Lake City, Alex eventually escaped and made legal history in Utah by winning the right to live under the law’s protection as an openly gay teenager.

Alex is not alone; the headlines continue to splash stories about gay conversion therapy and rehabilitation centers that promise to “save� teenagers from their sexuality. Saving Alex is a courageous memoir that tells Alex’s story in the hopes that it will bring awareness and justice to this important issue. A bold, inspiring story of one girl’s fight for freedom, acceptance, and truth.]]> 256 Alex Cooper 0062374605 Gill 0 to-read 4.03 2016 Saving Alex: When I Was Fifteen I Told My Mormon Parents I Was Gay, and That's When My Nightmare Began
author: Alex Cooper
name: Gill
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Le Grand Tour on a Bike Called Wanda]]> 211856357 The new double act set off on a grand tour of Europe to explore some of the continent’s most iconic cycling routes and the Vélomaritime, the Avenue Verte to Paris, the Véloscénie to Mont-Saint-Michel, the Vélodyssée, the Canal de la Garonne, the Canal du Midi, the ViaRhôna, the Furka Pass and the Rhine are all on the itinerary of this light-hearted loop from the Hook of Holland� to the Hook of Holland.
Join Andrew and Wanda as they put their best foot and only front wheel forward in a hot, dusty but at times very damp quest to delve into the lives, landscapes, history and culture of some of our nearest continental cousins and the countries they call home.
[ This adventure also contains trains.]

“I love, love, love the humour�
Helen Moat, travel writer

“Engaging, witty and pacy"
Steve Silk, journalist and travel writer

“Interesting, intriguing, humorous and well-written�
Brian Palmer, The Washing Machine Post

From the author of:
Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie
Along The Med on a Bike Called Reggie
Spain to Norway on a Bike Called Reggie]]> 510 Andrew P. Sykes Gill 0 to-read 4.57 Le Grand Tour on a Bike Called Wanda
author: Andrew P. Sykes
name: Gill
average rating: 4.57
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> King of Nothing 202580464 ANTON AND HIS FRIENDS ARE THE KINGS OF YEAR 9.

They're used to ruling the school and Anton wears the crown. The other kids run away when he's about but that's the way he wants it - he's got a reputation to live up to after all.

So when he gets into serious trouble at school, he doesn't really care, but his mum most definitely does. She decides it's time for Anton to make some new friends and join the Happy Campers, a local activity group. Anton would quite literally rather do anything else, especially when he finds out Matthew, the biggest loser in school, is also a member.

But after Matthew unexpectedly saves Anton's life, Anton figures maybe this kid is worth a shot. Teaching him some game is the least Anton can do to repay the debt.

As the boys strike up an unlikely friendship, Anton finds himself questioning everything he thought was important. Does he want ruling the school to be his crowning glory or should he set his sights on better things?

A hilarious and heartwarming comedy from the author of STEADY FOR THIS, perfect for teen readers of Alex Wheatle, Jason Reynolds and Patrice Lawrence.]]> 245 Nathanael Lessore 147141325X Gill 4 4.25 2024 King of Nothing
author: Nathanael Lessore
name: Gill
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/14
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves: 2024, book-elves, month-12, ya-children-s
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Lasting Harm: Witnessing the Trial of Ghislaine Maxwell]]> 210336447 The explosive, behind-the-scenes account of the criminal trial of Ghislaine Maxwell.

'Lucia Osborne-Crowley is a lighthouse of a steadfast, illuminating and patiently cutting through darkness and horror to lead us to safety.' -Benjamin Law

'Lucia Osborne-Crowley is a writer of depth, determination and uncommon insight.' - Julia Baird

'I understand � and sympathise with � the feeling you might have that you already know the Jeffrey Epstein story. But I am not here to tell you a story about Jeffrey Epstein, or even Ghislaine Maxwell. I am here to tell you the stories of ten women, many of whom have never spoken at length before, about the real impact of sexual trauma on their lives.'

In November 2021, Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of five counts of sex-trafficking of minors, and now faces 20 years in prison for the role she played in Jeffrey Epstein's abuse of four girls. The trial was meticulously covered by journalist and legal reporter Lucia Osborne-Crowley, one of only four reporters allowed into the courtroom every day.

The Lasting Harm is her account of that trial, a gripping true crime drama and a blistering critique of a criminal justice system ill-equipped to deliver justice for abuse survivors, no matter the outcome.

Centring the stories of four women and their testimonies, and supplemented by extra material to which Osborne-Crowley has exclusive access, The Lasting Harm brings this incendiary trial to life, questions our age-old appetite for crime and punishment and offers a new blueprint for meaningful reparative justice.]]> 0 Lucia Osborne-Crowley 1761188569 Gill 0 to-read 4.38 2024 The Lasting Harm: Witnessing the Trial of Ghislaine Maxwell
author: Lucia Osborne-Crowley
name: Gill
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Our Evenings 209576781 Did I have a grievance? Most of us, without looking far, could find something that had harmed us, and oppressed us, and unfairly held us back. I tried not to dwell on it, thought it healthier not to, though I’d lived my short life so far in a chaos of privilege and prejudice.

Dave Win is thirteen years old when he first goes to stay with the Hadlows, the sponsors of his scholarship at a local boarding school where their son Giles is his contemporary. For Dave this weekend, with its games and challenges and surprising encounters, will open up heady new possibilities, even as it exposes him to Giles’s envy and violence. As Our Evenings unfolds over half a century, the two boys� careers will diverge dramatically, Dave a gifted actor struggling with convention and discrimination, Giles an increasingly powerful and dangerous politician.

Our Evenings is Dave Win’s own account of his life as a schoolboy and student, his first love affairs, in London, and on the road with an experimental theatre company, and of a late-life affair, which transforms his sixties with a new sense of happiness and a perilous security; but it is also, very movingly, the story of his hard-working widowed mother, whose own life takes an unexpected new turn after her son leaves home.

Both dark and luminous, poignant and wickedly funny, Alan Hollinghurst’s new novel gives us a portrait of modern England through the lens of one man’s acutely observed and often unnerving experience. It is a story of race and class, theatre and sexuality, love and the cruel shock of violence, from the finest writer of our age.]]> 487 Alan Hollinghurst 1447208234 Gill 0 to-read 3.99 2024 Our Evenings
author: Alan Hollinghurst
name: Gill
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Defiant Dreams: The Journey of an Afghan Girl Who Risked Everything for Education]]> 62802749 A searing, deeply personal memoir of a tenacious Afghan girl who educated herself behind closed doors and fought her way to a new life.

"Stories like this inspire me. Seeing the way people like Sola Mahfouz think about the world reinforces my optimism about the future."―BILL GATES

Sola Mahfouz was born in Afghanistan in 1996. That same year, the Taliban took over her country for the first time. They banned television and photographs, presided over brutal public executions, and turned the clock backwards on women's rights, practically imprisoning women within their own homes and forcing them to wear all-concealing burqas. At age eleven, Sola was forced to stop attending school after a group of men threatened to throw acid in her face if she continued. After that she was confined to her home, required to cook and clean and prepare for an arranged marriage. She saw the outside world only a handful of times each year.

As time passed, Sola began to understand that she was condemned to the same existence as millions of women in Afghanistan. Her future was empty. The rest of her life would be controlled entirely by men, fathers and husbands and sons who would never allow her to study, to earn money, or even to dream.

Driven by this devastating realization, Sola began a years-long fight to change the trajectory of her life. She decided that education would be her way out. At age sixteen, without even a basic ability to add or subtract, she began secretly to teach herself math and English. She progressed rapidly, and within just two years she was already studying topics such as philosophy and physics. Faced with obstacles at every turn, Sola still managed to sneak into Pakistan to take the SAT. In 2016, she escaped to the United States, where she is now a quantum computing researcher at Tufts University.

An engrossing, dramatic memoir, co-written with young Indian American human rights activist Malaina Kapoor, Defiant Dreams is the story of one girl, but it's also the untold story of a generation of women brimming with potential and longing for freedom.]]> 320 Sola Mahfouz 0593359763 Gill 0 to-read 4.51 2023 Defiant Dreams: The Journey of an Afghan Girl Who Risked Everything for Education
author: Sola Mahfouz
name: Gill
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Crossing the Line 123676809
A powerful novel exploring how teenagers can be swept up into county lines. For fans of PUNCHING THE AIR and SPLINTERS OF SUNSHINE.

Erik's life has been falling apart ever since his dad died. Homework and being good at school stop feeling important when you're the new man of the house. When Erik's bad behaviour attracts the wrong crowd, he's sucked into a terrifying new world of drug dealing, trap houses and violence.

Making money feels good but Erik soon learns that a small favour can become a huge debt.

And when his sisters' lives are threatened, Erik will have to cross one more line to save them.]]> 368 Tia Fisher 1471413047 Gill 0 to-read 4.24 Crossing the Line
author: Tia Fisher
name: Gill
average rating: 4.24
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Book of Beginnings 78819219 From the author of the phenomenal bestseller The Keeper of Stories, comes the next uplifting story of how the most unexpected friendships are forged in the most unlikely of places . . .

Jo Sorsby knows she is hiding from her past when she steps in to look after her uncle’s stationery shop. Glimpsing the lives of her customers between the warm wooden shelves, as they scribble notes with fountain pens and browse colourful notebooks, distracts her from the life she has left behind.

Yet far from home, Jo feels adrift . . .

When she meets Ruth, a vicar running from a secret, and Malcolm, a septuagenarian struggling to write his first book, she realises that she isn’t alone.

It’s the beginning of a friendship that can transform Jo’s life . . . if only she can let them in.]]> 408 Sally Page Gill 0 to-read 4.30 2023 The Book of Beginnings
author: Sally Page
name: Gill
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Twenty-Four Seconds from Now...A Love Story]]> 207298501 Jason Reynolds tackles it—you know…it—from the guy’s perspective in this stream of consciousness story of a teen boy about to experience a huge first.

Twenty-four months ago: Neon gets chased by a dog all around the parking lot of a church. Not his finest moment. And definitely one he would have loved to forget if it weren’t for the dog’s owner: Aria. Dressed in sweats, a t-shirt, hair in a ponytail. Aria. Way more than fine.

