en-US Thu, 03 Apr 2025 14:09:15 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 60099225
Kate Lawler has never been maternal. And yet here she mother to Noa, after years of going back and forth about having children at all. This is the story of her journey from parentally undecided to early motherhood, via raging hormones, sleepless nights, emergency hospital trips, mum guilt, unspoken regrets and post-natal depression.

This book is not a parenting manual. It won't tell you what to pack in your hospital bag, or how to get your baby to sleep. It may not help you with feeding or dealing with tantrums. But it will show you that you're not alone - and that it's perfectly possible, and maybe even normal, to love your child with all of your heart while also feeling lost, alone and resentful.

Whether you're an expectant parent, a new parent, firmly in the thick of it, or still parentally undecided, this book is for you, as Kate writes honestly and hilariously about the ups and downs of pregnancy, birth and early parenting, as well as the impact of a new baby on relationships, your sense of self and everything in between. It's a book that, with Kate's usual candour and wit, will help mums and dads everywhere feel seen - and completely understood.

' Wow what a read! I love it. Kate's honest, open, funny account of motherhood with all its highs and lows is a breath of fresh air and relatable for so many.' Gemma Atkinson

'Honest, brave and relatable mixed with humour. Kate, you've nailed it. Whether you are an expectant parent or simply not sure, Maybe Baby will give you tears and laughter - both in equal measures!' Frankie Bridge

'Maybe Baby is beautifully honest, open and brilliant. Full of humorous anecdotes, Kate has written a book for the EVERY-woman - those wanting children, those not, and those who are indecisively on the fence about the whole thing. Kate sharing her experiences, especially with PND, will help open up important conversations and support so many going through a similar situation.' Giovanna Fletcher

'This isn't just another mum book. Raw, honest, brutally funny, Kate has nailed the highs, lows, peaks and troughs of this rollercoaster of a parental ride.' Anna Whitehouse]]> 304 Kate Lawler 1399602365 Jo 0 3.90
author: Kate Lawler
name: Jo
average rating: 3.90
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/03
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]]> 25414049 160 Robert Seethaler 148700074X Jo 0 4.00 2014
author: Robert Seethaler
name: Jo
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2016/01/21
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves:
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]]> 56587382 A rich, magical new book on belonging and identity, love and trauma, nature and renewal, from the Booker shortlisted author of 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World.

Two teenagers, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, meet at a taverna on the island they both call home. In the taverna, hidden beneath garlands of garlic, chili peppers and creeping honeysuckle, Kostas and Defne grow in their forbidden love for each other. A fig tree stretches through a cavity in the roof, and this tree bears witness to their hushed, happy meetings and eventually, to their silent, surreptitious departures. The tree is there when war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to ashes and rubble, and when the teenagers vanish. Decades later, Kostas returns. He is a botanist looking for native species, but really, he’s searching for lost love.

Years later a Ficus carica grows in the back garden of a house in London where Ada Kazantzakis lives. This tree is her only connection to an island she has never visited -- her only connection to her family’s troubled history and her complex identity as she seeks to untangle years of secrets to find her place in the world.

A moving, beautifully written and delicately constructed story of love, division, transcendence, history and eco-consciousness, The Island of Missing Trees is Elif Shafak’s best work yet.]]> 354 Elif Shafak 0241434998 Jo 0 4.13 2021
author: Elif Shafak
name: Jo
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/29
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves:
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]]> 58079464 "Georgia Pritchett is a singularly hilarious person. Her book is a delightful and perfect reflection of her. Its tenderness sneaks up on you and really packs a punch. What a magnificent read!"--Julia Louis Dreyfus

Jenny Lawson meets Nora Ephron in this joyful memoir-in-vignettes on living--and thriving--with anxiety from a multiple Emmy Award-winning comedy writer whose credits include Succession and Veep.

When Georgia Pritchett found herself lost for words--a bit of a predicament for a comedy writer--she turned to a therapist, who suggested she try writing down some of the things that worried her. But instead of a grocery list of concerns, Georgia wrote this book.

A natural born worrywart, Georgia's life has been defined by her quirky anxiety. During childhood, she was agitated about the monsters under her bed (Were they comfy enough?). Going into labor, she fretted about making a fuss ("Sorry to interrupt, but the baby is coming out of my body," I said politely). Winning a prestigious award, she agonized over receiving free gifts after the ceremony (It was an excruciating experience. Mortifying).

Soul-baring yet lighthearted, poignant yet written with a healthy dose of self-deprecation, My Mess Is a Bit of a Life is a tour through the carnival funhouse of Georgia's life, from her anxiety-ridden early childhood where disaster loomed around every corner (When I was little I used to think that sheep were clouds that had fallen to earth. On cloudy days I used to worry that I would be squashed by a sheep), through the challenges of breaking into an industry dominated by male writers, to the exquisite terror (and incomparable joy) of raising children.

Delightfully offbeat, painfully honest, full of surprising wonders, and delivering plenty of hilarious, laugh-out-loud moments, My Mess Is a Bit of a Life reveals a talented, vulnerable, and strong woman in all her wisecracking weirdness, and makes us love it--and her--too.]]> 288 Georgia Pritchett 0063206374 Jo 0 3.79 2021
author: Georgia Pritchett
name: Jo
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/28
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves:
review:

]]> 123136728 207 Samantha Harvey 0802161545 Jo 0 3.56 2023
author: Samantha Harvey
name: Jo
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/24
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves:
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]]> 53237384
Well, Health Visitors are real nurses, with at least three years' training, and they are out there, on their own. No back-up team or support structures to call for help if they're in a dicey situation. No warm lights, tea breaks spent chatting in the canteen, nobody else to ask, 'is this okay, what do you think?'

Over 40 years working in the NHS, Rachael Hearson has been chased down an isolated stairwell by crack-fuelled drug-addicted pimps, threatened by a knife-wielding wife-beater in a hostel, unwittingly visited a brothel...

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.]]> 166 Rachael Hearson 1913406040 Jo 0 3.44 2020
author: Rachael Hearson
name: Jo
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2025/02/06
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves:
review:

]]> 212807260 Your table awaits at the Chibineko Kitchen, where a soul-nourishing meal in the company of the resident kitten will transport you back in time to reunite with departed loved ones—for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold and The Midnight Library.

In a remote seaside town outside of Tokyo, Kotoko makes her way along a seashell path, lured by whispers of an enigmatic restaurant whose kagezen, or traditional meals offered in remembrance of loved ones, promise a reunion with the departed. When a gust of wind lifts off her hat, she sees running after it a young man who looks like her recently deceased brother. But it’s not her brother; it’s Kai, the restaurant’s young chef, who returns her hat and brings her to the tiny establishment, where he introduces her to Chibi, the resident kitten, and serves her steaming bowls of simmered fish, rice, and miso soup—the exact meal her brother used to cook for her. As she takes her first delicious bite, the gulls outside fall silent, the air grows hazy, and Kotoko begins a magical journey of last chances and new beginnings.]]> 192 Yuta Takahashi 0143138618 Jo 0 4.04 2020
author: Yuta Takahashi
name: Jo
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/27
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves:
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]]> 60149573 A novel about a mother’s unbreakable love in a world consumed by fear.

Twelve-year-old Bird Gardner lives a quiet existence with his loving but broken father, a former linguist who now shelves books in a university library. Bird knows to not ask too many questions, stand out too much, or stray too far. For a decade, their lives have been governed by laws written to preserve “American culture� in the wake of years of economic instability and violence. To keep the peace and restore prosperity, the authorities are now allowed to relocate children of dissidents, especially those of Asian origin, and libraries have been forced to remove books seen as unpatriotic—including the work of Bird’s mother, Margaret, a Chinese American poet who left the family when he was nine years old.

Bird has grown up disavowing his mother and her poems; he doesn’t know her work or what happened to her, and he knows he shouldn’t wonder. But when he receives a mysterious letter containing only a cryptic drawing, he is pulled into a quest to find her. His journey will take him back to the many folktales she poured into his head as a child, through the ranks of an underground network of librarians, into the lives of the children who have been taken, and finally to New York City, where a new act of defiance may be the beginning of much-needed change.]]> 335 Celeste Ng 0593492544 Jo 0 3.74 2022
author: Celeste Ng
name: Jo
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2025/01/05
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves:
review:

]]> 63922274 A sweeping, heart-stopping epic of a young woman's journey to becoming, set against the harsh beauty of mid-century Colorado

On a cool autumn day in 1948, Victoria Nash delivers late-season peaches from her family's farm set amid the wild beauty of Colorado. As she heads into her village, a disheveled stranger stops to ask her the way. How she chooses to answer will unknowingly alter the course of both their young lives.

So begins the mesmerizing story of split-second choices and courageous acts that propel Victoria away from the only home she has ever known and towards a reckoning with loss, hope and her own untapped strength.

Gathering all the pieces of her small and extraordinary existence, spinning through the eddies of desire, heartbreak and betrayal, she will arrive at a single rocky decision that will change her life forever.

Go as a River is a heart-wrenching coming-of-age story and a drama of enthralling power. Combining unforgettable characters and a breathtaking natural setting, it is a sweeping story of survival and becoming, of the deepest mysteries of love, truth and fate.]]> 320 Shelley Read 1954118236 Jo 0 to-read 4.20 2023
author: Shelley Read
name: Jo
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 43721059
Thomas Wazhashk is the night watchman at the jewel bearing plant, the first factory located near the Turtle Mountain Reservation in rural North Dakota. He is also a Chippewa Council member who is trying to understand the consequences of a new “emancipation� bill on its way to the floor of the United States Congress. It is 1953 and he and the other council members know the bill isn’t about freedom; Congress is fed up with Indians. The bill is a “termination� that threatens the rights of Native Americans to their land and their very identity. How can the government abandon treaties made in good faith with Native Americans “for as long as the grasses shall grow, and the rivers run�?

Since graduating high school, Pixie Paranteau has insisted that everyone call her Patrice. Unlike most of the girls on the reservation, Patrice, the class valedictorian, has no desire to wear herself down with a husband and kids. She makes jewel bearings at the plant, a job that barely pays her enough to support her mother and brother. Patrice’s shameful alcoholic father returns home sporadically to terrorize his wife and children and bully her for money. But Patrice needs every penny to follow her beloved older sister, Vera, who moved to the big city of Minneapolis. Vera may have disappeared; she hasn’t been in touch in months, and is rumored to have had a baby. Determined to find Vera and her child, Patrice makes a fateful trip to Minnesota that introduces her to unexpected forms of exploitation and violence, and endangers her life.

Thomas and Patrice live in this impoverished reservation community along with young Chippewa boxer Wood Mountain and his mother Juggie Blue, her niece and Patrice’s best friend Valentine, and Stack Barnes, the white high school math teacher and boxing coach who is hopelessly in love with Patrice.

In the Night Watchman, Louise Erdrich creates a fictional world populated with memorable characters who are forced to grapple with the worst and best impulses of human nature. Illuminating the loves and lives, the desires and ambitions of these characters with compassion, wit, and intelligence, The Night Watchman is a majestic work of fiction from this revered cultural treasure.]]> 464 Louise Erdrich 0062671200 Jo 0 to-read 4.05 2020
author: Louise Erdrich
name: Jo
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
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]]> 42201995 A poignant, heartfelt new novel by the award-nominated author of Together Tea—extolled by the Wall Street Journal as a “moving tale of lost love� and by Shelf Awareness as “a powerful, heartbreaking story”—explores loss, reconciliation, and the quirks of fate.

Roya, a dreamy, idealistic teenager living amid the political upheaval of 1953 Tehran, finds a literary oasis in kindly Mr. Fakhri’s neighborhood stationery shop, stocked with books and pens and bottles of jewel-colored ink.

Then Mr. Fakhri, with a keen instinct for a budding romance, introduces Roya to his other favorite customer—handsome Bahman, who has a burning passion for justice and a love for Rumi’s poetry—and she loses her heart at once. Their romance blossoms, and the little stationery shop remains their favorite place in all of Tehran.

A few short months later, on the eve of their marriage, Roya agrees to meet Bahman at the town square when violence erupts—a result of the coup d’etat that forever changes their country’s future. In the chaos, Bahman never shows. For weeks, Roya tries desperately to contact him, but her efforts are fruitless. With a sorrowful heart, she moves on—to college in California, to another man, to a life in New England—until, more than sixty years later, an accident of fate leads her back to Bahman and offers her a chance to ask him the questions that have haunted her for more than half a century: Why did you leave? Where did you go? How is it that you were able to forget me?]]> 312 Marjan Kamali 1982107480 Jo 0 to-read 4.22 2019
author: Marjan Kamali
name: Jo
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 65678550
Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, which served the neighborhood's quirky collection of blacks and European immigrants, helped by her husband, Moshe, a Romanian-born theater owner who integrated the town's first dance hall. When the state came looking for a deaf black child, claiming that the boy needed to be institutionalized, Chicken Hill's residents—roused by Chona's kindess and the courage of a local black worker named Nate Timblin—banded together to keep the boy safe.