Twenty-four weeks ago: Neon’s dad insists on talking to him about tenderness and intimacy. Neon and Aria are definitely in love, and while they haven’t taken that next big step…yet, they’ve starting talking about…that.

Twenty-four days ago: Neon’s mom finds her—gulp—bra in his room. Hey! No judging! Those hook thingies are complicated! So he’d figured he’d better practice, what with the big day only a month away.

Twenty-four minutes ago: Neon leaves his shift at work at his dad’s bingo hall, making sure to bring some chicken tenders for Aria. They’re not candlelight and they definitely aren’t caviar, but they are her favorite.

And right this second? Neon is locked in Aria’s bathroom, completely freaking out because twenty-four seconds from now he and Aria are about to…about to� Well, they won’t do anything if he can’t get out of his own head (all the advice, insecurities, and what ifs) and out of this bathroom!]]> 256 Jason Reynolds 1665961279 Gill 0 to-read 4.13 2024 Twenty-Four Seconds from Now...A Love Story
author: Jason Reynolds
name: Gill
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Murder of Magpies (Sam Clair, #1)]]> 22240071 A whip-smart, impeccably crafted debut mystery, A Murder of Magpies takes readers on a whirlwind tour of London and Paris with an unforgettably original new heroine

It's just another day at the office for London book editor Samantha "Sam" Clair. Checking jacket copy for howlers, wondering how to break it to her star novelist that her latest effort is utterly unpublishable, lunch scheduled with gossipy author Kit Lowell, whose new book will dish the juicy dirt on a recent fashion industry scandal. Little does she know the trouble Kit's book will cause-before it even goes to print. When police Inspector Field turns up at the venerable offices of Timmins & Ross, asking questions about a package addressed to Sam, she knows something is wrong. Now Sam's nine-to-five life is turned upside down as she finds herself propelled into a criminal investigation. Someone doesn't want Kit's manuscript published and unless Sam can put the pieces together in time, they'll do anything to stop it.

With this deliciously funny debut novel, acclaimed author Judith Flanders introduces readers to an enormously enjoyable, too-clever-for-her-own-good new amateur sleuth, as well Sam's Goth assistant, her effortlessly glamorous mother, and the handsome Inspector Field. A tremendously entertaining read, this page-turning novel from a bright new crime fiction talent is impossible to put down.]]> 277 Judith Flanders 1250056454 Gill 2 2024, library, month-12 Laurie R. King, so I have high hopes.

Enjoyable, often humorous mystery set in the publishing world; dropped a star for the pointless and appalling epilogue.]]> 3.32 2014 A Murder of Magpies (Sam Clair, #1)
author: Judith Flanders
name: Gill
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/08
date added: 2024/12/08
shelves: 2024, library, month-12
review:
Recommended by Laurie R. King, so I have high hopes.

Enjoyable, often humorous mystery set in the publishing world; dropped a star for the pointless and appalling epilogue.
]]> <![CDATA[Murder Under the Mistletoe (Canon Clement, #3.5)]]> 216250491
At the festive feast, peace and goodwill prevail.

Until two meet under the mistletoe. One of them falls down dead. And Daniel suspects murder has returned to Champton...

Can Daniel and Detective Sergeant Neil Vanloo solve the crime and catch the Christmas killer?]]> 141 Richard Coles 1399621491 Gill 2 2024, month-12
Some humour but cloyingly upper middle class in an Alexander McCall Smith kind of way. I won't rush back.]]> 3.43 Murder Under the Mistletoe (Canon Clement, #3.5)
author: Richard Coles
name: Gill
average rating: 3.43
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2024/12/04
date added: 2024/12/04
shelves: 2024, month-12
review:
My first foray into Coles' fiction, loaned by a neighbour. Probably not the best place to start, since it assumes a level of familiarity with the main characters and, most disconcertingly for me, was set not in the present but in an unspecified past - 1990s? That took me out of the story while I tried to work it out.

Some humour but cloyingly upper middle class in an Alexander McCall Smith kind of way. I won't rush back.
]]> <![CDATA[My Beautiful Sisters: A Story of Courage, Hope and the Afghan Women's Football Team]]> 212343441 Argo meets The Bookseller of Kabul in this incredible memoir from the Afghan women’s soccer pioneer turned activist and feminist icon who has helped save more than 350 female soccer players from the dangerous rule of the Taliban.

A story of survival, sisterhood and the fight for feminism in the age of the Taliban.

In August 2021, Kabul fell under the control of the Taliban, a militant political and fundamentalist religious faction. For Khalida Popal, it signaled the beginning of the most important battle of an already extraordinary young life—to get female soccer players out of a city where they faced imminent threat of execution simply for playing sports.

Khalida first began playing soccer in a refugee camp in Pakistan after her parents fled Taliban rule. Returning to Afghanistan, she fell deeper in love with the freedom and comradeship soccer provides. As co-founder and first captain of the Afghan women’s soccer team, Khalida began using sports to empower young women, and was subjected to intensifying death threats in return.

Hounded out of her own country, she continued to support the Afghan women’s team, founding the organization Girl Power and exposing widespread sexual abuse of players. From her new home in Denmark, she watched Kabul fall and immediately knew the risk to the players still there. Assembling a small but mighty network of international allies, she began evacuating women whose lives were at risk simply for loving the sport she had done so much to promote. Her teammates. Her sisters.

My Beautiful Sisters is a gripping, important memoir, and a compulsively readable one—a harrowing yet ultimately heartening story of survival and sisterhood.]]> 0 Khalida Popal 1399805738 Gill 0 to-read 4.43 My Beautiful Sisters: A Story of Courage, Hope and the Afghan Women's Football Team
author: Khalida Popal
name: Gill
average rating: 4.43
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Agatha Christie: A Very Elusive Woman]]> 59822447 A new, fascinating account of the life of Agatha Christie from celebrated literary and cultural historian Lucy Worsley.

"Nobody in the world was more inadequate toact the heroine than I was."

Why did Agatha Christie spend her careerpretending that she was “just� an ordinary housewife, when clearly shewasn’t?Her life isfascinatingfor its mysteries and its passionsand, as Lucy Worsley says,"She was thrillingly, scintillatingly modern."She went surfing in Hawaii, shelovedfast cars, and she was intrigued by the new science of psychology, whichhelped her through devastating mental illness.

So why—despite all the evidence to thecontrary—did Agatha present herself as a retiring Edwardian lady ofleisure?

She was born in 1890 into a world that hadits own rules about what women could and couldn’t do.Lucy Worsley’s biography is not just of amassively, internationally successful writer.It's also the story of a person who, despite the obstacles of class andgender, became anastonishingly successful working woman.

With access to personal letters and papersthat have rarely been seen, Lucy Worsley’s biography is both authoritative andentertaining andmakes us realize what an extraordinary pioneer Agatha Christiewas—truly a woman who wrote the twentieth century.]]> 498 Lucy Worsley Gill 2 4.20 2022 Agatha Christie: A Very Elusive Woman
author: Lucy Worsley
name: Gill
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2024/11/27
date added: 2024/11/27
shelves: 2024, kindle-ebook, month-11, non-fiction
review:
Took me forever to get through, just a bit dull in places. It did make me want to revisit some Christie, however.
]]> The Answer Is No 219876684 In a hilarious short story from New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman, the absurdities of modern life cause one man’s solitary world to spin suddenly, and comically, out of control.

Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things: video games, wine, and pad thai. Peanuts are a must! Other people? Not so much. Why complicate things when he’s happy alone?

Then one day the apartment board, a vexing trio of authority, rings his doorbell. And Lucas’s solitude takes a startling hike. They demand to see his frying pan. Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of removing the errant object, as Lucas suggests, they insist on finding the guilty party. But their plan backfires. Colossally.

Told in Fredrik Backman’s singular witty style with sharply drawn characters and relatable antics, The Answer Is No is a laugh-out-loud portrait of a man struggling to keep to himself in a world that won’t leave him alone.]]> 68 Fredrik Backman 1662526520 Gill 0 to-read 3.94 2024 The Answer Is No
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Gill
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> This Boy 17615084 'The best memoir by a politician you will ever read' The TimesSchool on the Kings Road, Chelsea in the Swinging 60s, the rock-and-roll years, the race riots; this boy has seen it all. Alan Johnson's childhood was not so much difficult as unusual - particularly for a man who was destined to become Home Secretary. Not in respect of the poverty, which was shared with many of those living in Britain's post-war slums, but in its transition from being part of a two-parent family to having a single mother and then to no parents at all...This is essentially the story of two incredible women: Alan's mother, Lily, who battled against poor health, poverty, domestic violence and loneliness to try to ensure a better life for her children; and his sister, Linda, who had to assume an enormous amount of responsibility at a very young age and who fought to keep the family together and out of care when she herself was still only a child.This Boy is one man's story, but it is also the story of England and the West London slums which are hard to imagine in the capital today. No matter how harsh the details, Alan Johnson writes with a spirit of generous acceptance, of humour and openness which makes his book anything but a grim catalogue of miseries.________ PRAISE FOR THIS 'Moving and unforgettable' Sunday Times'Poignant' Telegraph'Eloquent' Guardian'Wonderful' Spectator'Tribute to two strong women' Daily Mail]]> 304 Alan Johnson 1448110483 Gill 0 to-read 4.18 2013 This Boy
author: Alan Johnson
name: Gill
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Mayowa and the Sea of Words 201551785
Perfect for fans of Pages & Co. Amari and the Night Brothers and The Book of Stolen Dreams.


DO NOT JUMP ON THIS BOOK!

Have you ever jumped on a book? Perhaps not. Most people would think it was a rather unusual thing to do.

Ten-year-old Mayowa has always thought that her Grandpa Edward, who dyes his beard emerald green and jumps on books in private, is rather unusual too. Until one day she jumps on a book for herself, and uncovers a huge family secret �

Mayowa can book jump.

By jumping on a book, she can harness the emotions inside it and channel them directly into other people. And when the opportunity to use her power to save the lives of countless refugees presents itself, Mayowa wants to jump in with both feet.