As the novel unfolds, it becomes clear how much the people of Chicken Hill have to struggle to survive at the margins of white Christian America and how damaging bigotry, hypocrisy, and deceit can be to a community. When the truth is revealed about the skeleton, the boy, and the part the town’s establishment played in both, McBride shows that it is love and community—heaven and earth—that ultimately sustain us.]]> 385 James McBride 0593422945 Jo 0 to-read 3.84 2023
author: James McBride
name: Jo
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58214333 From the award winning author of The Buddha in the Attic and When the Emperor Was Divine, a tour de force of economy, precision, and emotional power about what happens to a group of obsessed recreational swimmers when a crack appears at the bottom of their local pool.

The swimmers are unknown to each other except through their private routines (slow lane, fast lane), and the solace each takes in their morning or afternoon laps. But when a crack appears at the bottom of the pool, they are cast out into an unforgiving world without comfort or relief.

One of these swimmers is Alice, who is slowly losing her memory. For Alice, the pool was a final stand against the darkness of her encroaching dementia. Without the fellowship of other swimmers and the routine of her daily laps she is plunged into dislocation and chaos, swept into memories of her childhood and the Japanese internment camp in which she spent the war. Narrated by Alice's daughter, who witnesses her stark and devastating decline, The Swimmers is a searing, intimate story of mothers and daughters, and the sorrows of implacable loss, written in spellbinding, incantatory prose.

The most commanding and unforgettable work yet from a modern master.
]]> 176 Julie Otsuka 0593321332 Jo 0 3.65 2022
author: Julie Otsuka
name: Jo
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/23
date added: 2025/03/23
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]]> 60375294
Anat falls in love with the furry creatures, whose escapades and tribulations lead her into deep friendships, difficult decisions, and unexpected insight into her relationships. The cats love her in the way she wishes she could love others: intensely yet independently, without renouncing their unique personalities. By caring for these cats, Anat comes to a deeper understanding of her connections with former lovers, her daughters and her own body. In Seven Cats I Have Loved, she delves into the feline mind with sensitivity, gentleness, and compassion, while also revealing a moving human story.]]> 144 Anat Levit 1800812698 Jo 0 3.29 2021
author: Anat Levit
name: Jo
average rating: 3.29
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/21
shelves:
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]]> 60321429 For fans of Mieko Kawakami’s Breasts and Eggs and Murata Sayaka’s Earthlings, this Japanese bestseller from renowned anime director Makoto Shinkai features four inspirational and heartwarming vignettes following women and their cats in their quests for love and connection.

Lying alone on the edge of the sidewalk in an abandoned cardboard box, a nameless narrator contemplates the indifferent world around him. With his mother long gone, his only company is the sound of the nearby train. Just as he fears that the end is near, a young woman peers down at him, this fateful encounter changing their lives forever

So begins the first story in She and Her Cat, a collection of four interrelated, stream-of-conscious short stories in which four women and their feline companions explore the frailty of life, the pain of isolation, and the limits of communication.

With clever narration alternating between the cats and their owners, She and Her Cat offers a unique and sly commentary on human foibles and our desire for connection. A whimsical short story anthology unlike any other, it effortlessly demonstrates that even in our darkest, most lonesome moments, we are still united to this wonderous world—often in ways we could never have expected.]]> 135 Makoto Shinkai 198216574X Jo 0 to-read 3.88 2013
author: Makoto Shinkai
name: Jo
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/21
shelves: to-read
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]]> 157487250
Against the backdrop of changing seasons in Japan, we meet Spin, a kitten rescued from the recycling bin, whose playful nature and simple needs teach an anxious father how to parent his own human baby; a colony of wild cats on a popular holiday island show a young boy not to stand in nature’s way; a family is perplexed by their cat’s undying devotion to their charismatic but uncaring father; a woman curses how her cat will not stop visiting her at night; and an elderly cat hatches a plan to pass into the next world as a spirit so that he and his owner may be in each other’s lives forever.

Bursting with love and warmth, The Goodbye Cat exquisitely explores the cycle of life, from birth to death—as each of the seven stories explores how, in different ways, the steadiness and devotion of a well-loved cat never lets us down. A huge bestseller in Japan, this magical book is a joyous celebration of the wondrousness of cats and why we choose to share our lives with them.]]> 285 Hiro Arikawa 0593815718 Jo 0 to-read 3.91 2021
author: Hiro Arikawa
name: Jo
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56993352 The Elegance of the Hedgehog comes this delightful, delicate tale that pays tribute to the poetry of the everyday, to Japanese philosophy, and to the ingenuity and sardonic humor of cats.

What a mysterious, confounding thing is a writer! Yet, spend a little time with the writer's cats and one might just understand her better.

Muriel Barbery, via her feline friends and co-conspirators, takes readers into her atelier, offering them a behind-the-scenes peek into her process and problems, joys and disappointments. The tale is told from the perspective of one of the writer's four cats, Kirin, who, together with her cohort, may or may not be a reliable narrator. There's Ocha, the leader of the gang, a tough guy with a soft heart; the bandy-legged and affectionate Mizu, Ocha's sister; the phlegmatic and refined Petrus, lover of flowers; and finally, pretty Kirin, narrator of this bewitching story.

A superb, funny, and touching text for writers, readers, fans of Muriel Barbery's best-selling novels, and cat lovers.]]> 69 Muriel Barbery 160945717X Jo 0 to-read 3.80
author: Muriel Barbery
name: Jo
average rating: 3.80
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/21
shelves: to-read
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]]> 221200339
A new relationship couldn't have come at a better time - her thirties have not been the liberating, uncomplicated experience she was sold. Everywhere she turns, she is reminded of time passing and opportunities dwindling. Friendships are fading, ex-boyfriends are moving on and, worse, everyone's moving to the suburbs. There's no solace to be found in her family, with a mum who's caught in a baffling mid-life makeover and a beloved dad who is vanishing in slow-motion into dementia.

Dolly Alderton's debut novel is funny and tender, filled with whip-smart observations about relationships, family, memory, and how we live now.]]> 320 Dolly Alderton 0241988683 Jo 0 3.83 2020
author: Dolly Alderton
name: Jo
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves:
review:

]]> 225893280 AN UPLIFTING GUIDE TO NAVIGATING HARD TIMES, PERFECT FOR FANS OF DR JULIE SMITH AND JULIA SAMUELS


'An unlikely superhero' Sunday Times


'An amazing woman' James O'Brien


'Easthope is that rare thing, a genuine philosopher thinking through what she is doing in the mitigation of human suffering' New Statesman


We all know that at some point in life, we will experience pain, uncertainty and loss. Widowhood, redundancy, a life-changing diagnosis, pregnancy loss, or a global pandemic. So how can we weather the storms, and cope with whatever comes next?


No one can answer this better than Lucy Easthope, an emergency planner whose job is to support survivors of major disasters. She has been there after countless earthquakes, fires and floods. Time and again she has watched how people the work, the pitfalls and the fragile joy. In Come What May, she distils for us what she has learned about how to carry on during and after terrible times.


Through poignant stories and hard-won wisdom, she offers a roadmap for resilience in the face of adversity. She explains what shape the recovery journey might take, how to triage your life in an emergency, how to plan for 'the slump' (also known as the lasagne phase), how to take stock of what has happened to you, how to watch out for 'learned helplessness', and what good (and bad) help looks like.


This is a book for all of us existing in 'the after' who want not just to survive, but to live and unleash strengths we never knew we had.]]> Lucy Easthope Jo 3
Lucy leads the reader through what can happen in the aftermath of experiencing a traumatic event, backing herself with models, psychological principles such as Maslow's hierarchy of needs and her own wealth of experience. The chapters are well laid out and it is useful at equipping the reader with a greater understanding of their own needs in times of crisis.

For me, I feel I would have really enjoyed hearing a little more about Lucy herself. The subject matter covered felt a wide topic for one book and I think could actually have enough depth to be separate works. I'd love to hear a memoir all about her role; and a separate take on her personal traumas and advice, touching lightly on where these lessons were learned. It feels like it spans both a helpful guide to the impact of trauma and an overview of coping with the aftermath of various world events/ global disasters. I gained a lot of insight into how to psychologically process the markers of our shared lives, such as the pandemic and terrorist attacks; but to me it didn't quite go far enough to help translate this into the more everyday, such as relationship breakdown, loss of a job or personal grief. I really liked the sections where I heard Lucy's life experiences with these more personal matters and would have loved more of this. This would have helped it feel more emotionally connecting and potentially resonate on a deeper level.

This is a book full of knowledge, clearly well-researched and very human feeling. I personally listened to the audiobook, so may have felt slightly different with a physical copy, which I could 'dip' back into more. As an audiobook, it felt lot to digest as a singular narrative.

I'd certainly recommend this book for people who are impacted by societal events. I can bring to mind some individuals who would really benefit from the messages held here. For me, it didn't go as emotionally deep as it could, because of the breadth of content and so might not be as impactful for those looking for specific advice on how to handle something deeply personal and affecting.

The content is important as a topic and it was fantastic to see the wonderful, unseen, work that goes on surrounding our day to day lives.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review.]]> 4.00
author: Lucy Easthope
name: Jo
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/20
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves:
review:
'Come What May' is a well written account of what humans (singularly and as a society) experience after trauma occurs. This is laced with author Lucy Easthope's own experiences, which are numerous and varied, due to her job as an Emergency Planner. Lucy consults to set up plans in-case of incident, as well as working with survivors in the aftermath. Hearing about the work she and recovery workers do was highly interesting and got me wanting to know more about these roles, which are often not spoken about within communities.

Lucy leads the reader through what can happen in the aftermath of experiencing a traumatic event, backing herself with models, psychological principles such as Maslow's hierarchy of needs and her own wealth of experience. The chapters are well laid out and it is useful at equipping the reader with a greater understanding of their own needs in times of crisis.

For me, I feel I would have really enjoyed hearing a little more about Lucy herself. The subject matter covered felt a wide topic for one book and I think could actually have enough depth to be separate works. I'd love to hear a memoir all about her role; and a separate take on her personal traumas and advice, touching lightly on where these lessons were learned. It feels like it spans both a helpful guide to the impact of trauma and an overview of coping with the aftermath of various world events/ global disasters. I gained a lot of insight into how to psychologically process the markers of our shared lives, such as the pandemic and terrorist attacks; but to me it didn't quite go far enough to help translate this into the more everyday, such as relationship breakdown, loss of a job or personal grief. I really liked the sections where I heard Lucy's life experiences with these more personal matters and would have loved more of this. This would have helped it feel more emotionally connecting and potentially resonate on a deeper level.

This is a book full of knowledge, clearly well-researched and very human feeling. I personally listened to the audiobook, so may have felt slightly different with a physical copy, which I could 'dip' back into more. As an audiobook, it felt lot to digest as a singular narrative.

I'd certainly recommend this book for people who are impacted by societal events. I can bring to mind some individuals who would really benefit from the messages held here. For me, it didn't go as emotionally deep as it could, because of the breadth of content and so might not be as impactful for those looking for specific advice on how to handle something deeply personal and affecting.

The content is important as a topic and it was fantastic to see the wonderful, unseen, work that goes on surrounding our day to day lives.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review.
]]> 12379610 Ěý±Ő±Ő> 342 B. Morrison 1934074659 Jo 4 audiobooks
I was struck by the honesty of Barbara Morrison, who grew up in a family who were not lacking for money or standing. She owns her own preconceptions of the traits a 'welfare mother' possesses, before she found herself in the position of having to apply for welfare support herself. This book holds a key importance for us all, in holding ourselves accountable and being open minded, hearing lived experience and having curiosity, rather than sustaining the perceptions that our upbringing or society may instill within us. It is ok to have these, but also vital that we are aware of what bias we may hold.

This feels a real snapshot of its time and in places I had to remind myself this was a memoir, rather than a novel. What lingered with me was the real sense of community amongst the women whose stories are told here- those who protested for reform and looked to educate others, but also to simply support their fellow humans. We hear the ways Barbara was able to sustain herself, as a young mother of first one, then two young children. Having a friend who would take her children for one day a week, and vice versa, allowed Barbara and said friend to do those things that allowed them to retain their own identity and to care for themselves. A community pooling the small amount of cash they each had at the end of the week, to allow them to buy a joint treat to share as friends. It is a story of resilience and feels hopeful, even in the darkest moments.

I found it interesting to hear the small, but massive, experiences that occur everyday to those living on the breadline. Of a woman begging in the welfare office for money to replace shoes which no longer had a sole- and being told to wait until her next check (when in reality, the money received went straight out every time to cover bills, with no leftover). 'Innocent' is a frank account which represents a section of society who it feels have more of a voice through this work. Barbara doesn't hold back, writing her story with a genuineness- from how she felt within the family dynamic she was born into, to the highs and lows that came with falling in love for the first time and the position this left her in, to how she faced the future beyond this.