But Mayowa and her grandpa aren't the only book jumpers in existence. And not everybody wants to use this power for good �

Brimming with heart, Mayowa and the Sea of Words is a modern classic in the making. Perfect for everyone who knows the true power of a good book �]]> 285 Chibundu Onuzo 1526660970 Gill 4 2024, ya-children-s, month-11 3.94 2024 Mayowa and the Sea of Words
author: Chibundu Onuzo
name: Gill
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/03
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: 2024, ya-children-s, month-11
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Black History for Every Day of the Year]]> 218757717 Black History for Every Day of the Year by award-winning historian and broadcaster David Olusoga and his siblings, Yinka Olusoga and Kemi Olusoga, tells the unique and vital story Black history, sweeping across the world and through the ages.

In these pages you will see hope and connection, ingenuity and creativity, alongside tales of racism and oppression, resistance and celebration. From the Victorian Transatlantic anti-slavery movement to the Black contribution to World Wars One and Two, the work of Black creatives during the Harlem Renaissance to Beyoncé and Stormzy, this book is about well known figures and unsung heroes, famous and lesser known key cultural moments and includes important information about Black people throughout history, from ancient times to the modern day.

With a piece of history for every day of the year, this is the perfect book to dip into time and time again. Accompanied by quotes, poems, illustrations and pictures, Black History for Every Day of the Year is for all ages, revealing a rich history that is relevant to us all.]]> 512 David Olusoga 1529066204 Gill 4
Published by Macmillan's children press, this is equally valuable for adults.

Deducted 1 star for some random typos and the lack of a further reading list or other sources.]]> 4.50 2024 Black History for Every Day of the Year
author: David Olusoga
name: Gill
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/12
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: 2024, kindle-ebook, library, month-11, non-fiction
review:
This is an outstanding book that should act as a gateway to further reading on some fascinating stories. The coverage is broad and eclectic, including the forgotten or under-represented as well as the obvious. In December alone you can range from the ubiquitous Rosa Parks, to the first known Black voter in England Ignatius Sancho, to LeBron James, to Dr Patricia Bath, to Star Trek's Nichelle Nicols. I had no idea that Three Muskeeters author Alexandre Dumas was Black, nor that Chicago law enforcement had conspired with the FBI to murder Black Panther Fred Hampton.

Published by Macmillan's children press, this is equally valuable for adults.

Deducted 1 star for some random typos and the lack of a further reading list or other sources.
]]> Three Hours 43812076
It is a morning's lessons, a dress rehearsal of Macbeth, a snowy trek through the woods.

It is an eternity waiting for news. Or a countdown to something terrible.

It is 180 minutes to discover who you will die for and what men will kill for.

In rural Somerset in the middle of a blizzard, the unthinkable happens: a school is under siege. Told from the point of view of the people at the heart of it, from the wounded headmaster in the library, unable to help his trapped pupils and staff, to teenage Hannah in love for the first time, to the parents gathering desperate for news, to the 16 year old Syrian refugee trying to rescue his little brother, to the police psychologist who must identify the gunmen, to the students taking refuge in the school theatre, all experience the most intense hours of their lives, where evil and terror are met by courage, love and redemption.]]> 320 Rosamund Lupton 0241374499 Gill 0 to-read 4.09 2020 Three Hours
author: Rosamund Lupton
name: Gill
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Trial 75482120
ONE MURDER. ONE IMPOSSIBLE CASE. WHO IS GUILTY?

When hero policeman Grant Cliveden dies from a poisoning in the Old Bailey, it threatens to shake the country to its core.

The evidence points to one man. Jimmy Knight has been convicted of multiple offences before and defending him will be no easy task. Not least because this is trainee barrister Adam Green's first case.

But it will quickly become clear that Jimmy Knight is not the only person in Cliveden's past with an axe to grind.

The only thing that's certain is that this is a trial which will push Adam - and the justice system itself - to the limit . . .

'
']]> 358 Rob Rinder Gill 3
"A crime happened, someone paid the price. Did it really matter who paid it, or simply that the price was extracted, somehow? Did justice really come down to the simple binary of guilty or not guilty? Even if you thought it did, written into the choice was the thought that no one was ever, truly, innocent."]]> 4.22 2023 The Trial
author: Rob Rinder
name: Gill
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/06
date added: 2024/10/06
shelves: 2024, kindle-ebook, library, month-10
review:
Over-written and occasionally swings between pomposity and triteness, but good enough to keep the pages turning. A little peek into the world of a junior barrister.

"A crime happened, someone paid the price. Did it really matter who paid it, or simply that the price was extracted, somehow? Did justice really come down to the simple binary of guilty or not guilty? Even if you thought it did, written into the choice was the thought that no one was ever, truly, innocent."
]]> Pumpkin (Dumplin', #3) 55099955
So when Clementine deviates from their master plan right after Waylon gets dumped, he throws caution to the wind and creates an audition tape for his favorite TV drag show, Fiercest of Them All. What he doesn’t count on is the tape accidentally getting shared with the entire school. . . . As a result, Waylon is nominated for prom queen as a joke. Clem’s girlfriend, Hannah Perez, also receives a joke nomination for prom king.

Waylon and Hannah decide there’s only one thing to do: run—and leave high school with a bang. A very glittery bang. Along the way, Waylon discovers that there is a lot more to running for prom court than campaign posters and plastic crowns, especially when he has to spend so much time with the very cute and infuriating prom king nominee Tucker Watson.

Waylon will need to learn that the best plan for tomorrow is living for today . . . especially with the help of some fellow queens. . . .]]> 336 Julie Murphy 0062880454 Gill 0 to-read 4.14 2021 Pumpkin (Dumplin', #3)
author: Julie Murphy
name: Gill
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Shoulders We Stand On: How Black and Brown people fought for change in the United Kingdom]]> 121951406 The UK is grappling with big questions about belonging, equality, and the legacies of Empire and Colonialism. We've been here before. Embracing a broader history that encompasses all British people, The Shoulders We Stand On is fundamental to a better understanding of the past and gives many more people who fought for our future a voice in the present.

Have you heard of the Indian Workers' Association? The Grunwick Strike? The Brixton Black Women's Group? The Battle of Brick Lane? If the answer is no, you're not alone. The Shoulders We Stand On tells the stories of ten remarkable movements, campaigns and organisations led by Black and Brown people across Britain from the sixties to the eighties that fought against racism and capitalism and impacted the way we live now.

Researcher and historian Preeti Dhillon wants us to reclaim the history that has been kept from us, and use these vital movements and inspirational moments to better understand the UK we live in today and how change happens.

There is a long and deep history of activism by Black and Brown people spanning the UK. Their stories can inspire all of us to make a difference, just as they did. The Shoulders We Stand On is a book of hope. Hope that together we can make a difference, that together we are powerful, and that we don't have to tackle society's challenges alone.

We're not alone, we've been here before and this is the book we all need now.

Filled with inspiring narratives, Preeti Dhillon uncovers crucial moments from our history. If you loved the books Natives and Brit(ish), the TV series Small Axe or the film Pride, don't miss The Shoulders We Stand On.]]> 400 Preeti Dhillon 0349702810 Gill 0 to-read 4.64 The Shoulders We Stand On: How Black and Brown people fought for change in the United Kingdom
author: Preeti Dhillon
name: Gill
average rating: 4.64
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[We Solve Murders (We Solve Murders, #1)]]> 203956647 A brand new series. An iconic new detective duo. And a puzzling new murder to solve...

Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers his familiar habits and routines: the pub quiz, his favorite bench, his cat waiting for him when he comes home. His days of adventure are over: adrenaline is daughter-in-law Amy’s business now.

Amy Wheeler thinks adrenaline is good for the soul. As a private security officer, she doesn’t stay still long enough for habits or routines. She’s currently on a remote island keeping world-famous author Rosie D’Antonio alive. Which was meant to be an easy job...

Then a dead body, a bag of money, and a killer with their sights on Amy have her sending an SOS to the only person she trusts. A breakneck race around the world begins, but can Amy and Steve stay one step ahead of a lethal enemy?

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 059365322X.]]> 400 Richard Osman Gill 4 2024, audio, month-10
"Money does the funniest things to people, doesn't it."

Osman does it again, creating a cast of fabulous characters, from home-loving, grieving widower Steve to racy, second best-selling author Rosie (Lee Child is still top).

I love his mix of humour and bathos. Just as in the Thursday Murder Club, Osman manages to say interesting things about love and loss, about masculinity and greed, but always with a light touch.

Brilliantly brought to life by Nicola Walker in the audiobook.]]> 4.06 2024 We Solve Murders (We Solve Murders, #1)
author: Richard Osman
name: Gill
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/02
date added: 2024/10/02
shelves: 2024, audio, month-10
review:
Who doesn't love a cat named Trouble?!

"Money does the funniest things to people, doesn't it."

Osman does it again, creating a cast of fabulous characters, from home-loving, grieving widower Steve to racy, second best-selling author Rosie (Lee Child is still top).

I love his mix of humour and bathos. Just as in the Thursday Murder Club, Osman manages to say interesting things about love and loss, about masculinity and greed, but always with a light touch.

Brilliantly brought to life by Nicola Walker in the audiobook.
]]> The Good Immigrant 28668534
Or be told that, as an actress, the part you’re most fitted to play is ‘wife of a terrorist�? How does it feel to have words from your native language misused, misappropriated and used aggressively towards you? How does it feel to hear a child of colour say in a classroom that stories can only be about white people? How does it feel to go ‘home� to India when your home is really London? What is it like to feel you always have to be an ambassador for your race? How does it feel to always tick ‘Other�?

Bringing together 21 exciting black, Asian and minority ethnic voices emerging in Britain today, The Good Immigrant explores why immigrants come to the UK, why they stay and what it means to be ‘other� in a country that doesn’t seem to want you, doesn’t truly accept you � however many generations you’ve been here � but still needs you for its diversity monitoring forms.

Inspired by discussion around why society appears to deem people of colour as bad immigrants � job stealers, benefit scroungers, undeserving refugees � until, by winning Olympic races or baking good cakes, or being conscientious doctors, they cross over and become good immigrants, editor Nikesh Shukla has compiled a collection of essays that are poignant, challenging, angry, humorous, heartbreaking, polemic, weary and � most importantly � real.]]> 272 Nikesh Shukla 178352295X Gill 4 4.31 2016 The Good Immigrant
author: Nikesh Shukla
name: Gill
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/18
date added: 2024/10/01
shelves: non-fiction, 2024, kindle-ebook, library, month-09
review:
My favourite was the Darren Chetty essay, which shows exactly why kids need a range of diverse voices in their books and TV shows. Thought-provoking.
]]> Dying of Politeness: A Memoir 61422460
At three years old, Geena announced she was going to be in movies. Now, with a slew of iconic roles and awards under her belt, she has surpassed her childhood dream, but her journey has been one of fits and starts, with a pothole or two along the way.

In this hilarious memoir, Geena regales us with tales of a career playing everything from an amnesiac assassin to the parent of a rodent in Stuart Little; a soap star in her underwear to a housewife turned road warrior in Thelma & Louise; a baseball phenomenon in A League of Their Own to the first female President of the United States in Commander in Chief, and more. She is frank about her eccentric childhood; her many relationships, including her spontaneous Las Vegas wedding to Jeff Goldblum; her archery exploits which led her to the Olympic trials; and how she became a tireless advocate for women and girls, founding her own institute which engages film and TV creators to better represent women and actors from diverse backgrounds.

Dying of Politeness is a touching account of one woman’s journey to fight for herself, and ultimately fighting for women all around the globe.]]> Geena Davis Gill 4 4.01 2022 Dying of Politeness: A Memoir
author: Geena Davis
name: Gill
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/25
date added: 2024/10/01
shelves: library, kindle-ebook, 2024, non-fiction, month-09
review:

]]> Those People Next Door 67352960 384 Abdullah Kia 0008433720 Gill 3 2024, month-09 3.83 2023 Those People Next Door
author: Abdullah Kia
name: Gill
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/29
date added: 2024/09/29
shelves: 2024, month-09
review:
3.5 star solid thriller that's more psychology than violence. It raises questions about perceptions, neighbourliness, and escalation. There are multiple opportunities to mend fences - literally and figuratively! - that are missed or ignored, leading to tragedy. And a twist that I didn't see coming.
]]> <![CDATA[We're Going to Find the Monster]]> 56155131 A rip-roaring picture book adventure from superstar pairing Malorie Blackman and Dapo Adeola.

Over the shimmering ocean, up the huge, high mountain, through the deep, dark forest . . . WE'RE GOING TO FIND THE MONSTER!

Join two intrepid adventurers as their imaginations transform their house into a wild wonderland - and their big brother becomes a mighty monster. A joy to read-aloud with its cumulative refrain, and full of funny, relatable characters, this is a contemporary celebration of creativity, fantasy and family.

Written by bestselling author of Noughts & Crosses, Malorie Blackman, this story was originally published as Marty Monster. This new version has been stunningly brought to life by the award-winning illustrator of Look Up!, Dapo Adeola.]]> 32 Malorie Blackman 0241401305 Gill 5 In Sep 2024 copies of this book were delivered to all infant schools in Southend-on-Sea as part of Jacqson Diego Story Emporium's "Book Elves" initiative.]]> 4.23 2021 We're Going to Find the Monster
author: Malorie Blackman
name: Gill
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves: book-elves, 2024, kindle-ebook, library, month-09, ya-children-s
review:
Cute picture book.
In Sep 2024 copies of this book were delivered to all infant schools in Southend-on-Sea as part of Jacqson Diego Story Emporium's "Book Elves" initiative.
]]> Try Me Again 55135188 Try Me Again: A Second-Chance Lockdown Novella
What if lockdown means your ex moving back in?
Dot is still bristling over Caitlin leaving when she turns up at her door, asking to stay.
It's just until Caitlin can get a flight to New York, to the glittering new life she dumped them for.
But when the job falls through, Caitlin has to confront some home truths.
Now she knows what she really wants, can she convince Dot to try her again?]]> 50 Clare Lydon 1912019787 Gill 3 2020, kindle-ebook, month-08
Merged review:

Lockdown forces Caitlin to throw herself on her ex's mercy. Nice, topical novella.]]> 3.77 2020 Try Me Again
author: Clare Lydon
name: Gill
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at: 2020/08/30
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves: 2020, kindle-ebook, month-08
review:
Lockdown forces Caitlin to throw herself on her ex's mercy. Nice, topical novella.

Merged review:

Lockdown forces Caitlin to throw herself on her ex's mercy. Nice, topical novella.
]]> <![CDATA[My Lady Parts: A Life Fighting Stereotypes]]> 128184572 The Deranged Mother. The Stupid Tart. The Hag.

Doon Mackichan is best known for her comedy characters, but throughout her career there are parts she’s refused to take and stereotypes she's continually defied.

In My Lady Parts, Doon shares her experience on stage, screen and in real life, examining how our culture still expects women to adhere to certain stereotypes � and punishes those who don’t. This is a courageous, vulnerable and empowering account of being a woman in an industry that has been exposed for its deep-rooted sexism.]]> 257 Doon MacKichan 1838856374 Gill 5 4.08 My Lady Parts: A Life Fighting Stereotypes
author: Doon MacKichan
name: Gill
average rating: 4.08
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/19
date added: 2024/09/19
shelves: 2024, kindle-ebook, library, non-fiction
review:
Part searingly honest memoir, part blistering polemic, Mackichan lays bear the insidious misogyny of acting and the perpetual fight for decent female parts.
]]> <![CDATA[Portraits and Poison (The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries, #2)]]> 75532619 With a grand conspiracy afoot, and a mysterious organisation threatening their closest friends and family, who can Lizzie and Belle trust? Once again it is up to the two girls to unveil the truth and put an end to the villainy that plagues the city.]]> 281 J.T. Williams 0008485291 Gill 0 to-read 4.39 2023 Portraits and Poison (The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries, #2)
author: J.T. Williams
name: Gill
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Drama and Danger (The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries, #1)]]> 61168643
Twelve-year-olds Lizzie Sancho and Dido Belle are from different worlds � Lizzie lives in Westminster in her dad’s tea shop, while Belle is an heiress being brought up by her aunt and uncle at grand Kenwood House � but they both share a love of solving mysteries.

And when their eyes meet in the audience of the Drury Lane theatre one night, both girls are sure they’ve seen something suspicious on stage.

Lizzie and Belle soon find themselves on the trail of a mystery � and becoming best friends. But can they work out what’s going on in time to prevent a murder?]]> 368 J.T. Williams Gill 0 to-read, book-elves 4.02 2022 Drama and Danger (The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries, #1)
author: J.T. Williams
name: Gill
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/18
shelves: to-read, book-elves
review:
In Sep 2024 copies of this book were delivered to all junior and secondary schools in Southend-on-Sea as part of Jacqson Diego Story Emporium's "Book Elves" initiative.
]]> Boy, Everywhere 54420202
Sami is a typical 13 year-old: he loves his friends, football, PlayStation and iPad. But a bombing in a mall changes his life. Sami and his family flee their comfortable home in Damascus to make the perilous and painful journey towards a new life in the U.K. Leaving everything behind, Sami discovers a world he’d never encountered � harsh, dangerous, but also at times unexpectedly kind and hopeful.]]> 288 A.M. Dassu 1910646644 Gill 5
Sami is a typical 13 year-old: he loves his friends, football, PlayStation and iPad. It took me a few pages to actually realise that the story starts with him in Syria and not the UK. When the civil war comes too close, his parents make the decision to leave their home - and almost everything they own - to seek safety in England.

How anyone could read this and not have greater empathy for refugees is beyond me. It's just geography and geopolitical luck that separates "us" from "them".

In Sep 2024 copies of this book were delivered to all secondary schools in Southend-on-Sea as part of Jacqson Diego Story Emporium's "Book Elves" initiative.]]> 4.21 2020 Boy, Everywhere
author: A.M. Dassu
name: Gill
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2023/06/18
date added: 2024/09/18
shelves: 2023, library, month-06, ya-children-s, book-elves
review:
A wonderful book that should be in every school library and read by kids and adults alike.

Sami is a typical 13 year-old: he loves his friends, football, PlayStation and iPad. It took me a few pages to actually realise that the story starts with him in Syria and not the UK. When the civil war comes too close, his parents make the decision to leave their home - and almost everything they own - to seek safety in England.

How anyone could read this and not have greater empathy for refugees is beyond me. It's just geography and geopolitical luck that separates "us" from "them".

In Sep 2024 copies of this book were delivered to all secondary schools in Southend-on-Sea as part of Jacqson Diego Story Emporium's "Book Elves" initiative.
]]> Kicked Out 197064490
After their friend Mark's mum wins the lottery and gets a giant house with an indoor pool, Ali and Sami have been having the time of their lives hanging at Mark's house. Even their friend Aadam gets a job there, which means he can make more money for his legal battle for UK residency. But when some money goes missing, Aadam is accused of stealing it--and all three boys are unceremoniously kicked out of Mark's house in suspicion.

On top of that, Ali's dad, who abandoned the family when Ali was little, is suddenly turning up everywhere in town, and a half-brother Ali never knew has shown up at Ali's school. Ali feels miserable and resentful about it, making it hard to be a good friend.

The boys know Aadam is innocent, and if he doesn't raise thousands of pounds right away, he could get deported back to Syria amidst its civil war. At least Ali has a they'll host a charity football penalty match to raise money for Aadam so he can stay in the UK.