Well written, thought provoking and woven through with the power of human spirit when faced with adversity, I really enjoyed hearing Morrison's experience.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the audiobook ARC.]]> 4.01 2011
author: B. Morrison
name: Jo
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/01
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves: audiobooks
review:
'Innocent' is well written and a sincere account of both it's time and the realities of being a 'welfare mother'.

I was struck by the honesty of Barbara Morrison, who grew up in a family who were not lacking for money or standing. She owns her own preconceptions of the traits a 'welfare mother' possesses, before she found herself in the position of having to apply for welfare support herself. This book holds a key importance for us all, in holding ourselves accountable and being open minded, hearing lived experience and having curiosity, rather than sustaining the perceptions that our upbringing or society may instill within us. It is ok to have these, but also vital that we are aware of what bias we may hold.

This feels a real snapshot of its time and in places I had to remind myself this was a memoir, rather than a novel. What lingered with me was the real sense of community amongst the women whose stories are told here- those who protested for reform and looked to educate others, but also to simply support their fellow humans. We hear the ways Barbara was able to sustain herself, as a young mother of first one, then two young children. Having a friend who would take her children for one day a week, and vice versa, allowed Barbara and said friend to do those things that allowed them to retain their own identity and to care for themselves. A community pooling the small amount of cash they each had at the end of the week, to allow them to buy a joint treat to share as friends. It is a story of resilience and feels hopeful, even in the darkest moments.

I found it interesting to hear the small, but massive, experiences that occur everyday to those living on the breadline. Of a woman begging in the welfare office for money to replace shoes which no longer had a sole- and being told to wait until her next check (when in reality, the money received went straight out every time to cover bills, with no leftover). 'Innocent' is a frank account which represents a section of society who it feels have more of a voice through this work. Barbara doesn't hold back, writing her story with a genuineness- from how she felt within the family dynamic she was born into, to the highs and lows that came with falling in love for the first time and the position this left her in, to how she faced the future beyond this.

Well written, thought provoking and woven through with the power of human spirit when faced with adversity, I really enjoyed hearing Morrison's experience.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the audiobook ARC.
]]> 6077503 Helen Memel is an outspoken eighteen-year-old, whose childlike stubbornness is offset by a precocious sexual confidence. She begins her story from a hospital bed, where she’s slowly recovering from an operation and lamenting her parents� divorce. To distract herself, Helen ruminates on her past sexual adventures in increasingly uncomfortable detail, taking the reader on a sensational journey through Helen’s body and mind. Punky alienated teenager, young woman reclaiming her body from the tyranny of repressive hygiene (women mustn’t smell, excrete, desire), bratty smartass, vulnerable, lonely daughter, shock merchant, and pleasure seeker—Helen is all of these things and more, and her frequent attempts to assert her maturity ultimately prove just how fragile, confused, and young she truly is.
As Helen constantly blurs the line between celebration, provocation, and dysfunction in her relationship with her body, Roche exposes the double bind of female sexuality, delivering a compulsively readable and fearlessly intimate manifesto on sex, hygiene, and the repercussions of family trauma.]]> 208 Charlotte Roche 0802118925 Jo 3
Following Helen, in recovery from an operation, we hear much about her sexual and physical history, as she reflects on the 18 years of her life so far.

Where this novel falls down for me, is that the author's intention for the graphic nature of this work is not made that clear. It didn't feel cohesive as a novel: no clear conclusion was reached in my mind that made complete sense of the novel and why the protagonist behaved in such a way. It feels designed to open the mind and challenge conceptions of what is acceptable, but doesn't leave any particularly strong take away.

The plot is interesting in places, but the novel did nothing to make me compelled to read on apart from to see if any sense was made of it in the end. As another reviewer mentioned, I too felt the ending was rather unusual and a bit rushed. It builds up the story, and some real impact, to then not drive home a clear message.

Read it if you want a bit of controversy and something different, but I wouldn't expect to find too much within the pages. Roche's writing style is easy to read, so I would definitely explore future work and watch how her style may develop.

Overall, this is a 3 star novel, as I do not feel I have gained much from the experience. It is certainly memorable and well written enough- it just lacks the `wow' factor. I was left wondering if the controversy of the young female lead being so explicit was the main drive behind the good sales and hype Wetlands has been gaining. It felt it could be more thought provoking than it was, with such a powerfully different frame and didn't leave me feeling inspired.

Thank you for Amazon for the advanced copy.]]> 3.02 2008
author: Charlotte Roche
name: Jo
average rating: 3.02
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2009/01/01
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves:
review:
Wetlands is not a typical read by any stretch of the imagination, and certainly seems designed to break through taboos. I must admit it may be effective in doing so, as being a reader you do get to feeling blasé about how graphic it is by the end. It can be a little stomach turning in places (coming from someone who isn't particularly squeamish) and is unapologetic in this.

Following Helen, in recovery from an operation, we hear much about her sexual and physical history, as she reflects on the 18 years of her life so far.

Where this novel falls down for me, is that the author's intention for the graphic nature of this work is not made that clear. It didn't feel cohesive as a novel: no clear conclusion was reached in my mind that made complete sense of the novel and why the protagonist behaved in such a way. It feels designed to open the mind and challenge conceptions of what is acceptable, but doesn't leave any particularly strong take away.

The plot is interesting in places, but the novel did nothing to make me compelled to read on apart from to see if any sense was made of it in the end. As another reviewer mentioned, I too felt the ending was rather unusual and a bit rushed. It builds up the story, and some real impact, to then not drive home a clear message.

Read it if you want a bit of controversy and something different, but I wouldn't expect to find too much within the pages. Roche's writing style is easy to read, so I would definitely explore future work and watch how her style may develop.

Overall, this is a 3 star novel, as I do not feel I have gained much from the experience. It is certainly memorable and well written enough- it just lacks the `wow' factor. I was left wondering if the controversy of the young female lead being so explicit was the main drive behind the good sales and hype Wetlands has been gaining. It felt it could be more thought provoking than it was, with such a powerfully different frame and didn't leave me feeling inspired.

Thank you for Amazon for the advanced copy.
]]> 4332082
Enter Claire Pendleton from London. Months after her husband is transferred to Hong Kong in 1951, she accepts a position as a piano teacher to the daughter of a wealthy couple, the Chens. Claire begins to see the appeal of the sweltering city and is soon taken in by the Chen's driver, the curiously underutilized Will Truesdale. A handsome charmer with a mysterious limp, Will appears to be the perfect companion for Claire, who's often left to her own devices. But a further examination leaves her with more questions than answers.

An intricately woven tale of lives changed by historical events, Lee's debut brings this hothouse flower of a city alive with passion, and imagines characters both unforgettable and tragic.]]> 328 Janice Y.K. Lee 0670020486 Jo 4
It centres around two individuals: Will who is in the story throughout and Claire who arrives from England with her new husband in 1952. It is an excellent read and really places the reader inside life at that time.

Will is an Englishman who falls in love with an Eurasian girl named Trudy. However, when war breaks out Will is sent to a camp and Trudy, due to her ethnicity is not. Trudy sets about making connections and we see the lengths people can go to to support those they love- but not without consequences.
We meet Will again ten years later, when Claire is in his life. Claire, who has just arrived from England with her new husband, is hired as a piano teacher and works for the Chen family, who were also around during the outbreak of war.

The story weaves around the two time periods and there are interestingly evolving side plots. Well worth the read. Fascinating, a great depiction of the time, and a great plot with intriguing twists.

Thank you to Amazon for the advanced copy.]]> 3.35 2009
author: Janice Y.K. Lee
name: Jo
average rating: 3.35
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2009/01/01
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves:
review:
This book is based in Hong Kong over two times periods (1941 just before the outbreak of war and 10 years later), and consists three main parts.

It centres around two individuals: Will who is in the story throughout and Claire who arrives from England with her new husband in 1952. It is an excellent read and really places the reader inside life at that time.

Will is an Englishman who falls in love with an Eurasian girl named Trudy. However, when war breaks out Will is sent to a camp and Trudy, due to her ethnicity is not. Trudy sets about making connections and we see the lengths people can go to to support those they love- but not without consequences.
We meet Will again ten years later, when Claire is in his life. Claire, who has just arrived from England with her new husband, is hired as a piano teacher and works for the Chen family, who were also around during the outbreak of war.

The story weaves around the two time periods and there are interestingly evolving side plots. Well worth the read. Fascinating, a great depiction of the time, and a great plot with intriguing twists.

Thank you to Amazon for the advanced copy.
]]> 5355888
Quaint, odd, touched, funny in the head: Gwenni is all too familiar with the taunts of her peers and fields them with equanimity beyond her years. She knows she can no more change her nature than stop the sun from rising. And when a neighbour goes missing, Gwenni turns amateur sleuth, determined to solve the mystery of his disappearance. Little does she realize that the trail she's pursuing will bring her uncomfortably close to home, and a dark secret.]]> 329 Mari Strachan 184767304X Jo 4
This is a touching story and very easy to read, with a well written and believable cast of characters to support it throughout. One of those novels that keeps you wanting to read on.

The only fault, for me, was that everything that is unveiled to the reader was implied rather than shown to be true, so the outcome is really down to personal discretion. An interesting statement on the power of personal opinion and what we take from things, but also leaves a little to be desired when following a plot such as this.

Nevertheless, still a fantastic heart-warming book and an excellent debut by Strachan.

Thanks to Amazon for the advanced copy.]]> 3.72 2009
author: Mari Strachan
name: Jo
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at: 2009/01/01
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves:
review:
Every family has secrets, and likeable teenager Gwenni Morgan's is no different. An enchanting novel set around a 1950's Welsh village where everybody knows everybody and anything that goes wrong creates a real buzz. Local Shephard Ifan becomes the latest subject of this when he mysteriously dies, and Gwenni sets out to solve the mystery of his death. However, whilst trying to solve this mystery she uncovers her family has many secrets they were holding back from her too.

This is a touching story and very easy to read, with a well written and believable cast of characters to support it throughout. One of those novels that keeps you wanting to read on.

The only fault, for me, was that everything that is unveiled to the reader was implied rather than shown to be true, so the outcome is really down to personal discretion. An interesting statement on the power of personal opinion and what we take from things, but also leaves a little to be desired when following a plot such as this.

Nevertheless, still a fantastic heart-warming book and an excellent debut by Strachan.

Thanks to Amazon for the advanced copy.
]]> 17315134
With graphic content and some scenes of a sexual nature, PAPER AEROPLANES is a gritty, poignant, often laugh-out-loud funny and powerful novel. It is an unforgettable snapshot of small-town adolescence and the heart-stopping power of female friendship.]]> 261 Dawn O'Porter 1471400360 Jo 4 3.79 2013
author: Dawn O'Porter
name: Jo
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves:
review:

]]> 74759 Lalita Tademy 0747266492 Jo 4
It was beautifully written and hard to put down as I felt so involved with the characters and the tragic twists their lives sometimes took. I was truly touched by their struggles and the strength they found to cling together and hold out even through the worst of situations. An inspiring book which is well worth a read. Broken down into 3 sections it is easy to read and gives readers the amazing opportunity to follow how a family can change through the generations, yet still hold on to their core values. Truly touching.]]> 3.82 2001
author: Lalita Tademy
name: Jo
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2007/01/01
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves:
review:
I was given this book by a friend who thought I would enjoy it as it is one of her favourites. It isn't something I would have picked up for myself, but I was soon happy I followed the recommendation. Right from the first page I was enchanted by the lives of the incredible women chronicled within. Following three generations of women within a real family and the different lives they led, this is a wonderfully spun tale that gives not only an insight on the issue of slavery but more so a touching view on families and the strong bonds that hold them together.

It was beautifully written and hard to put down as I felt so involved with the characters and the tragic twists their lives sometimes took. I was truly touched by their struggles and the strength they found to cling together and hold out even through the worst of situations. An inspiring book which is well worth a read. Broken down into 3 sections it is easy to read and gives readers the amazing opportunity to follow how a family can change through the generations, yet still hold on to their core values. Truly touching.
]]> 2227371 444 Joanne Harris 0061431621 Jo 0 3.82 2007
author: Joanne Harris
name: Jo
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves:
review:

]]> 13588138 The tantalizing sequel to the blockbuster New York Times bestseller Chocolat

Even before it was adapted into the Oscar-nominated film starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp, Joanne Harris’s Chocolat entranced readers with its mix of hedonism, whimsy, and, of course, chocolate. Now, at last, Chocolat’s heroine returns to the beautiful French village of Lansquenet in another, equally beguiling tale.