But can Ali pull together the match--even if he feels his whole life at home is falling apart?]]> 336 A.M. Dassu 1643796879 Gill 0 to-read, book-elves 4.23 Kicked Out
author: A.M. Dassu
name: Gill
average rating: 4.23
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/18
shelves: to-read, book-elves
review:
In Sep 2024 copies of this book were delivered to all secondary schools in Southend-on-Sea as part of Jacqson Diego Story Emporium's "Book Elves" initiative.
]]> The Pirate Mums 56242021 32 Jodie Lancet-Grant 0192777793 Gill 0 to-read, book-elves 4.03 The Pirate Mums
author: Jodie Lancet-Grant
name: Gill
average rating: 4.03
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/18
shelves: to-read, book-elves
review:
In Sep 2024 copies of this book were delivered to all primary schools in Southend-on-Sea as part of Jacqson Diego Story Emporium's "Book Elves" initiative.
]]> <![CDATA[Collected Stories of Stefan Zweig]]> 22722361 Deluxe, clothbound edition. "From the Hardcover edition."]]> Stefan Zweig 1306946247 Gill 2 3.67 2013 Collected Stories of Stefan Zweig
author: Stefan Zweig
name: Gill
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2013
rating: 2
read at: 2024/09/04
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves: 2024, library, month-09, short-stories
review:
One or two of the stories caught my imagination and his writing can be charming, but overall I found the collection ponderous and very dated.
]]> <![CDATA[The Masquerades of Spring (Rivers of London)]]> 218525822
Meet Augustus Berrycloth-Young - fop, flaneur, and Englishman abroad - as he chronicles the Jazz Age from his perch atop the city that never sleeps.

That is, until his old friend Thomas Nightingale arrives, pursuing a rather mysterious affair concerning an old saxophone - which will take Gussie from his warm bed, to the cold shores of Long Island, and down to the jazz clubs where music, magic, and madness haunt the shadows...]]> 4 Ben Aaronovitch Gill 3 2024, audio, month-09
I enjoyed the adventure of reluctant hero Gussie and it was nice to see Nightingale in his younger days. Rivers of London fans will appreciate some of the references but it works pretty well as a standalone.

The audiobook is brilliantly read - as always - by Kobna Holbrook-Smith.]]> 4.03 2024 The Masquerades of Spring (Rivers of London)
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Gill
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/16
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves: 2024, audio, month-09
review:
Content warning - set in 1920s New York so expect archaic language about Black and gay characters.

I enjoyed the adventure of reluctant hero Gussie and it was nice to see Nightingale in his younger days. Rivers of London fans will appreciate some of the references but it works pretty well as a standalone.

The audiobook is brilliantly read - as always - by Kobna Holbrook-Smith.
]]> <![CDATA[Nightingale: London 1966 (Rivers of London, #0.5)]]> 37555454
Set in 1966. Nightingale and Hugh Oswald meet up in London, during one of Oswald's rare trips to the city.

Moments is a term used by Ben Aaronovitch for very short works of fiction, that he doesn't like to call short stories. He adds that they are not likely to be incorporated into any longer work.]]> 2 Ben Aaronovitch Gill 0 3.52 2016 Nightingale: London 1966 (Rivers of London, #0.5)
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Gill
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves:
review:
Contained within Tales From the Folly collection.
]]> <![CDATA[The Cockpit (Rivers of London, #3.5)]]> 57901186 5 Ben Aaronovitch Gill 0 3.82 2013 The Cockpit (Rivers of London, #3.5)
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Gill
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves:
review:
Contained within Tales From the Folly collection.
]]> <![CDATA[Three Rivers, Two Husbands and a Baby]]> 210324896 Ben Aaronovitch Gill 0 3.98 Three Rivers, Two Husbands and a Baby
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Gill
average rating: 3.98
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves:
review:
Contained within Tales From the Folly collection.
]]> <![CDATA[Vanessa Sommer's Other Christmas List (Rivers of London #7.7)]]> 60199027
It was published as a bonus in the Waterstones edition of The October Man, and is included in Tales from the Folly.

Set around the same time as False Value, after The October Man.

After the events told in The October Man, Vanessa transfers to the KDA and stays with her parents over Christmas. Armed with new knowledge (and some homework), she sets out to find out if there’s any magic in her old childhood haunts.]]> Ben Aaronovitch Gill 0 3.54 Vanessa Sommer's Other Christmas List (Rivers of London #7.7)
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Gill
average rating: 3.54
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves:
review:
Contained within Tales From the Folly collection.
]]> <![CDATA[Favourite Uncle (Rivers of London, #6.6)]]> 57937022 Ben Aaronovitch Gill 0 3.85 2018 Favourite Uncle (Rivers of London, #6.6)
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Gill
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves:
review:
Contained within Tales From the Folly collection.
]]> A Rare Book of Cunning Device 35463990 5 Ben Aaronovitch Gill 0 3.71 2017 A Rare Book of Cunning Device
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Gill
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves:
review:
Contained within Tales From the Folly collection.
]]> <![CDATA[King of the Rats (Rivers of London #5.65)]]> 37553905
And they’d better do it fast before irate Rivers decide to embark on a bit of DIY pest control.

King of the Rats is short story written by Ben Aaronovitch. The story was written exclusively for Cityread London 2015. It was read publicly by Doc Brown (Ben Bailey Smith) at the Mail Rail. It was an 'extra' in the paperback Waterstones edition of The Hanging Tree.]]> 1 Ben Aaronovitch Gill 0 3.44 2015 King of the Rats (Rivers of London #5.65)
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Gill
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves:
review:
Contained within Tales From the Folly collection.
]]> <![CDATA[The Loneliness of the Long Distance Granny (Rivers of London, #5.1)]]> 57903908 Foxglove Summer, and is included in the short story collection Tales from the Folly.]]> Ben Aaronovitch Gill 0 3.93 2016 The Loneliness of the Long Distance Granny (Rivers of London, #5.1)
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Gill
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves:
review:
Contained within Tales From the Folly collection.
]]> <![CDATA[Reynolds � Florence, Az. 2014 (Rivers of London, #4.6)]]> 37555542
FBI agent Kimberley Reynolds is in Florence, Arizona to interview a murderer. Her task is to find out if there is something supernatural about the case.

Moments is a term used by Ben Aaronovitch for very short works of fiction, that he doesn't like to call short stories. He adds that they are not likely to be incorporated into any longer work.]]> 3 Ben Aaronovitch Gill 0 3.22 2016 Reynolds – Florence, Az. 2014 (Rivers of London, #4.6)
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Gill
average rating: 3.22
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves:
review:
Contained within Tales From the Folly collection.
]]> <![CDATA[The Domestic (Rivers of London #2.5)]]> 50793368 Tales of the Folly

(Set between Moon Over Soho and Whispers Under Ground)]]> Ben Aaronovitch Gill 0 3.76 2012 The Domestic (Rivers of London #2.5)
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Gill
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves:
review:
Contained within Tales From the Folly collection.
]]> <![CDATA[Tobias Winter - Meckenheim 2012 (Rivers of London, #1.6)]]> 37555627
Set in 2012. The Chief of the Abteilung KDA is disturbed to learn that the Nightingale has taken on an apprentice.

Moments is a term used by Ben Aaronovitch for very short works of fiction, that he doesn't like to call short stories. He adds that they are not likely to be incorporated into any longer work.]]> 4 Ben Aaronovitch Gill 0 3.52 2017 Tobias Winter - Meckenheim 2012 (Rivers of London, #1.6)
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Gill
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves:
review:
Contained within Tales From the Folly collection.
]]> <![CDATA[A Dedicated Follower of Fashion (Rivers of London #0.6)]]> 154304183
Set in Earlsfield in 1967, where a drug dealer (and luxury cloth smuggler) and his helpers hide in a squat right beside the river Wandle. The river floods his stash and miracles ensue.]]> 30 Ben Aaronovitch Gill 0 3.57 A Dedicated Follower of Fashion (Rivers of London #0.6)
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Gill
average rating: 3.57
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves:
review:
Contained within Tales From the Folly collection.
]]> <![CDATA[Winter's Gifts (Rivers of London, #6.5)]]> 67990585
Winter's Gifts will be Ben Aaronovitch's first US-set standalone story - featuring FBI Agent Reynolds, in the depths of winter, trying to solve a case which all gets pretty weird, pretty quick...]]> 214 Ben Aaronovitch 147322439X Gill 3 2024, audio, month-06 3.92 2023 Winter's Gifts (Rivers of London, #6.5)
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Gill
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/24
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves: 2024, audio, month-06
review:
FBI agent Kimberley is a nice enough recurring character within Peter Grant's world, but lacking somewhat as MC to sustain even this fun novella.
]]> <![CDATA[Show Me the Bodies: How We Let Grenfell Happen]]> 50897059 The truth about Grenfell at long last. It is hardly possible to admit it. That the biggest tower block fire in UK history was preventable. The government had been warned for years that the building materials were not fire safe. Up until 14 June 2017, ministers' response had always ‘Show me the bodies.� Award-winning journalist Peter Apps weaves poignant survivor testimony with the detailed decision-making that led to that fateful night. In bringing the unfolding tragedy to life, he exposes exactly where things have gone wrong with social housing so that it can never happen again.]]> 304 Peter Apps 1786078325 Gill 5 I knew that the 2009 Lakanal House fire had been a missed opportunity, but Apps traces a thread right back to the 1968 Ronan Point disaster, via the deregulation of the 1980s and the 2010s slashing of "red tape". Add in swingeing cuts to the London Fire Brigade and its dinosaur culture driven by a "fight fires first, evacuate never" ethos. Result: a towering inferno that claimed the lives of the most vulnerable.

Peter Apps has managed to distill key points from hundreds of documents and thousands of hours of testimony into a readable narrative that also brings to life the human dimension of the tragedy.


From Wilful Blindness to When the Dust Settles: Stories of Love, Loss and Hope from an Expert in Disaster, from Piper Alpha to the Kings Cross underground fire, it's the same patterns. We have to stop public and private bodies alike from covering their arses and force them to start learning from history. People first, not reputation or profit.

The book was written after part 1 of the public inquiry but before the final report was issued in Sep 2024. It remains to be seen what actions are taken up by the Starmer government, but 7 years after the fire, tens of thousands of people are still living in unsafe tower blocks and no criminal charges have yet been brought against any company or individual.