When Vianne Rocher receives a letter from beyond the grave, she has no choice but to return to Lansquenet, where she once owned a chocolate shop and learned the meaning of home. But returning to one’s past can be a dangerous pursuit, and Vianne and her daughters find the beautiful French village changed in unexpected ways: women veiled in black, the scent of spices in the air, and—facing the church—a minaret. Most surprising of all, her old nemesis, Francis Reynaud, desperately needs her help. Can Vianne work her magic once again?]]> 453 Joanne Harris 0670026360 Jo 0 3.95 2012
author: Joanne Harris
name: Jo
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves:
review:

]]> 47401
Illuminating Peter Mayle's South of France with a touch of Laura Esquivel's magic realism, Chocolat is a timeless novel of a straitlaced village's awakening to joy and sensuality. In tiny Lansquenet, where nothing much has changed in a hundred years, beautiful newcomer Vianne Rocher and her exquisite chocolate shop arrive and instantly begin to play havoc with Lenten vows. Each box of luscious bonbons comes with a free gift: Vianne's uncanny perception of its buyer's private discontents and a clever, caring cure for them. Is she a witch? Soon the parish no longer cares, as it abandons itself to temptation, happiness, and a dramatic face-off between Easter solemnity and the pagan gaiety of a chocolate festival.

Chocolat's every page offers a description of chocolate to melt in the mouths of chocoholics, francophiles, armchair gourmets, cookbook readers, and lovers of passion everywhere. It's a must for anyone who craves an escapist read, and is a bewitching gift for any holiday.]]> 306 Joanne Harris 014100018X Jo 5
The characters all seem to have a true-to-life element about them and are completely believable. The only part of this book I was disappointed by was the quite abrupt feeling ending, as I was really engaged in the world of Vianne. It is well worth a read- I'd recommend saving it for when you have proper time free as it will completely enthrall you in all its twists and turns.]]> 3.97 1999
author: Joanne Harris
name: Jo
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at: 2007/01/01
date added: 2025/03/12
shelves:
review:
In this novel Harris captures a certain magic that compels you to read on and discover the secrets within. Set in a small French village, Chocolat tells the tale of Vianne Rocher- a pagan, single mother who sets up a chocolate shop in a mainly god-fearing town on the eve of the Christian celebration of Lent. As the novel unfolds and the townsfolk one-by-one give in to the allure of Vianne's famous chocolates and drinks we hear their life stories and really get a clear image of their character and hidden selves. Showing the struggle between religion and ingulging your desires this is a truly captivating read.

The characters all seem to have a true-to-life element about them and are completely believable. The only part of this book I was disappointed by was the quite abrupt feeling ending, as I was really engaged in the world of Vianne. It is well worth a read- I'd recommend saving it for when you have proper time free as it will completely enthrall you in all its twists and turns.
]]> 830966
With unreliable memories and scraps of photographs as his only clues, Conor Lyons follows in the tracks of his father, a rootless photographer, as he moved from war-torn Spain, to the barren plains of Mexico, where he met and married Conor's mother, to the American West, and finally back to Ireland, where the marriage and the story reach their heartrending climax. The narratives of Conor's quest and his parents' lives twine and untwine to astonishing effect.]]> 224 Colum McCann 0312147414 Jo 0 3.84 1995
author: Colum McCann
name: Jo
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at: 2025/03/01
date added: 2025/03/11
shelves:
review:

]]> 55645086

Vanessa's husband Paul died suddenly and tragically on their regular Sunday morning swim. This is a raw narrative of how she found a way to move forward for her teenage children, their dilapidated home and the patients who all need her. Beautifully written and honestly relayed, the book dives into the aftermath of death, the painful reminders, the heartwarming moments and how to endure the pain of loss.




" This book is about a period of great loss in my life, a time when the tables were completely turned on me. I was a qualified therapist who suddenly found myself needing psychological therapy. I was a trained researcher who became my own research subject, as I tried to make sense of what was happening to me. I was an experienced manager who now struggled to manage the events taking place in my own life. Yet, throughout all this turmoil, my patients were always there, in the background, reminding me that there are many different ways to deal with loss and trauma and search for a way forwards. " Vanessa Moore]]> 304 Vanessa Moore 0857839411 Jo 5
I found this a really touching account from Moore. There is a blend of research and personal experience which provides a really holistic account of grief. I particularly enjoyed the author's investigation around other's experiences of a phenomenon she found very impactful after her loss. She is clearly a real asset to the world of clinical psychology and it feels this book very much has a place in the market memoir and will have something to give to many readers.

The interwoven narrative of Moore's experiences engaging with therapists provides a realistic view of this process (I am a therapist myself) and holds the important message about finding someone who is the right fit; the importance of different aspects of the work and how levels of engagement and commitment may feel varying over time. Moore writes about her relationships really well and has a skill for capturing the people who populate her life. Quick to own her own view perspective being unique to her, she also builds a full picture for us of the people who were important on this journey. From her own patients, to those who supported her along the way.

A touching account. This leaves room for people to live their own experience, but also provides a sense of unity in the great losses that we can experience within life and how sudden, or expected, these can be flooring.

It feels uniquely placed as a blend of experiences of a professional and personal nature and stood out for me amongst many similar books I have read. Thank you Vanessa Moore for allowing readers into your space and showcasing some of the realities of living with loss.]]> 4.07
author: Vanessa Moore
name: Jo
average rating: 4.07
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/11
date added: 2025/03/11
shelves:
review:
Vanessa Moore's account of the grief she has experienced, in the aftermath of losing her husband, is frank, honest and heartfelt. It is a clear picture, that showcases that grief is unique for each individual and that there is real value to following your own instinct- it is also ok if this sometimes leads to 'missteps' along the way.

I found this a really touching account from Moore. There is a blend of research and personal experience which provides a really holistic account of grief. I particularly enjoyed the author's investigation around other's experiences of a phenomenon she found very impactful after her loss. She is clearly a real asset to the world of clinical psychology and it feels this book very much has a place in the market memoir and will have something to give to many readers.

The interwoven narrative of Moore's experiences engaging with therapists provides a realistic view of this process (I am a therapist myself) and holds the important message about finding someone who is the right fit; the importance of different aspects of the work and how levels of engagement and commitment may feel varying over time. Moore writes about her relationships really well and has a skill for capturing the people who populate her life. Quick to own her own view perspective being unique to her, she also builds a full picture for us of the people who were important on this journey. From her own patients, to those who supported her along the way.

A touching account. This leaves room for people to live their own experience, but also provides a sense of unity in the great losses that we can experience within life and how sudden, or expected, these can be flooring.

It feels uniquely placed as a blend of experiences of a professional and personal nature and stood out for me amongst many similar books I have read. Thank you Vanessa Moore for allowing readers into your space and showcasing some of the realities of living with loss.
]]> 54373691 In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time...

From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold comes a story of four new customers each of whom is hoping to take advantage of Cafe Funiculi Funicula's time-travelling offer.

Among some faces that will be familiar to readers of Kawaguchi's previous novel, we will be introduced to:

The man who goes back to see his best friend who died 22 years ago
The son who was unable to attend his own mother’s funeral
The man who travelled to see the girl who he could not marry
The old detective who never gave his wife that gift...

This beautiful, simple tale tells the story of people who must face up to their past, in order to move on with their lives. Kawaguchi once again invites the reader to ask themselves: what would you change if you could travel back in time?]]> 192 Toshikazu Kawaguchi 1529050863 Jo 0 3.98 2017
author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
name: Jo
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/01
date added: 2025/03/01
shelves:
review:

]]> 217953353 From popular content creator Kelsey Impicciche, Voice of the Ocean follows a daring young siren who defies her people to save a human prince, unearthing ancient magic and igniting a dangerous romance amidst treacherous waters.

As the youngest daughter of the Siren queen, Celeste's life is tightly controlled. Desperate to prove her worth, she intends to join the Chorus - an elite group of siren warriors. With her final test on the horizon, Celeste must finally gain control over her temperamental Song. But when Celeste encounters a seemingly harmless ship, helmed by the intriguing Prince Raiden Sharp, her path veers towards forbidden waters.

Believing the handsome sailor to be innocent of any wrongdoing, Celeste defies Siren law to save Raiden's life - despite knowing he is the son of a king who has murdered many of her kindred. The penalty for Celeste's betrayal should be death, but the queen offers her an alternative: right her wrong by assassinating the prince. Determined to first discover the truth behind the prince's clandestine mission, Celeste agrees to become human.

The human world is nothing like she expected, nor is the prince the charming and noble man she assumed him to be. But as Celeste finds her place aboard the ship, friendships - and attraction - begin to grow. Will Celeste be able to save herself? Or will her choices unravel a kingdom, devastating sirens and humans alike?]]> 432 Kelsey Impicciche Jo 0 to-read 4.11 2025
author: Kelsey Impicciche
name: Jo
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 63273462
Caro Giles lives on the far edge of the country, with her tribe of daughters: The Mermaid, The Whirlwind, The Caulbearer and The Littlest One. She is at once alone and yet surrounded. Bound by circumstance, financial constraints, illness and the challenges of single motherhood, she has nowhere to go but the fierce landscape that surrounds her.

Over the course of the year, the moon becomes her fellow traveller through dark times, and companion through joyful ones � and even when the sky is wreathed in cloud, the moon is still felt in the pull of the tides.

TWELVE MOONS follows the lunar calendar, each chapter sharing a month and a moon, and shows the simmering power that lies in our often hidden daily lives. A dazzlingly honest memoir that while never turning away from the awkward truths of life, also shows how love will flourish if we can only find a space for ourselves.

Set against windswept beaches and ancient hills, this is a story steeped in nature and landscape. Since our earliest days, mankind has looked up at the moon and seen a story reflected back. Twelve Moons is one of those stories � a book about finding yourself, your voice and a sense that even in the dark of the night, we are never truly alone.]]> 288 Caro Giles 0008543240 Jo 4 4.26
author: Caro Giles
name: Jo
average rating: 4.26
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/31
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> 79550
Full of brusque humour and wisdom, The Summer Book is a profoundly life-affirming story. Tove Jansson captured much of her own experience and spirit in the book, which was her favourite of the novels she wrote for adults. This new edition sees the return of a European literary gem—fresh, authentic and deeply humane.]]> 192 Tove Jansson 0954221710 Jo 0 4.05 1972
author: Tove Jansson
name: Jo
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1972
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/01
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> 53347543
Mr Salary is Nathan. Sukie moved in with him years ago because her mother was dead and her father was difficult, and she had nowhere else to go. Now they are on the brink of the inevitable.

My love for him felt so total and so annihilating that it was often impossible for me to see him clearly at all.

In Colour and Light , Aidan and Pauline watch a firework display together. They are almost strangers. But their stumbling connection pains Aidan more than any casual flirtation.

He now feels utterly confused as to why they seem to be arguing, confused to the point of abrupt despair.]]> 0 Sally Rooney 0571365418 Jo 0 3.31 2020
author: Sally Rooney
name: Jo
average rating: 3.31
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/01
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> 58363119 AN INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

'She is a vigorous and fearless writer, grabbing us by the throat to describe life's horrors and her responses to them, filling her pages with the magnetic force of her own life as wife, lover and mother of five which somehow has to go on.' SPECTATOR

'With brutal, beautiful honesty, Clover articulates how bereavement shocks and dislocates - and in all the pain, there's SO much life.' MARIAN KEYES

...............................................

'Can death bring something good to my life?'

A few weeks before Christmas, Clover's sister died of breast cancer, aged forty-six. Just days before, she had been given years to live. Her sudden death split Clover's life apart. The Red of My Blood charts Clover's fearless passage through the first year after her sister's death.

It is a book about what life feels like when death interrupts it, and about bearing the unbearable and describing an experience that seems beyond words. Lyrical, hopeful, it is also about the magical way in which death and life exist so vividly beside one another, and the wonder of being human.

'A beautiful addition to the literature of loss. It will serve as a lit match, to be passed from one person to the next in the darkest moments.' THE SUNDAY TIMES]]> 272 Clover Stroud Jo 4 3.89
author: Clover Stroud
name: Jo
average rating: 3.89
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/01
date added: 2024/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> 41723510 �Heart-wrenching, heart-warming and heartfelt � Mother Ship is a beautifully crafted, warts-and-all love letter to our wonderful NHS� Adam Kay, author of This is Going to Hurt

�Our greatest gift to one another is this: each woman here has been swept out by a riptide, pulled far from the current of normal motherhood. Apart and all together in this space, our odd craft, we are drawn back into the folds of the unremarkable.�

After her identical twin girls were born ten weeks prematurely, Francesca Segal finds herself sitting vigil in the �mother ship� of neonatal intensive care, all romantic expectations of new parenthood obliterated. Her gripping diary of those months combines the tenderness of a love poem with the compulsive pace of a thriller. As each day brings a fresh challenge for her and her babies, Francesca makes a temporary life among a band of mothers who are vivid, fearless, and inspiring, taking care not only of their children but of one another.