Anyone wanting more depth on this should search Grenfell on BBC Sounds. Grenfell: Building a Disaster is a short series that echoes many of the points made by this book. For the most comprehensive coverage, see the Grenfell Tower Inquiry podcast - a phenomenal piece of public service broadcasting which covered the inquiry from end to end. The testimonies of the survivors and bereaved will stay with me.]]> 4.76 2022 Show Me the Bodies: How We Let Grenfell Happen
author: Peter Apps
name: Gill
average rating: 4.76
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/16
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves: 2024, kindle-ebook, library, month-09, non-fiction
review:
This is such an important book. It's very hard to know where to start with Grenfell but Apps lays bare the consistent and sustained way in which organisations - from national and local government to multinational manufacturers and tiny subcontractors - made deliberate choices that could only led to disaster.
I knew that the 2009 Lakanal House fire had been a missed opportunity, but Apps traces a thread right back to the 1968 Ronan Point disaster, via the deregulation of the 1980s and the 2010s slashing of "red tape". Add in swingeing cuts to the London Fire Brigade and its dinosaur culture driven by a "fight fires first, evacuate never" ethos. Result: a towering inferno that claimed the lives of the most vulnerable.

Peter Apps has managed to distill key points from hundreds of documents and thousands of hours of testimony into a readable narrative that also brings to life the human dimension of the tragedy.


From Wilful Blindness to When the Dust Settles: Stories of Love, Loss and Hope from an Expert in Disaster, from Piper Alpha to the Kings Cross underground fire, it's the same patterns. We have to stop public and private bodies alike from covering their arses and force them to start learning from history. People first, not reputation or profit.

The book was written after part 1 of the public inquiry but before the final report was issued in Sep 2024. It remains to be seen what actions are taken up by the Starmer government, but 7 years after the fire, tens of thousands of people are still living in unsafe tower blocks and no criminal charges have yet been brought against any company or individual.

Anyone wanting more depth on this should search Grenfell on BBC Sounds. Grenfell: Building a Disaster is a short series that echoes many of the points made by this book. For the most comprehensive coverage, see the Grenfell Tower Inquiry podcast - a phenomenal piece of public service broadcasting which covered the inquiry from end to end. The testimonies of the survivors and bereaved will stay with me.
]]> It Was a Riot 213161219 Edward “Eddy� Turner’s entire life is a battlefield.

Growing up gay in the violent and poverty-stricken streets of East London, Eddy’s childhood is haunted by the shadow of bullying, rejection, and his domineering football hooligan father. Enrolling in medical school is his only lifeline � but it only catapults him into a fresh set of struggles that will define the rest of his life.

From the brutal front lines of the Falklands War to the impoverished mining communities of Northern England and the drug-fuelled raves of London, Eddy desperately tries to numb his pain and escape his inner demons. But his efforts are futile � and with the spectre of AIDS hanging over his head, he’s helpless to prevent his closest friends from succumbing to the disease.

But Eddy can’t hide forever. After a protest turns violent, he’s left fighting for his freedom against a biased court system that’s hell-bent on jailing him for manslaughter. His story quickly ignites a national frenzy as his case hits the headlines. And when Eddy makes a shocking discovery about his past, he must re-evaluate his entire life and decide what’s really important.

Can Eddy escape the shadow of his father’s judgement? Or will he never be able to accept himself for who he is?

As a gripping and authentic contemporary LGBT fiction novel that explores the stark realities of being gay in 1990’s England, It Was a Riot explores deep themes of identity, sexuality, paternal rejection, and the struggle to find oneself. This book is a must-read for fans of character-driven epics including Tomasz Jedrowski's Swimming in the Dark and Douglas Stuart's Shuggie Bain. Scroll up and grab your copy today.


]]> 288 2876395223 Gill 3
Hall draws the reader in, so much so that I completely forgot that the protagonist was addressing a courtroom. I was engrossed in Eddy's first-person narrative. His upbringing against a background of toxic masculinity and his deep-seated desire for his dad's approval, all beautifully crafted by Hall. Returning to the courtroom felt jarring - not a bad thing - but also increasingly unrealistic.

Well worth the read despite some clunky contrivances and some mawkishness in the final third. Hall is a writer to watch.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in return for an honest review.]]> 4.55 It Was a Riot
author: Daniel Hall
name: Gill
average rating: 4.55
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/22
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves: 2024, kindle-ebook, netgalley, month-06
review:
I really loved about three-quarters of this book.

Hall draws the reader in, so much so that I completely forgot that the protagonist was addressing a courtroom. I was engrossed in Eddy's first-person narrative. His upbringing against a background of toxic masculinity and his deep-seated desire for his dad's approval, all beautifully crafted by Hall. Returning to the courtroom felt jarring - not a bad thing - but also increasingly unrealistic.

Well worth the read despite some clunky contrivances and some mawkishness in the final third. Hall is a writer to watch.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in return for an honest review.
]]> <![CDATA[All That Remains: A Life in Death]]> 35212990
Do we expect a book about death to be sad? Macabre? Sue’s book is neither. There is tragedy, but there is also humour in stories as gripping as the best crime novel. Our own death will remain a great unknown. But as an expert witness from the final frontier, Sue Black is the wisest, most reassuring, most compelling of guides.]]> 368 Sue Black 0857524925 Gill 5
Her approach to death is pragmatic and inspirational. Under her leadership, Dundee University's Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification has become world-renowned, not least among crime writers like Val McDermid - after whom Dundee's state of the art mortuary is named - who seek out Black's expertise. Every year dozens of people bequeath their bodies to the centre, knowing their gift will further the causes of forensic research and medical training.

My first experience of death was seeing my dad suffer a heart attack when I was 14. I've always despised the mealy-mouthed euphemisms, and Black's words resonated strongly with me:

He has not passed, he is not gone, he is not lost: he is dead...
His life is extinct, and none of the euphemistic rhetoric in the world will ever bring it, or him, back.


I found this a thoroughly absorbing read that allays some of one's fears about dying.

But I know I won't be alone. Whether or not there are others present, death will be with me, and she has more experience than anybody, so I am certain that she will show me what to do.
]]> 4.17 2018 All That Remains: A Life in Death
author: Sue Black
name: Gill
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/29
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves: 2024, library, month-07, non-fiction
review:
A fascinating view of the myriad causes of human death and how science can reveal what happened to us. Professor Sue Black is a leading forensic anthropologist who has pioneered victim identification techniques and led British forensic teams excavating mass graves in Kosovo and Iraq.

Her approach to death is pragmatic and inspirational. Under her leadership, Dundee University's Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification has become world-renowned, not least among crime writers like Val McDermid - after whom Dundee's state of the art mortuary is named - who seek out Black's expertise. Every year dozens of people bequeath their bodies to the centre, knowing their gift will further the causes of forensic research and medical training.

My first experience of death was seeing my dad suffer a heart attack when I was 14. I've always despised the mealy-mouthed euphemisms, and Black's words resonated strongly with me:

He has not passed, he is not gone, he is not lost: he is dead...
His life is extinct, and none of the euphemistic rhetoric in the world will ever bring it, or him, back.


I found this a thoroughly absorbing read that allays some of one's fears about dying.

But I know I won't be alone. Whether or not there are others present, death will be with me, and she has more experience than anybody, so I am certain that she will show me what to do.

]]> <![CDATA[Map of a Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey]]> 9342415 Map of a Nation tells the story of the creation of the Ordnance Survey map - the first complete, accurate, affordable map of the British Isles.]]> 436 Rachel Hewitt 1847080987 Gill 0 to-read 3.62 2010 Map of a Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey
author: Rachel Hewitt
name: Gill
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Start at the End: How Reverse-Engineering Can Lead to Success]]> 58029343 An inspiring and thought-provoking new book that explains the power of applying reverse-engineering to all areas of your life, from a cycling champion who has proven its success. Dan Bigham is the captain of an amateur British track cycling team who rose from obscurity to beat professional, multi-million-pound teams at the highest level. Alongside hard work and dedication, Dan credits his success to one reverse-engineering the result.In Start at the End, Dan uses his own story as well as wider examples and case studies from the worlds of business, personal development and other sports to demonstrate how this approach can help you succeed in any walk of life. Following each stage of the process, from setting goals and assessing your tools to developing the plan and delivering optimum performance, this book will fully explain how to set out and enact the system.A revolutionary new look at a powerful age-old wisdom, Start at the End is a fascinating exploration of how we can achieve success and proof that no goal is impossible.***'Start at the End isn't just a great story, but a really nice reminder of how to approach performance forensically, intelligently and purposefully � and that these lessons don't just belong in cycling but in all areas of high performance' Dr Josie Perry'Phenomenal ... Absolutely fascinating ... Incredible stuff, really clever' Stephen Dixon, Sky News]]> 224 Dan Bigham 1787396096 Gill 0 to-read 4.09 Start at the End: How Reverse-Engineering Can Lead to Success
author: Dan Bigham
name: Gill
average rating: 4.09
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Better Tomorrow: Life Lessons in Hope and Strength]]> 62340025 'I'd walk across hot coals to speak alongside Mina Smallman... An amazing woman' - Jess Phillips, MP
'Mina Smallman is as tough as she is warm' - Guardian

Mina Smallman has lived through the unimaginable. On Saturday 6 June 2020, her daughters, Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman, were killed in a park by a male stranger as they celebrated Bibaa's birthday.

Mina has been fighting for justice ever since - for her daughters, and for the rest of us, by challenging the toxic culture in the Metropolitan Police and calling out the wider institutional misogyny, racism and classism in Britain. Now, she tells her story for the first time. Framed by Mina's experience of losing her two daughters, Bibaa and Nicole, A Better Tomorrow reflects on the lessons in strength, forgiveness and hope that life has taught her - from her difficult childhood, to her embrace of motherhood, her time as a schoolteacher, and then as the first woman of colour to be an Archdeacon in the Church of England.

Told through grief and with compassion, humour and love, this deeply personal memoir is Mina's beacon of hope.]]> 241 Mina Smallman 1529199735 Gill 0 to-read 4.31 2023 A Better Tomorrow: Life Lessons in Hope and Strength
author: Mina Smallman
name: Gill
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> This Feast of a Life 217323775 From the author of IF YOU STILL RECOGNISE ME comes a delicious story of two people brought together by a shared love of food as they figure out themselves and each other.

Auden is finding different ways to be themself. The first - using their new chosen name, which feels most authentically them. The second - starting a food blog where they can share their passion for food, through family recipes and the stories behind them. And when the blog brings them Valerie, they discover more than they'd ever expected.

It's been over a year since Valerie lost her mum - her beautiful, vibrant mum who loved cooking. Since her mum's death, Valerie and her dad have drifted further and further apart, the kitchen left cold and empty, until Valerie finds Auden's blog. The blog (and its writer) spark something in Valerie. Could she have found a recipe for happiness?]]> 352 Cynthia So 1788953452 Gill 0 to-read 4.06 2025 This Feast of a Life
author: Cynthia So
name: Gill
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism]]> 54817546 Late Night with Seth Meyers Amber Ruffin writes with her sister Lacey Lamar with humor and heart to share absurd anecdotes about everyday experiences of racism.

Now a writer and performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers and host of The Amber Ruffin Show, Amber Ruffin lives in New York, where she is no one's First Black Friend and everyone is, as she puts it, "stark raving normal." But Amber's sister Lacey? She's still living in their home state of Nebraska, and trust us, you'll never believe what happened to Lacey.

From racist donut shops to strangers putting their whole hand in her hair, from being mistaken for a prostitute to being mistaken for Harriet Tubman, Lacey is a lightning rod for hilariously ridiculous yet all-too-real anecdotes. She's the perfect mix of polite, beautiful, petite, and Black that apparently makes people think "I can say whatever I want to this woman." And now, Amber and Lacey share these entertainingly horrifying stories through their laugh-out-loud sisterly banter. Painfully relatable or shockingly eye-opening (depending on how often you have personally been followed by security at department stores), this book tackles modern-day racism with the perfect balance of levity and gravity.]]> 215 Amber Ruffin 1538719363 Gill 0 to-read 4.40 2021 You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism
author: Amber Ruffin
name: Gill
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America]]> 43908981 The first book to explore the historical role and residual impact of the Green Book, a travel guide for black motorists

Published from 1936 to 1966, the Green Book was hailed as the “black travel guide to America.� At that time, it was very dangerous and difficult for African-Americans to travel because black travelers couldn’t eat, sleep, or buy gas at most white-owned businesses. The Green Book listed hotels, restaurants, gas stations, and other businesses that were safe for black travelers. It was a resourceful and innovative solution to a horrific problem. It took courage to be listed in the Green Book, and Overground Railroad celebrates the stories of those who put their names in the book and stood up against segregation. It shows the history of the Green Book, how we arrived at our present historical moment, and how far we still have to go when it comes to race relations in America.
]]> 360 Candacy A. Taylor 1419738178 Gill 0 to-read 4.23 2020 Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America
author: Candacy A. Taylor
name: Gill
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Learnings From Five Olympic Games]]> 55540232 Frances Houghton Gill 0 to-read 4.69 Learnings From Five Olympic Games
author: Frances Houghton
name: Gill
average rating: 4.69
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Endless Perfect Circles: Lessons from the little-known world of ultradistance cycling]]> 54687876 230 Ian Walker 1838535543 Gill 0 to-read 4.53 Endless Perfect Circles: Lessons from the little-known world of ultradistance cycling
author: Ian Walker
name: Gill
average rating: 4.53
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Democracy in Black 29003268
Democracy in Black is Eddie S. Glaude Jr.'s impassioned response. Part manifesto, part history, part memoir, it argues that we live in a country founded on a "value gap"—with white lives valued more than others—that still distorts our politics today. Whether discussing why all Americans have racial habits that reinforce inequality, why black politics based on the civil-rights era have reached a dead end, or why only remaking democracy from the ground up can bring real change, Glaude crystallizes the untenable position of black America—and offers thoughts on a better way forward.

Forceful in ideas and unsettling in its candor, Democracy in Black is a landmark book on race in America, one that promises to spark wide discussion as we move toward the end of our first black presidency.]]> Eddie S. Glaude Jr. 1522634940 Gill 0 to-read 4.43 2016 Democracy in Black
author: Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
name: Gill
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[When We Rise: My Life in the Movement]]> 27917674
Born in 1954, Cleve Jones was among the last generation of gay Americans who grew up wondering if there were others out there like himself. There were. Like thousands of other young people, Jones, nearly penniless, was drawn in the early 1970s to San Francisco, a city electrified by progressive politics and sexual freedom.

Jones found community--in the hotel rooms and ramshackle apartments shared by other young adventurers, in the city's bathhouses and gay bars like The Stud, and in the burgeoning gay district, the Castro, where a New York transplant named Harvey Milk set up a camera shop, began shouting through his bullhorn, and soon became the nation's most outspoken gay elected official. With Milk's encouragement, Jones dove into politics and found his calling in "the movement." When Milk was killed by an assassin's bullet in 1978, Jones took up his mentor's progressive mantle--only to see the arrival of AIDS transform his life once again.

By turns tender and uproarious--and written entirely in his own words--When We Rise is Jones' account of his remarkable life. He chronicles the heartbreak of losing countless friends to AIDS, which very nearly killed him, too; his co-founding of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation during the terrifying early years of the epidemic; his conception of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, the largest community art project in history; the bewitching story of 1970s San Francisco and the magnetic spell it cast for thousands of young gay people and other misfits; and the harrowing, sexy, and sometimes hilarious stories of Cleve's passionate relationships with friends and lovers during an era defined by both unprecedented freedom and possibility, and prejudice and violence alike.

When We Rise is not only the story of a hero to the LQBTQ community, but the vibrantly voice memoir of a full and transformative American life--an activist whose work continues today.]]> 291 Cleve Jones 0316315435 Gill 0 to-read 4.31 2016 When We Rise: My Life in the Movement
author: Cleve Jones
name: Gill
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Karmzah - The Unleashing 44403763 36 Farida Bedwei Gill 0 to-read 3.79 Karmzah - The Unleashing
author: Farida Bedwei
name: Gill
average rating: 3.79
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Trespassers 44789215
The Trespassers is a beguiling novel that explores the consequences of greed, the experience of exile, and the unlikely ways strangers can become the people we hold dear.]]> 288 Meg Mundell 0702262552 Gill 0 to-read 3.75 2019 The Trespassers
author: Meg Mundell
name: Gill
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, and Winning True Equality]]> 22749798
Marriage equality has surged across the country. Closet doors have burst open in business, entertainment, and even major league sports. But as longtime advocate Michelangelo Signorile argues in his most provocative book yet, the excitement of such breathless change makes this moment more dangerous than ever. Puncturing the illusion that victory is now inevitable, Signorile marshals stinging evidence that an age-old hatred, homophobia, is still a basic fact of American life. He exposes the bigotry of the brewing religious conservative backlash against LGBT rights and challenges the complacency and hypocrisy of supposed allies in Washington, the media, and Hollywood.

Not just a wake-up call, It's Not Over is also a battle plan for the fights to come in the march toward equality. Signorile tells the stories of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans who have refused to be merely tolerated, or worse, and are demanding full acceptance. And he documents signs of hope in schools and communities finding new ways to combat ignorance, bullying, and fear. Urgent and empowering, It's Not Over is a necessary book from one of our most electrifying voices.]]> 259 Michelangelo Signorile 0544381009 Gill 0 to-read 3.98 2015 It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, and Winning True Equality
author: Michelangelo Signorile
name: Gill
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The End of Policing 35403039 The problem is not overpolicing, it is policing itself

Recent years have seen an explosion of protest against police brutality and repression. Among activists, journalists and politicians, the conversation about how to respond and improve policing has focused on accountability, diversity, training, and community relations. Unfortunately, these reforms will not produce results, either alone or in combination. The core of the problem must be addressed: the nature of modern policing itself.

This book attempts to spark public discussion by revealing the tainted origins of modern policing as a tool of social control. It shows how the expansion of police authority is inconsistent with community empowerment, social justice—even public safety. Drawing on groundbreaking research from across the world, and covering virtually every area in the increasingly broad range of police work, Alex Vitale demonstrates how law enforcement has come to exacerbate the very problems it is supposed to solve.

In contrast, there are places where the robust implementation of policing alternatives—such as legalization, restorative justice, and harm reduction—has led to a decrease in crime, spending, and injustice. The best solution to bad policing may be an end to policing.]]> 272 Alex S. Vitale 1784782912 Gill 0 to-read 4.18 2017 The End of Policing
author: Alex S. Vitale
name: Gill
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Wow, No Thank You.: Essays 49960031
Irby is turning forty, and increasingly uncomfortable in her own skin. She has left her job as a receptionist at a veterinary clinic, has published successful books and is courted by Hollywood, left Chicago, and moved into a house with a garden that requires repairs and know-how with her wife and two step-children in a small white, Republican town in Michigan where she now hosts book clubs. This is the bourgeois life of dreams. She goes on bad dates with new friends, spends weeks in Los Angeles taking meetings with "skinny, luminous peoples" while being a "cheese fry-eating slightly damp Midwest person," "with neck pain and no cartilage in [her] knees," and hides Entenmann's cookies under her bed and unopened bills under her pillow.

Into the gross --
Girls gone mild --
Hung up! --
Late-1900s time capsule --
Love and marriage --
Are you familiar with my work? --
Hysterical! --
Lesbian bed death --
Body negativity --
Country crock --
A guide to simple home repairs --
We almost got a fucking dog --
Detachment parenting --
Season 1, episode 1 --
Hollywood summer --
$$$ --
Hello, 911? --
An extremely specific guide to publishing a book]]> 319 Samantha Irby 0525563482 Gill 0 to-read 3.81 2020 Wow, No Thank You.: Essays
author: Samantha Irby
name: Gill
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fighting with Pride: Lgbtq in the Armed Forces]]> 53057114
This book provides twelve accounts of members of our Armed Forces who have lived remarkable lives. In some cases they were dismissed in disgrace or forced to resign when asked questions about their love, because their answers did not stand the test. Their stories are those of remarkable sacrifice and courage in their units (and in battle) for services that removed them at the stroke of a pen 'services no longer required' or 'dismissed in disgrace' or forced them to live in secret.