MOTHER SHIP is an intimate, raucous, sublime and electrifying memoir. It is a hymn to the sustaining power of women’s friendship, and a loving celebration of the two small girls � and their mother � who defy the odds.]]> 288 Francesca Segal 1784742694 Jo 5 4.52 2019
author: Francesca Segal
name: Jo
average rating: 4.52
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/01
date added: 2024/12/31
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]]> 60908555
What follows are a lifetime's worth of meditations on race, ageing, family, death, the body, self-doubt and, finally, acceptance. In this profound encounter with memory and the mirror, Ozeki weaves together personal history, professional experience, Zen philosophy, Japanese culture and more to paint a rich, intimate and utterly unique portrait of a life as told through a face.]]> 135 Ruth Ozeki 1838855904 Jo 0 3.91 2015
author: Ruth Ozeki
name: Jo
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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]]> 51110299 A deeply moving and ultimately uplifting exploration of our last great challenge.In this profound and moving book, oncology nurse Janie Brown recounts twenty conversations she has had with the dying, including people close to her. Each conversation uncovers a different perspective on, and experience of death, while at the same time exploring its universalities. Offering extremely sensitive and wise insight into our final moments, Brown shows practical ways to facilitate the shift from feeling helpless about death to feeling hopeful; from fear to acceptance; from feeling disconnected and alone, to becoming part of the wider, collective story of our mortality.As Janie Brown writes, "Most people now under sixty have never seen a person die, and so have become deeply fearful about death, their own and the deaths of their beloved others. They have had no role models to show them how to care for a dying person, and therefore no confidence in being able to do so. My hope is that the baby boomer cohort who pushed for the return of the midwives to de-medicalize birth will also be instrumental in reclaiming the death process. This book is my contribution to the re-empowerment of all of us to take charge of our lives and our deaths, remembering that we know how to die, just as we knew how to come into this world. We also know how to heal, and to settle our lives as best we can, before we die. In my view, this is the greatest gift we could give our loved to be prepared and open and accepting when the time comes for us to leave this world."]]> 304 Janie Brown 0385694733 Jo 0 4.15
author: Janie Brown
name: Jo
average rating: 4.15
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]]> 40890924 When I found myself experiencing a motherhood that I never expected, one that I was terrified of living, I didn't know how I would carry on being 'normal'. I didn't know how much I would long for people to say my son Teddy's name, to not treat him like he didn't exist. Maybe you're in this boat too, or maybe you want to support someone who is? Whatever your reason, I hope our story goes a little way to help.
Love, Elle

What do you do when the unthinkable happens?

Elle Wright had an admittedly easy pregnancy - her scans went well, she and her baby were healthy throughout, and in May 2016, she and her husband welcomed their son, Teddy, into the world.

Just a few hours after giving birth, they woke to find a nurse holding a cold and unresponsive Teddy, who had stopped breathing during the night. The happiest day of Elle's life had turned into every parent's worst nightmare, and she had to let her beautiful baby boy go. Three days after delivering him into the world, Elle sat with Teddy in her arms as he took his last breaths, and tucked him in for the final time.

Ask Me His Name is a moving account of Elle's pregnancy, Teddy's life, and what happens when a mother leaves a hospital with empty arms. In the UK, 1 in 4 pregnancies end in loss, but conversations about the heartbreakingly frequent issue of baby loss are few and far between. In this honest, beautifully written and hopeful exploration of mothering, Elle explores how she navigated a parenthood that no one had prepared her for.]]> 320 Elle Wright 1788700333 Jo 0 4.56
author: Elle Wright
name: Jo
average rating: 4.56
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rating: 0
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]]> 58950939
Ballet dancer. Front man in an almost famous band. Judge on The Great Pottery Throwdown . How did all that happen?
By accident mostly. But I always say we make our own luck. What if an art teacher hadn't given me a lump of clay? What if the band had been really successful? What if I hadn't taken a photograph of a bowl to the buyer at Heals in London? What if she'd hated it? Or hadn't seen it... What if I hadn't agreed to dress up as Adele to make a crazy YouTube video?
Every chapter of my book is based around an object (usually a pot) that's been significant in my life. It's just at trigger to let me go off in a lot of different directions and tell a few stories. A lot of stories. Dyslexia. The art teacher who changed my life. My Mother. My Father. A life-changing job interview with a man who lay under his car throughout. That video.
Sifting through half-forgotten memories, trying to pick out the golden nuggets from the stuff that is definitely dross has been a curious, and at times hilarious, sometimes sad, but definitely enlightening process. So here it is - my pottery life with some very loud music and some pretty good dancing. And a lot of throwing, fettling and firing.
Oh ...and a good dose of anxiety.]]> 352 Keith Brymer Jones 1529385229 Jo 0 4.16
author: Keith Brymer Jones
name: Jo
average rating: 4.16
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]]> 25267912 An irresistible French sensation - Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore meets Amélie - The Reader on the 6.27 explores the power of books through the lives of the people they save. It is sure to capture the hearts of book lovers everywhere.

Guylain Vignolles lives on the edge of existence. Working at a job he hates, he has but one pleasure in life . . . Sitting on the 6.27 train each day, Guylain reads aloud. And it's this release of words into the world that starts our hero on a journey that will finally bring meaning into his life. For one morning, Guylain discovers the diary of a lonely young woman: Julie. A woman who feels as lost in the world as he does. As he reads from these pages to a rapt audience, Guylain finds himself falling hopelessly in love with their enchanting author . . .

The Reader on the 6.27 is a tale bursting with larger-than-life characters, each of whom touches Guylain's life for the better. This captivating novel is a warm, funny fable about literature's power to uplift even the most downtrodden of lives.]]> 194 Jean-Paul Didierlaurent 1447276469 Jo 0 3.70 2014
author: Jean-Paul Didierlaurent
name: Jo
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2023/01/01
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]]> 42270835 Author of The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys sentenced to a hellish reform school in 1960s Florida.

Elwood Curtis has taken the words of Dr Martin Luther King to heart: he is as good as anyone. Abandoned by his parents, brought up by his loving, strict and clear-sighted grandmother, Elwood is about to enroll in the local black college. But given the time and the place, one innocent mistake is enough to destroy his future, and so Elwood arrives at The Nickel Academy, which claims to provide 'physical, intellectual and moral training' which will equip its inmates to become 'honorable and honest men'.

In reality, the Nickel Academy is a chamber of horrors, where physical, emotional and sexual abuse is rife, where corrupt officials and tradesmen do a brisk trade in supplies intended for the school, and where any boy who resists is likely to disappear 'out back'. Stunned to find himself in this vicious environment, Elwood tries to hold on to Dr King's ringing assertion, 'Throw us in jail, and we will still love you.' But Elwood's fellow inmate and new friend Turner thinks Elwood is naive and worse; the world is crooked, and the only way to survive is to emulate the cruelty and cynicism of their oppressors.

The tension between Elwood's idealism and Turner's skepticism leads to a decision which will have decades-long repercussions.

Based on the history of a real reform school in Florida that operated for one hundred and eleven years and warped and destroyed the lives of thousands of children, The Nickel Boys is a devastating, driven narrative by a great American novelist whose work is essential to understanding the current reality of the United States.]]> 213 Colson Whitehead Jo 0 4.25 2019
author: Colson Whitehead
name: Jo
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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]]> 37506228
As Lizzie dives into this polarized world, she begins to wonder what it means to keep tending your own garden once you've seen the flames beyond its walls. When her brother becomes a father and Sylvia a recluse, Lizzie is forced to address the limits of her own experience—but still she tries to save everyone, using everything she's learned about empathy and despair, conscience and collusion, from her years of wandering the library stacks... And all the while the voices of the city keep floating in—funny, disturbing, and increasingly mad.]]> 208 Jenny Offill 0385351100 Jo 0 3.57 2020
author: Jenny Offill
name: Jo
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2024/04/01
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]]> 62919793
One June day when Mia Jacob can no longer see a way to survive, the power of words saves her. The Scarlet Letter was written almost two hundred years earlier, but it seems to tell the story of Mia’s mother, Ivy, and their life inside the Community—an oppressive cult in western Massachusetts where contact with the outside world is forbidden. But how could this be? How could Nathaniel Hawthorne have so perfectly captured the pain and loss that Mia carries inside her?

Through a journey of heartbreak, love, and time, Mia must abandon the rules she was raised with at the Community. As she does, she realizes that reading can transport you to other worlds or bring them to you, and that readers and writers affect one another in mysterious ways. She learns that time is more fluid than she can imagine, and that love is stronger than any chains that bind you.

As a girl Mia fell in love with a book. Now as a young woman she falls in love with a brilliant writer as she makes her way back in time. But what if Nathaniel Hawthorne never wrote The Scarlet Letter ? And what if Mia Jacob never found it on the day she planned to die?

From “the reigning queen of magical realism� (Kristin Hannah, New York Times bestselling author), this is the story of one woman’s dream. For a little while it came true.]]> 272 Alice Hoffman 1982175370 Jo 2 3.54 2023
author: Alice Hoffman
name: Jo
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2023
rating: 2
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]]> 59364173
Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother’s dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called “calorie restriction,� eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, “Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn’t tint hers?� She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income.

In I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail—just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly , she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi (“Hi Gale!�), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.

Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair.]]> 320 Jennette McCurdy Jo 0 4.45 2022
author: Jennette McCurdy
name: Jo
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> 18104749
Then, while shining shoes at King's Cross Station, Alfie unexpectedly sees his father's name - on a sheaf of papers belonging to a military doctor. Bewildered and confused, Alfie realises his father is in a hospital close by - a hospital treating soldiers with an unusual condition. Alfie is determined to rescue his father from this strange, unnerving place . . .]]> 247 John Boyne 0857532936 Jo 0 3.91 2013
author: John Boyne
name: Jo
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/01
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]]> 54399375 In the vein of the Costa-winning Dadland, with the biographical elements of H is for Hawk and The Lonely City, The Fragments of my Father is a powerful and poignant memoir about parents and children, freedom and responsibility, madness and creativity and what it means to be a carer.

My life had been suspended, as though I had inhaled and was still waiting to let out that gasp of breath. I set aside my dreams for a future time when life might be normal again. But that night, on my mother’s birthday, as I sat and watched the sky turn from blue to black, I wondered for the first time if it ever would�

There were holes in Sam Mills’s life when she was growing up � times when her dad was just absent, for reasons she didn’t understand. As she grew older, she began to make up stories about the periods when he wasn’t around: that he’d been abducted, spirited away and held captive by a mysterious tribe who lived at the bottom of the garden. The truth � that he suffers from a rare form of paranoid schizophrenia, and was hospitalised intermittently � slowly came into focus, and that focus became pin-sharp in 2012, when Sam’s mother died and Sam was left as his primary carer.

In this powerful, pognant memoir Sam triangulates her own experience with the stories of two other carers, one she admires and one, on some days, she fears she might become: Leonard Woolf, husband to Virginia and F Scott Fitzgerald, husband to Zelda, and a man whose personality made him ill-equipped � in a great many ways � to be a carer for his troubled wife.

A mesmerising blend of literary biography and memoir The Fragments of My Father is a compelling and moving account of what it means to be a carer.]]> 320 Sam Mills 0008300585 Jo 4 3.97 2020
author: Sam Mills
name: Jo
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/01
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]]> 53215250 Following the "propulsive and mesmerizing" ( New York Times Book Review ) Things We Lost in the Fire comes a new collection of singularly unsettling stories, by an Argentine author who has earned comparisons to Shirley Jackson and Jorge Luis Borges.

Mariana Enriquez has been critically lauded for her unconventional and sociopolitical stories of the macabre: populated by unruly teenagers, crooked witches, homeless ghosts, and hungry women, they walk the uneasy line between urban realism and horror. The stories in her next collection are as terrifying as they are socially conscious, and press into being the unspoken -- fetish, illness, the female body, the darkness of human history -- with unsettling urgency. A woman is sexually obsessed with the human heart; a lost, rotting baby crawls out of a backyard and into a bedroom; a pair of teenage girls can't let go of their idol; an entire neighborhood is cursed to death by a question of morality they fail to answer correctly.

Written against the backdrop of contemporary Argentina, and with resounding tenderness towards those in pain, in fear, and in limbo, this new collection from one of Argentina's most exciting writers finds Enriquez at her most sophisticated, and most chilling.]]> 208 Mariana EnrĂ­quez 0593134079 Jo 0 3.78 2009
author: Mariana EnrĂ­quez
name: Jo
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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]]> 91274427 For fans of The Midnight Library and Before the Coffee Gets Cold, this charming Japanese novel shows how the perfect book recommendation can change a reader's life.

What are you looking for?

This is the famous question routinely asked by Tokyo’s most enigmatic librarian, Sayuri Komachi. Like most librarians, Komachi has read every book lining her shelves—but she also has the unique ability to read the souls of her library guests. For anyone who walks through her door, Komachi can sense exactly what they’re looking for in life and provide just the book recommendation they never knew they needed to help them find it.

Each visitor comes to her library from a different juncture in their careers and dreams, from the restless sales attendant who feels stuck at her job to the struggling working mother who longs to be a magazineĚýeditor. The conversation that they have with Sayuri Komachi—and the surprise book she lends each of them—will have life-altering consequences.