These are the stories of the David and Goliath battle for equality, through every court in the UK and Europe. For others their story is one of remarkable careers at the front line of operations worldwide, with accounts of service in the Second World War, the Falklands War, the Gulf Wars and Afghanistan.

This book celebrates the lives of servicemen and women who have stood tall and taken their place with pride pride and dignity in the fighting units of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Royal Air Force and the British Army. These are the inspiring stories of people who have created amazing careers and sought and found a welcome denied so many.]]> 256 Various 152676525X Gill 0 to-read 5.00 Fighting with Pride: Lgbtq in the Armed Forces
author: Various
name: Gill
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> This Queer Angel 44294188 Discover the human cost of being deemed a criminal in the institutions protecting fellow citizens� hard-won freedoms.
The first book covering recent military history, written from a lesbian perspective. *
‘The inside story of the long, heroic battle to overturn homophobia in the British Armed Forces. Inspiring!� � Peter Tatchell
‘A richly textured and deeply human tour de force. Chambers is a deft storyteller who movingly chronicles her battle to live authentically. Unputdownable.� � Dr Emma Vickers, Senior Lecturer in History, Liverpool John Moores University]]> 323 Elaine Chambers 1912618397 Gill 0 to-read 4.31 This Queer Angel
author: Elaine Chambers
name: Gill
average rating: 4.31
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Room for a Stranger 43165421
Since her sister died, Meg has been on her own. She doesn’t mind, not really—not with Atticus, her African grey parrot, to keep her company—but after her house is broken into by a knife-wielding intruder, she decides it might be good to have some company after all.

Andy’s father has lost his job, and his parents� savings are barely enough to cover his tuition. If he wants to graduate, he’ll have to give up his student flat and find a homeshare. Living with an elderly Australian woman is harder than he’d expected, though, and soon he’s struggling with more than his studies.]]> 288 Melanie Cheng 192577354X Gill 0 to-read 3.67 2019 Room for a Stranger
author: Melanie Cheng
name: Gill
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders]]> 2031234

The name, mug shot, and other personal details of each Freedom Rider arrested were duly recorded and saved by agents of the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, a Stasi-like investigative agency whose purpose was to "perform any and all acts deemed necessary and proper to protect the sovereignty of the state of Mississippi." How the Commission thought these details would actually protect the state is not clear, but what is clear, forty-six years later, is that by carefully recording names and preserving the mug shots, the Commission inadvertently created a testament to these heroes of the civil rights movement.


Collected here in a richly illustrated, large-format book featuring over seventy contemporary photographs, alongside the original mug shots, and exclusive interviews with former Freedom Riders, is that testament: a moving archive of a chapter in U.S. history that hasn't yet closed.
]]> 224 Eric Etheridge 097774339X Gill 0 to-read 4.49 2008 Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders
author: Eric Etheridge
name: Gill
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Echo Point 35429297 Libby’s best friend Ally never had a chance to say good-bye to her dear friend. When she finally returns home, Ally finds Libby’s family open and welcoming…everyone, that is, except Libby’s sister Bron.
For her part, Bron can’t fathom why her family is so enamored with Ally—even offering her a job and a place to live—but grudgingly admires the way Ally and Annie get along.
While Bron contemplates moving Annie to Boston and away from the only home the little girl has ever known, bushfires begin to rage in the nearby mountains, and Bron begins to see that she’s sorely underestimated her sister’s friend.
Soon Ally’s past and Bron’s future collide—with a heat and wonder that neither of them expected.

Words: 58,940]]> 194 Virginia Hale 1594935777 Gill 0 to-read 3.84 2017 Echo Point
author: Virginia Hale
name: Gill
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2017
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]]> Three Reasons to Say Yes 40938037 Julia Maguire can’t wait to spend two weeks in Hawaii with her best friends. She’s been dreaming about this trip for years and all she wants is to lay on a sandy beach with an icy cocktail in her hand. But those vacation goals change the moment she meets Reed Baxter.
Reed is a busy doctor with family demands. She’s in Hawaii to let go, not find love, and she’s not interested in any commitment. Adding a little heat to the vacation seems like a good idea as long as there aren’t expectations for anything more.

Genre: Romance
Editor: Medora MacDougall
Cover Designer: Judith Fellows]]> 314 Jaime Clevenger 1594936153 Gill 0 to-read 4.13 2018 Three Reasons to Say Yes
author: Jaime Clevenger
name: Gill
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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]]> Kiss the Girl (Soho Loft, #1) 18406404
Twenty-eight-year-old Brooklyn Campbell is having a bad day. A speeding ticket, a towed car, and a broken heel are all working against her laid-back vibe. To top it all off, her birth mother, whom she’s never met, has requested contact. The only bright spot is an impromptu date with a beautiful and mysterious brunette.

Jessica Lennox is what you would call a high-powered executive. She’s the head of a multimillion-dollar advertising firm in New York City, and it didn’t happen by accident. But when the blonde head turner from the wine bistro turns out to be her number one competitor, her life gets infinitely more complex.

Is New York big enough for both Brooklyn and Jessica? Maybe it’s just time they experienced it together...]]> 305 Melissa Brayden 1626390711 Gill 0 to-read 4.27 2014 Kiss the Girl (Soho Loft, #1)
author: Melissa Brayden
name: Gill
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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]]> The Summer of Our Discontent 18039587
Faith Leblanc is looking for that special someone, but her tactics have branded her somewhat of a womanizer. A few doors down, Rachel Chauvin is looking for the same, but her conservative style hasn’t yielded any keepers, either. Neither woman is willing to consider the other as a prospective partner, mostly because they’ve hated each other for nearly four decades.

Change is in the air, and spring is giving way to The Summer of Our Discontent.]]> 232 Robin Alexander Gill 0 to-read 4.28 2013 The Summer of Our Discontent
author: Robin Alexander
name: Gill
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2013
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]]> Against Hate 44644568 Racism, extremism, anti-democratic sentiment � our increasingly polarized world is dominated by a type of thinking that doubts others� positions but never its own.

In a powerful challenge to fundamentalism in all its forms, Carolin Emcke, one of Germany’s leading intellectuals, argues that we can only preserve individual freedom and protect people’s rights by cherishing and celebrating diversity. If we want to safeguard democracy, we must have the courage to challenge hatred and the will to fight for and defend plurality in our societies. Emcke rises to the challenge that identitarian dogmas and populist narratives pose, exposing the way in which they simplify and distort our perception of the world.

Against Hateis an impassioned call to fight intolerance and defend liberal ideals. It will be of great interest to anyone concerned about the darkening politics of our time and searching for ways forward.

]]> 168 Carolin Emcke 150953198X Gill 0 to-read 4.13 2016 Against Hate
author: Carolin Emcke
name: Gill
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2016
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]]> One Day You'll Leave Me 42038077
Karen Stephens is an ordinary woman living an ordinary life in the year 2010. Until the day she hears something. A song, an unfamiliar one that moves her in a way she cannot understand or explain.

Judy Paige was also an ordinary woman, who lived an ordinary life, up until the day she sang a song at a concert in the year 1964.

When Karen's curiosity about the song she heard turns into an obsession about the woman who sang it, she's drawn to the town of Leyfant, Texas. The town Judy Paige was born and raised in, and it's there that Karen is approached by a man who calls himself Mr. Smith. A man who asks Karen a simple question. "Would you like to meet her?"

The question is simple, but the answer is not.

Because Judy Paige has been dead for almost twenty years.]]> 268 Debra Flores Gill 0 to-read 4.43 2018 One Day You'll Leave Me
author: Debra Flores
name: Gill
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2018
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]]> <![CDATA[A Broom of One's Own: Words on Writing, Housecleaning & Life]]> 1171938 National Enquirer—under the headline "Here's One for the Books: Cleaning Lady Is an Acclaimed Author"—was more than a shock. It was an inspiration.

In A Broom of One's Own, Nancy Peacock, whose first novel was selected by the New York Times as a Notable Book of the Year, explores with warmth, wit, and candor what it means to be a writer. An encouragement to all hard-working artists, no matter how they make a living, Peacock's book provides valuable insights and advice on motivation, craft, and criticism while offering hilarious anecdotes about the houses she cleans.]]> 168 Nancy Peacock 0061357871 Gill 0 to-read 3.91 2008 A Broom of One's Own: Words on Writing, Housecleaning & Life
author: Nancy Peacock
name: Gill
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2008
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]]> <![CDATA[In Other Words: An Illustrated Miscellany of the World's Most Intriguing Words and Phrases]]> 41812806
A colorfully illustrated collection of more than ninety untranslatable words and phrases and the unique insights they offer into the cultures they come from.

Ever racked your brain for a word you're convinced should exist, yet is inexplicably absent from the dictionary? All languages have their limitations-should English fall short, the expression may lie elsewhere. That's where this book comes a quirky, international lexicon of linguistic gems that capture cultural untranslatables with satisfying precision.

Take for example the Japanese yoko meshi , “a meal eaten sideways,� describing the experience of trying to communicate in an alien tongue, or mono-no-aware , the appreciation of life's sadness. From the distinctive coziness of the Danish hygge , to the unrestrained dis of the Mayan bol (“in-laws� and “stupidity�), to the profound collectivism of the Zulu concept of ubuntu (roughly, “I AM because WE ARE"), these mots justes are grouped according to language and prefaced with insightful overviews of the relevant cultures by linguist Christopher J. Moore.

Embellished with 20 entertaining new untranslatable words and phrases and 90 characterful color illustrations by Lan Truong, and with a foreword by Simon Winchester, In Other Words is amusing, profound, and unputdownable--a gorgeously packaged gift book to entertain even the most well-versed polyglot with marvels of language from around the world.]]> 128 Christopher J. Moore 163557403X Gill 0 to-read 3.41 In Other Words: An Illustrated Miscellany of the World's Most Intriguing Words and Phrases
author: Christopher J. Moore
name: Gill
average rating: 3.41
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