With heartwarming charm and wisdom, What You Are Looking For Is in the Library is a paean to the magic of libraries, friendship and community, perfect for anyone who has ever found themselves at an impasse in their life and in need of a little inspiration.]]> 304 Michiko Aoyama 1335005625 Jo 0 4.07 2020
author: Michiko Aoyama
name: Jo
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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]]> 44698834 A coming-of-age story about learning to celebrate yourself -- and teaching the world to recognize you, too -- perfect for fans of R. J. Palacio's Wonder!
"This glimpse into the world of a young autistic girl is astonishingly insightful and honest. Tally's struggles to 'fit in' are heart-wrenching, and her victories are glorious." -- Ann M. Martin, Newbery Honor and New York Times bestselling author of Rain Reign

Things Tally is dreading about sixth grade:

-- Being in classes without her best friends
-- New (scratchy) uniforms
-- Hiding her autism

Tally isn't ashamed of being autistic -- even if it complicates life sometimes, it's part of who she is. But this is her first year at Kingswood Academy, and her best friend, Layla, is the only one who knows. And while a lot of other people are uncomfortable around Tally, Layla has never been one of them . . . until now.

Something is different about sixth grade, and Tally now feels like she has to act "normal." But as Tally hides her true self, she starts to wonder what "normal" means after all and whether fitting in is really what matters most.

Inspired by young coauthor Libby Scott's own experiences with autism, this is an honest and moving middle-school story of friends, family, and finding one's place.]]> 365 Libby Scott 1407195670 Jo 0 4.24 2019
author: Libby Scott
name: Jo
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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]]> 171677185 Ěý
What if you stopped feeling ashamed of constantly being late or of getting so hyperfocused on a task that you drop everything else you had to do? How can you as a partner, parent, or friend better understand your neurodivergent loved one’s way of moving through the world?
Ěý
In Dirty Laundry , life partners Rich Pink and Rox Emery unapologetically guide you through the ups and downs of life with ADHD. Every chapter starts with a common symptom of ADHD, like impulsivity or struggles with finances, and an earnest moment from their own lives to show you how they navigate the symptom together. Rox reminds you to be kind to yourself and love yourself for who you are; Rich offers tips on how he uses compassion and honesty instead of jumping to conclusions. Whether it's helping your ADHDer with friendly time-checks before an appointment or reminding yourself to take breaks during hours spent hyperfocusing on a new project, Rox and Rich give you the tools to destigmatize and normalize life with ADHD.]]> 144 Richard Pink 0593835530 Jo 5 3.85 2023
author: Richard Pink
name: Jo
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/06/01
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]]> 193383519 �A (self) love letter to those whose brains are beautifully and uniquely different� Riyadh Khalaf | �Books like this are so important� Rach Idowu

When �ADHD wife� Rox and neurotypical husband Rich asked their community of 2.5 million what the biggest ADHD struggle is, the thousands of replies changed everything. As they learned, the real enemy isn’t productivity or focus, but the toxic ADHD core beliefs we’ve internalised.

With candour and kindness, they share personal stories to highlight and reframe the 10 big lies that ADHD people believe about themselves. From �I am lazy� to �Everybody hates me� and �I quit everything I start�, Small Talk will empower ADHDers and those who love them to navigate life with compassion, humour and hope. Whether you were diagnosed early or are new to the neurospicy community, Small Talk will change your relationship with yourself and others. It will help you to stop being your worst fear-leader, start bigging yourself up, and live your best neurodivergent life.

Learn how


Identify your limiting ADHD beliefsBreak free from neurotypical standardsSupport and understand your ADHDers Adopt a self-kindness mindsetCommunicate your needs & boundariesCelebrate the joys of ADHD________________________________
Praise for Dirty Laundry:

'A godsend!' Davina McCall

'Essential for ADHDers and all who love them' 5* reader review

'Life-changing' 5* reader review

'It's not just me! Blew my mind, validated my life' 5* reader review

Soul-soothing for anyone in an ADHD relationship' 5* reader review]]> 205 Richard Pink 152992023X Jo 0 4.54
author: Richard Pink
name: Jo
average rating: 4.54
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rating: 0
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]]> 199617279 297 Stacey Heale 1785120271 Jo 0 4.59
author: Stacey Heale
name: Jo
average rating: 4.59
book published:
rating: 0
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]]> 55276954 An exhilarating debut by a young writer from Pakistan: provocative, funny, disarmingly original stories that upend traditional notions of identity and family, and peer into the vulnerable workings of the human heart.

From the high-stakes worlds of television and politics to the intimate corridors of home--including the bedroom--these wryly observed, deeply revealing stories look at life in Pakistan with humor, compassion, psychological acuity, and emotional immediacy. Childhood best friends agree to marry in order to keep their sexuality a secret. A young woman with an anxiety disorder discovers the numbing pleasures of an illicit love affair. A radicalized student's preparations for his sister's wedding involve beating up the groom. An actress is forced to grow up fast on the set of her first major tv show, where the real intrigue takes place off-screen. Every story bears witness to the all-too-universal desire to be loved, and what happens when this longing gets pushed to its limits. Are You Enjoying? is a free-spirited, confident, indelible introduction to a galvanizing new talent.]]> 192 Mira Sethi 1524732877 Jo 0 3.19 2021
author: Mira Sethi
name: Jo
average rating: 3.19
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/01
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]]> 62039277 The Man Who Saw Everything and The Cost of Living.

At the height of her career, the piano virtuoso Elsa M. Anderson―former child prodigy, now in her thirties―walks off the stage in Vienna, mid-performance.

Now she is in Athens, watching an uncannily familiar woman purchase a pair of mechanical dancing horses at a flea market. Elsa wants the horses too, but there are no more for sale. She drifts to the ferry port, on the run from her talent and her history.

So begins her journey across Europe, shadowed by the elusive woman who seems to be her double. A dazzling portrait of melancholy and metamorphosis, Deborah Levy’s August Blue uncovers the ways in which we attempt to revise our oldest stories and make ourselves anew.]]> 208 Deborah Levy Jo 0 3.63 2023
author: Deborah Levy
name: Jo
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/06/01
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]]> 23602473
Spare and unsparing, God Help the Child is a searing tale about the way childhood trauma shapes and misshapes the life of the adult. At the center: a woman who calls herself Bride, whose stunning blue-black skin is only one element of her beauty, her boldness and confidence, her success in life; but which caused her light-skinned mother to deny her even the simplest forms of love until she told a lie that ruined the life of an innocent woman, a lie whose reverberations refuse to diminish ... Booker, the man Bride loves and loses, whose core of anger was born in the wake of the childhood murder of his beloved brother ... Rain, the mysterious white child, who finds in Bride the only person she can talk to about the abuse she's suffered at the hands of her prostitute mother ... and Sweetness, Bride's mother, who takes a lifetime to understand that "what you do to children matters. And they might never forget."]]> 178 Toni Morrison 0307594173 Jo 0 3.79 2015
author: Toni Morrison
name: Jo
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2024/02/01
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]]> 62047984
So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? This piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller. That is what June believes, and The New York Times bestseller list agrees.

But June cannot escape Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens her stolen success. As she races to protect her secret she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.]]> 319 R.F. Kuang 000853277X Jo 0 3.69 2023
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Jo
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/04/01
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]]> 44421460 What would you change if you could go back in time?

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.

In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer's, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.

But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . . .

Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s beautiful, moving story explores the age-old question: what would you change if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?]]> 213 Toshikazu Kawaguchi 1529029589 Jo 0 3.67 2015
author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
name: Jo
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/01
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]]> 64334677
It’s the turn of the millennium and, landing in London with nothing but her CD collection and demo tape, Orla Quinn moves into a squalid Kilburn house with her best mate and a band called Shiva.

Orla wants to make music, but juggling two jobs and partying every night isn’t helping. Back in Ireland her parents� marriage has crumbled, she’s not speaking to her father, and her mother and sister are drinking too much.

While Orla’s own dreams seem to be going nowhere, Shiva are on the brink of something big. But as the hype around the band intensifies, so does the hedonism, and relationships in the house are growing strained.

This is the story of a young woman thrashing through life, trying to find home in a strange new place. It’s also a story about music: how it can break you down and build you back up again, and how to find your rhythm when all you hear is noise.]]> 376 Annie Macmanus 1472297121 Jo 0 3.31 2023
author: Annie Macmanus
name: Jo
average rating: 3.31
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/01
date added: 2024/12/31
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]]> 56773168
Seventeen years pass without any resolution for those who knew and loved Hae-on, and the grief and uncertainty take a cruel toll on her younger sister, Da-on, in particular. Unable to move on with her life, Da-on tries in her own twisted way to recover some of what she's lost, ultimately setting out to find the truth of what happened.

Told at different points in time from the perspectives of Da-on and two of Hae-on's classmates, Lemon loosely follows the structure of a detective novel. But finding the perpetrator is not the main objective here. Instead, the work explores grief and trauma, raising important questions about guilt, retribution, and the meaning of death and life.]]> 176 Kwon Yeo-Sun Jo 0 3.24 2019
author: Kwon Yeo-Sun
name: Jo
average rating: 3.24
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2024/04/01
date added: 2024/12/31
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]]> 52129515 Untamed is both an intimate memoir and a galvanizing wake-up call. It is the story of how one woman learned that a responsible mother is not one who slowly dies for her children, but one who shows them how to fully live. It is the story of navigating divorce, forming a new blended family, and discovering that the brokenness or wholeness of a family depends not on its structure but on each member’s ability to bring her full self to the table. And it is the story of how each of us can begin to trust ourselves enough to set boundaries, make peace with our bodies, honor our anger and heartbreak, and unleash our truest, wildest instincts so that we become women who can finally look at ourselves and say: There She Is.]]> 333 Glennon Doyle 1984801252 Jo 0 3.98 2020
author: Glennon Doyle
name: Jo
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2024/05/01
date added: 2024/12/31
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]]> 105189 106 Gabriel García Márquez Jo 0 tbr-books-i-own, to-read 3.85 1955
author: Gabriel García Márquez
name: Jo
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1955
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/15
shelves: tbr-books-i-own, to-read
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]]> 227002 186 Barbara Pym 0330326481 Jo 0 3.90 1978
author: Barbara Pym
name: Jo
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1978
rating: 0
read at: 2021/11/02
date added: 2024/09/08
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]]> 5439 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

Navigating between the Indian traditions they've inherited and the baffling new world, the characters in Jhumpa Lahiri's elegant, touching stories seek love beyond the barriers of culture and generations. In "A Temporary Matter," published in The New Yorker, a young Indian-American couple faces the heartbreak of a stillborn birth while their Boston neighborhood copes with a nightly blackout. In the title story, an interpreter guides an American family through the India of their ancestors and hears an astonishing confession. Lahiri writes with deft cultural insight reminiscent of Anita Desai and a nuanced depth that recalls Mavis Gallant.]]> 198 Jhumpa Lahiri 0618101365 Jo 0 4.18 1999
author: Jhumpa Lahiri
name: Jo
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/04/15
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]]> 50935544 Rachel's training was put to the test in 2017 when her beloved GP father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She learned that nothing - even the best palliative care - can sugar-coat the pain of losing someone you love.
And yet, she argues, in a hospice there is more of what matters in life - more love, more strength, more kindness, more joy, more tenderness, more grace, more compassion - than you could ever imagine. For if there is a difference between people who know they are dying and the rest of us, it is simply this: that the terminally ill know their time is running out, while we live as though we have all the time in the world.
Dear Life is a book about the vital importance of human connection, by the doctor we would all want by our sides at a time of crisis. It is a love letter - to a father, to a profession, to life itself.]]> 336 Rachel Clarke 1408712520 Jo 0 4.44 2020
author: Rachel Clarke
name: Jo
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2022/02/09
date added: 2022/03/09
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]]> 41448931
Natalie travels to Bali, New Zealand, Australia, Dublin, rural Ireland and the Netherlands to try and find her place, but her isolation abroad only heightens her sense of unease. Her journey is psychological as well as physical � she is obsessed with her shape, believing herself to be awkward and over-large, recoiling from relationships with men and eating compulsively as a self-destructive reaction to her issues with her weight.

As the narrative unfolds, we gradually become aware of a crucial development in Natalie beginning to take place. This novel engages powerfully with issues that are important to women, and also to people in general, via an incredibly beguiling protagonist � she is intelligent and self-aware, sharp and acute, and able to see the comic side of her predicament. An intensely enjoyable and thought-provoking read.]]> 338 E.M. Reapy 1789540941 Jo 0 3.51 2019
author: E.M. Reapy
name: Jo
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2022/02/23
date added: 2022/02/28
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]]> 50202953
There is one other person in the house—a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.]]> 272 Susanna Clarke 163557563X Jo 0 audiobooks 4.22 2020
author: Susanna Clarke
name: Jo
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2022/02/28
date added: 2022/02/28
shelves: audiobooks
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]]> 51541496
Razor-sharp, provocatively page-turning and surprisingly tender, Luster by Raven Leilani is a painfully funny debut about what it means to be young now.]]> 227 Raven Leilani 0374194327 Jo 0 audiobooks 3.51 2020
author: Raven Leilani
name: Jo
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2022/02/25
date added: 2022/02/28
shelves: audiobooks
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]]> 49008146
Almada narrates the case of three small-town teenage girls murdered in the 1980’s; three unpunished deaths that occurred before the word �femicide� was even coined. In this brutal but necessary novel, Almada brings to the fore these crimes committed in the interior of the country, while Argentina was celebrating the return of democracy. Three deaths without culprits: 19-year old Andrea Danne, stabbed in her own bed; 15-year old María Luisa Quevedo, raped, strangled, and dumped in wasteland; and 20-year old Sarita Mundín, whose disfigured body was found on a river bank. Selva Almada takes these and other tales of abused women to weave together a dry, straightforward portrait of gender violence that surpasses national borders and speaks to readers� consciousness all over the world.

This is not a police chronicle, although there is an investigation. This is not a thriller, although there is mystery and suspense. The real noir element of Dead Girls lies in the heart of the women described here and of the men that have abused them. With her unique style of prose that captures the invisible, and with lyrical brutality, Almada manages to blaze new trails in this kind of journalistic fiction.]]> 170 Selva Almada 1916277845 Jo 0 3.86 2014
author: Selva Almada
name: Jo
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2022/01/29
date added: 2022/01/31
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]]> 45153552 shocking, heart-rending and blisteringly funny account of what it's like to live with mental illness, by a powerful new comic voice. When Michelle Thomas suffered her first major depressive episode six years ago, she read and watched and listened to everything about mental health she could get her hands on in an effort to fix herself. God, it was tedious. And, quite frankly, depressing.Which is the last thing she needed. What she did need was a therapist who would listen and offer a wellness strategy catered to her specific needs. What she got was advice to watch a few YouTube videos and a cheerful reminder that 'it could be worse'. An honest, hilarious and heart-rending account of living with mental illness, My Sh*t Therapist will help you navigate the world, care for your mind and get through sh*t diagnoses, jobs, medications, boyfriends, habits, homes and therapists.You'll find no scented candles or matcha tea 'cures' for mental illness here. Instead, learn how a modern woman and her friends and followers navigate life with their brilliant but unpredictably sh*t brains.Having a crappy mental health day? I've got you.Want to chat antidepressants and breakdowns?Pull up a pew and let's get into it.]]> 272 Michelle Thomas Jo 0 3.76 2019
author: Michelle Thomas
name: Jo
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2022/01/27
date added: 2022/01/31
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]]> 56898179 Master storyteller Alice Hoffman brings us the conclusion of the Practical Magic series in a spellbinding and enchanting final Owens novel brimming with lyric beauty and vivid characters.

The Owens family has been cursed in matters of love for over three-hundred years but all of that is about to change. The novel begins in a library, the best place for a story to be conjured, when beloved aunt Jet Owens hears the deathwatch beetle and knows she has only seven days to live. Jet is not the only one in danger—the curse is already at work.

A frantic attempt to save a young man’s life spurs three generations of the Owens women, and one long-lost brother, to use their unusual gifts to break the curse as they travel from Paris to London to the English countryside where their ancestor Maria Owens first practiced the Unnamed Art. The younger generation discovers secrets that have been hidden from them in matters of both magic and love by Sally, their fiercely protective mother. As Kylie Owens uncovers the truth about who she is and what her own dark powers are, her aunt Franny comes to understand that she is ready to sacrifice everything for her family, and Sally Owens realizes that she is willing to give up everything for love.

The Book of Magic is a breathtaking conclusion that celebrates mothers and daughters, sisters and brothers, and anyone who has ever been in love.]]> 400 Alice Hoffman 198215148X Jo 0 4.09 2021
author: Alice Hoffman
name: Jo
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2022/01/25
date added: 2022/01/25
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]]> 56646330 Go Home vans. Go to Oxbridge, get an education, start a career. Do all the right things. Buy a flat. Buy art. Buy a sort of happiness. But above all, keep your head down. Keep quiet. And keep going.

The narrator of Assembly is a Black British woman. She is preparing to attend a lavish garden party at her boyfriend's family estate, set deep in the English countryside. At the same time, she is considering the carefully assembled pieces of herself. As the minutes tick down and the future beckons, she can't escape the question: is it time to take it all apart?]]> 112 Natasha Brown 0316268267 Jo 0 3.84 2021
author: Natasha Brown
name: Jo
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2022/01/24
date added: 2022/01/24
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]]> 33025843 ** 'It's the beautifully drawn, vibrant characters that make this smart, compelling novel so irresistible.' Liane Moriarty **

From the New York Times Bestselling author of The Vacationers, Emma Straub brings us a sharply observed tale of modern love...

Twenty years later and they were supposed to be grown-ups...

Ditmas Park, Brooklyn.
Summer in the city . . .

College friends Elizabeth, Zoe and Andrew had a band, grew up, settled in New York and now they were still living round the corner from one another (and in each other's pockets).

One hot summer as their kids come of age, making those first hesitant steps into adulthood, it's the parents who find that the lives they've so carelessly stitched together begin to slowly unravel . . .


'Has all the pleasures of Anne Tyler's compelling family portraits . . . with a Lorrie Moore-like sense of the absurdities of contemporary life' Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

'Really entertaining. The characters are complex and likeable. It's one of those stories that makes you realise that life really does run away from you' Guardian

'Straub's characters thrum off the page. The sort of witty and relatable summer title you'll devour with a contented smack of the lips' Independent

'Funny yet tart, warm yet incisive. I adored it' Red]]> 384 Emma Straub 1405921560 Jo 0 3.42 2016
author: Emma Straub
name: Jo
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2022/01/05
date added: 2022/01/20
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]]> 26073110 --Edmund Bert, 1619

Born and raised in the South Yorkshire mining village of Hoyland Common, Richard Hines remembers sliding down heaps of coal dust, hearing whispers of "accidents" in the pit, listening for the siren at the end of mine shifts, and praying for his father's safe return. At age eleven, Richard's prospects suddenly dimmed when he failed the trials for English Grammar School, though his older brother Barry, evidently their mother's favorite, had passed and seemed headed for great things.

Crushed by a system that swiftly and permanently decided that some children do not merit a real education, and persecuted by the cruel antics of his English schoolteachers, Richard spent his time in the fields and meadows just beyond the colliery slag heap. One morning, walking on the grounds of a ruined medieval manor, he came across a nest of kestrels. Instantly captivated but without a role model to learn from, he sought out ancient falconry texts from the local library and pored over the strange and beautiful language there. With just these books, some ingenuity, and his profound respect for the hawk's indomitable wildness, Richard learned to "man" or train his kestrel, Kes, and in the process became a man himself.

No Way But Gentlenesse is a breathtaking memoir of one remarkable boy's love for a culture lost to time, and his attempt to find salvation in the natural world.]]> 288 Richard Hines 1632865025 Jo 0 3.92 2016
author: Richard Hines
name: Jo
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2022/01/09
date added: 2022/01/20
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]]> 30759086 304 Lynne Truss 1780896727 Jo 0 3.38 2016
author: Lynne Truss
name: Jo
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2022/01/14
date added: 2022/01/20
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]]> 36645972
So when she receives a phone call telling her that her son’s ex-girlfriend has been shot and needs her help, she drops everything and flies across the country. The spur-of-the-moment decision to look after this woman � and her nine-year-old daughter, and her dog � will lead Willa into uncharted territory. Surrounded by new and surprising neighbours, she is plunged into the rituals that make a community and takes pleasure in the most unexpected things.

A bittersweet novel of hope and regret, fulfillment and renewal, Clock Dance brings us the everyday life of a woman who decides it’s never too late to change direction, and choose your own path.]]> 292 Anne Tyler 1784742449 Jo 0 3.48 2018
author: Anne Tyler
name: Jo
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2022/01/20
date added: 2022/01/20
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]]> 53879204
Don DeLillo completed this novel just weeks before the advent of Covid-19. The Silence is the story of a different catastrophic event. Its resonances offer a mysterious solace.

It is Super Bowl Sunday in the year 2022. Five people, dinner, an apartment on the east side of Manhattan. The retired physics professor and her husband and her former student waiting for the couple who will join them from what becomes a dramatic flight from Paris. The conversation ranges from a survey telescope in North-central Chile to a favorite brand of bourbon to Einstein's 1912 Manuscript on the Special Theory of Relativity.

Then something happens and the digital connections that have transformed our lives are severed.

What follows is a dazzling and profoundly moving conversation about what makes us human. Never has the art of fiction been such an immediate guide to our navigation of a bewildering world. Never have DeLillo's prescience, imagination, and language been more illuminating and essential.]]> 117 Don DeLillo 1982164557 Jo 0 2.67 2020
author: Don DeLillo
name: Jo
average rating: 2.67
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2021/12/14
date added: 2022/01/04
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]]> 50891570 The refreshingly original debut memoir of a guarded, over-achieving, self-lacerating young lawyer who reluctantly agrees to get psychologically and emotionally naked in a room of six complete strangers—her psychotherapy group—and in turn finds human connection, and herself.

Christie Tate had just been named the top student in her law school class and finally had her eating disorder under control. Why then was she driving through Chicago fantasizing about her own death? Why was she envisioning putting an end to the isolation and sadness that still plagued her in spite of her achievements?

Enter Dr. Rosen, a therapist who calmly assures her that if she joins one of his psychotherapy groups, he can transform her life. All she has to do is show up and be honest. About everything—her eating habits, childhood, sexual history, etc. Christie is skeptical, insisting that that she is defective, beyond cure. But Dr. Rosen issues a nine-word prescription that will change everything: “You don’t need a cure, you need a witness.

So begins her entry into the strange, terrifying, and ultimately life-changing world of group therapy. Christie is initially put off by Dr. Rosen’s outlandish directives, but as her defenses break down and she comes to trust Dr. Rosen and to depend on the sessions and the prescribed nightly phone calls with various group members, she begins to understand what it means to connect.

Group is a deliciously addictive read, and with Christie as our guide—skeptical of her own capacity for connection and intimacy, but hopeful in spite of herself—we are given a front row seat to the daring, exhilarating, painful, and hilarious journey that is group therapy—an under-explored process that breaks you down, and then reassembles you so that all the pieces finally fit.]]> 282 Christie Tate Jo 0 3.77 2020
author: Christie Tate
name: Jo
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2021/12/28
date added: 2022/01/04
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]]> 36203362 How Should a Person Be? (“one of the most talked-about books of the year”�Time Magazine) and the New York Times Bestseller Women in Clothes comes a daring novel about whether to have children.

In Motherhood, Sheila Heti asks what is gained and what is lost when a woman becomes a mother, treating the most consequential decision of early adulthood with the candor, originality, and humor that have won Heti international acclaim and made How Should A Person Be? required reading for a generation.

In her late thirties, when her friends are asking when they will become mothers, the narrator of Heti’s intimate and urgent novel considers whether she will do so at all. In a narrative spanning several years, casting among the influence of her peers, partner, and her duties to her forbearers, she struggles to make a wise and moral choice. After seeking guidance from philosophy, her body, mysticism, and chance, she discovers her answer much closer to home.

Motherhood is a courageous, keenly felt, and starkly original novel that will surely spark lively conversations about womanhood, parenthood, and about how—and for whom—to live.]]> 304 Sheila Heti 1627790772 Jo 0 3.66 2018
author: Sheila Heti
name: Jo
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2021/06/14
date added: 2021/12/27
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]]> 48562591
'Reading has saved my life, again and again, and has held my hand through every difficult time'

For as long as she can remember, Cathy Rentzenbrink has lost and found herself in stories. Growing up she was rarely seen without her nose in a book and read in secret long after lights out. When tragedy struck, books kept her afloat. Eventually they lit the way to a new path, first as a bookseller and then as a writer. No matter what the future holds, reading will always help.

Dear Reader is a moving, funny and joyous exploration of how books can change the course of your life, packed with recommendations from one reader to another.]]> 230 Cathy Rentzenbrink 1509891528 Jo 0 4.19 2020
author: Cathy Rentzenbrink
name: Jo
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2021/08/23
date added: 2021/12/27
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]]> 57937885
Little did Kris know it was cancer that would lead her to a life she had never considered: a happy one. From founding a charity to visiting Downing Street, campaigning at festivals to appearing on TV, and being present at the birth of her nephew; in the face of all the possible prognoses, Kris is surviving, thriving, and resolutely living.

Glittering a Turd is more than just another cancer memoir; it’s a handbook for living life to the fullest, shining a new perspective on survival and learning to glitter your own turd, whatever it might be. Kris has survived the unsurvivable for twelve years. Here, she begins to discover why.]]> 240 Kris Hallenga 1800180497 Jo 0 4.59
author: Kris Hallenga
name: Jo
average rating: 4.59
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2021/09/12
date added: 2021/12/27
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]]> 46014983
These surprises, and the ways they throw Micah's meticulously organized life off-kilter, risk changing him forever.]]> 178 Anne Tyler 0525658416 Jo 0 3.53 2020
author: Anne Tyler
name: Jo
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at: 2021/09/22
date added: 2021/12/27
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]]> 54800699 An inspirational and heartwarming novel for lovers of Mitch Albom and Andy Andrews, blending elements of It's a Wonderful Life and Field of Dreams into a moving story all its own.Four rounds. Four heroes. Four life-changing lessons.On the morning of his fortieth birthday, Randy Clark believes the only way he can help his family is to end it all. Standing on the Tennessee River Bridge in Decatur, Alabama, with his dreams of a pro golf career long gone, his marriage struggling, and facing financial ruin, Randy sees no other alternative to help his wife and daughter but to jump, which he plans to do in the next twenty-four hours.But his plans are put on hold when the ghost of his best friend--who did live out the fantasy of playing the PGA tour--reveals to Randy that he will be given a wonderful four rounds of golf with his four heroes, the champions he's looked up to his whole life, each with a life-changing lesson to impart.For anyone who has ever dealt with tragedy, adversity, or failure, The Golfer's Carol will bring grace that stays with you long after you've turned the last page.]]> 240 Robert Bailey 0593190513 Jo 0 4.43
author: Robert Bailey
name: Jo
average rating: 4.43
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2021/12/27
date added: 2021/12/27
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]]> 9655336
Armed with a pair of camouflage binoculars and detective techniques absorbed from television shows like CSI, Harri and his best friend, Dean, plot to bring the perpetrator to justice. They gather evidence—fingerprints lifted from windows with tape, a wallet stained with blood—and lay traps to flush out the murderer. But nothing can prepare them for what happens when a criminal feels you closing in on him. Recently emigrated from Ghana with his sister and mother to London’s enormous housing projects, Harri is pure curiosity and ebullience—obsessed with gummy candy, a friend to the pigeon who visits his balcony, quite possibly the fastest runner in his school, and clearly also fast on the trail of a murderer. Told in Harri's infectious voice and multicultural slang, Pigeon English follows in the tradition of our great novels of friendship and adventure, as Harri finds wonder, mystery, and danger in his new, ever-expanding world.]]> 263 Stephen Kelman 0547500602 Jo 0 3.52 2011
author: Stephen Kelman
name: Jo
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at: 2021/12/21
date added: 2021/12/27
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]]> 40591644 96 Carol Ann Duffy 1509893423 Jo 0 3.71
author: Carol Ann Duffy
name: Jo
average rating: 3.71
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2021/12/13
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]]> 53438824
This is the first novel she has written in Italian and translated into English. It brims with the impulse to cross barriers. By grafting herself onto a new literary language, Lahiri has pushed herself to a new level of artistic achievement.]]> 157 Jhumpa Lahiri 0593318315 Jo 0 3.76 2018
author: Jhumpa Lahiri
name: Jo
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at: 2021/11/08
date added: 2021/12/27
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]]> 42649682 From New York Times best-selling author Clare Mackintosh comes a deeply moving and addictive novel about an impossible choice � and the two paths fate could take.

Max and Pip are the strongest couple you know. They're best friends, lovers � unshakable. But then their son gets sick and the doctors put the question of his survival into their hands. For the first time, Max and Pip can't agree. They each want a different future for their son.

What if they could have both?

A gripping and propulsive exploration of love, marriage, parenthood, and the road not taken, After the End brings one unforgettable family from unimaginable loss to a surprising, satisfying, and redemptive ending and the life they are fated to find. With the emotional power of Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper, Mackintosh helps us to see that sometimes the end is just another beginning.]]> 384 Clare Mackintosh Jo 0 4.02 2019
author: Clare Mackintosh
name: Jo
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2021/12/05
date added: 2021/12/27
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]]> 4016515 Ěý
Dedicated to the daughter she never had but sees all around her, Letter to My Daughter transcends genres and guidebook, memoir, poetry, and pure delight.

Here in short spellbinding essays are glimpses of the tumultuous life that led Angelou to an exalted place in American letters and taught her lessons in compassion and how she was brought up by her indomitable grandmother in segregated Arkansas, taken in at thirteen by her more worldly and less religious mother, and grew to be an awkward, six-foot-tall teenager whose first experience of loveless sex paradoxically left her with her greatest gift, a son.

Whether she is recalling such lost friends as Coretta Scott King and Ossie Davis, extolling honesty, decrying vulgarity, explaining why becoming a Christian is a “lifelong endeavor,� or simply singing the praises of a meal of red rice–Maya Angelou writes from the heart to millions of women she considers her extended family.

Like the rest of her remarkable work, Letter to My Daughter entertains and teaches; it is a book to cherish, savor, re-read, and share.

“I gave birth to one child, a son, but I have thousands of daughters. You are Black and White, Jewish and Muslim, Asian, Spanish speaking, Native Americans and Aleut. You are fat and thin and pretty and plain, gay and straight, educated and unlettered, and I am speaking to you all. Here is my offering to you.”—from Letter to My Daughter]]> 192 Maya Angelou 1400066123 Jo 0 4.09 1987
author: Maya Angelou
name: Jo
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1987
rating: 0
read at: 2021/11/19
date added: 2021/12/27
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]]> 45157217 'I Never Said I Love You is one of the most electric, enchanting, engrossing and energising memoirs of self-harm, self-loathing, grief, eating disorders, suicide - and sex - that you will read.' The Sunday Times'Indecently entertaining... one of the most uplifting and eccentric memoirs I have ever read.' Observer'Brutally honest and relentlessly funny.' Adam Kay, author of 'This is Going to Hurt''A brilliant memoir full of gasp-inducing honesty about depression and family and taking control of your own pain. Funny, sad, hopeful, I Never Said I Loved You is an irresistible, strangely empowering read.' Matt Haig'This mind-blowingly wonderful memoir had me convulsing with laughter even while my heart was breaking. It's utterly effing BEAUTIFUL.' Marian Keyes'I found myself blindsided by this extraordinary book ... I was deeply moved by its capacity both to depict pain, and offer consolation. I loved it, and won't ever forget it.' Sarah Perry'Both touching and funny' the TelegraphOn an unlikely backpacking trip, Rhik and his mother find themselves speaking openly for the first time in years. Afterwards, the depression that has weighed down on Rhik begins to loosen its grip for a moment - so he seizes the to own it, to understand it, and to find out where it came from. Through this begins a journey of investigation, healing and recovery. Along the way Rhik learns some shocking truths about his family, and realizes that, in turn, he will need to confront the secrets he has long buried. But through this, he triumphs over his fears and brings his depression into the light. I Never Said I Loved You is the story of how Rhik learned to let go, and then keep going. With unique humour and honesty, he has created a powerfully rich, funny and poignant exploration of the light and dark in all of us.A vital, moving and darkly funny memoir by a powerful new voice in non-fiction.'Both unputdownable and beautifully-written, bracing and consoling. A book that tackles mental health and the darkest things with razor-sharp wit and mordant laughs aplenty ... read this.' Sharlene Teo'Touching, funny, wildly readable ... Look out for it.' Sathnam Sanghera'No one writes better, or more sweetly, about how it feels to feel. Even the darkest times are shot through with glorious, bright beams of wit.' Janet Ellis'It's honest and funny (and beautifully painful and brutal at times), but also - oh goodness - it's so elegant. The writing is graceful and kind, even when it hurts a little to remember it's a memoir.' Joanna Cannon 'Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking. What an absolutely riveting read.' Nikita Gill'Heartbreaking, funny, raw, brave and - yes! - even better than the egg thing.' Erin Kelly'I have always loved Rhik Samadder's writing.]]> 270 Rhik Samadder 1472250680 Jo 0 3.94 2019
author: Rhik Samadder
name: Jo
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2021/10/14
date added: 2021/12/27
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]]> 43893870
A thirteen-year-old meditates on her sadness and the difference between herself and her white best friend when an unexpected tragedy occurs; a woman recovering from a miscarriage finds herself unable to let go of her daughter—whose body parts she sees throughout her daily life; a teenager resists her family’s church and is accused of courting the devil; servers at a supper club cater to the insatiable cravings of their wealthy clientele; and two estranged siblings take a road-trip with their father’s ashes and are forced to face the troubling reality of how he continues to shape them.

Wise and subversive, spiritual and seductive, Milk Blood Heat forms an ouroboros of stories that bewitch with their truth.]]> 208 Dantiel W. Moniz 0802158153 Jo 0 4.04 2021
author: Dantiel W. Moniz
name: Jo
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2021/11/01
date added: 2021/12/27
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]]> 163815
This extraordinary novel by the author of The River King and Local Girls takes us back to a time when the exotic both terrified and intrigued us, and despite our most desperate attempts, our passions and secrets remained as stubbornly alive as the weeds in our well-trimmed lawns.]]> 272 Alice Hoffman 0425188485 Jo 0 3.70 1990
author: Alice Hoffman
name: Jo
average rating: 3.70
book published: 1990
rating: 0
read at: 2021/11/04
date added: 2021/12/27
shelves:
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]]> 13537891 NW is a quietly devastating novel of encounters, mercurial and vital, like the city itself.]]> 296 Zadie Smith 0241144140 Jo 0 3.49 2012
author: Zadie Smith
name: Jo
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at: 2021/10/22
date added: 2021/12/27
shelves:
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]]> 22399997
Hundreds of miles away, twelve-year-old Estella and her survivalist mother, Constance, scrape by in the snowy, mountainous Highlands, preparing for a record-breaking winter. Living out of a caravan, they spend their days digging through landfills, searching for anything with restorative and trading value. When Dylan arrives in their caravan park in the middle of the night, life changes course for Estella and Constance. Though the weather worsens, his presence brings a new light to daily life, and when the ultimate disaster finally strikes, they'll all be ready.

The Sunlight Pilgrims is a visionary story of courage and resilience in the midst of nature's most violent hour. It's by turns an homage to the portentous beauty of our natural world, and to just how strong we can be, if the will and the hope is there, to survive its worst.]]> 310 Jenni Fagan 0434023302 Jo 0 3.57 2016
author: Jenni Fagan
name: Jo
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2021/10/05
date added: 2021/12/27
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]]> 25899336
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi's transformation from a naĂŻve medical student "possessed," as he wrote, "by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life" into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.

What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.

Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. "I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything," he wrote. "Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: 'I can't go on. I'll go on.'" When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.]]> 208 Paul Kalanithi 0812988418 Jo 0 4.41 2016
author: Paul Kalanithi
name: Jo
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at: 2021/09/30
date added: 2021/12/27
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]]> 18946007
Animals is hilarious, honest, raw and thoroughly moving. It is about deciding when it's time to grow up, and recognising what you have to leave behind if you do.]]> 257 Emma Jane Unsworth 1443433055 Jo 0 3.46 2014
author: Emma Jane Unsworth
name: Jo
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2021/09/28
date added: 2021/12/27
shelves:
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]]> 34516974 The dazzling second novel in Ali Smith’s essential Seasonal Quartet—from the Baileys Prize-winning, Man Booker-shortlisted author of Autumn and How to be Both.

Winter? Bleak. Frosty wind, earth as iron, water as stone, so the old song goes. The shortest days, the longest nights. The trees are bare and shivering. The summer’s leaves? Dead litter.

The world shrinks; the sap sinks.
But winter makes things visible. And if there’s ice, there’ll be fire.

In Ali Smith's Winter, lifeforce matches up to the toughest of the seasons. In this second novel in her acclaimed Seasonal cycle, the follow-up to her sensational Autumn, Smith's shape-shifting quartet of novels casts a merry eye over a bleak post-truth era with a story rooted in history, memory and warmth, its taproot deep in the evergreens: art, love, laughter.

It’s the season that teaches us survival.
Here comes Winter.]]> 322 Ali Smith 0241207029 Jo 0 3.81 2017
author: Ali Smith
name: Jo
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2021/09/26
date added: 2021/12/27
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]]> 55870757 Whether it is pastoral care for the bereaved, discussions about the afterlife with parishioners or being called out to perform the last rites, death is part of the Reverend Richard Coles' routine. But since his partner the Reverend David Coles died in December, much about death has taken Coles by surprise. David's death at the age of 42 was unexpected - he never recovered from an operation for internal bleeding.

Now the man that so often assists others to examine life's moral questions has found himself in the need of help. He is looking to others for guidance to steer him through grief. The flock is leading the shepherd. Much about grief has surprised Coles: the volume of 'sadmin' you have to do when someone dies, how much harder it is travelling for work alone, the pain of typing a text message to one's partner, then realising you are alone.

The Reverend Richard Coles' account of life after grief will resonate with the many thousands of his followers and listeners.]]> 177 Richard Coles 1474619622 Jo 0 4.22 2022
author: Richard Coles
name: Jo
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2021/09/09
date added: 2021/12/27
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]]> 71332 177 Sapphire 0679766758 Jo 0 3.89 1996
author: Sapphire
name: Jo
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at: 2021/09/16
date added: 2021/12/27
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]]> 53328329
Heavy Light is the story of a a journey through mania, psychosis and treatment in a psychiatric hospital, and onwards to release, recovery and healing.

After a lifetime of ups and downs, Horatio Clare was committed to hospital under Section 2 of the Mental Health Act.

From hypomania in the Alps, to a complete breakdown and a locked ward in Wakefield, this is a gripping account of how the mind loses touch with reality, how we fall apart and how we can be healed - or not - by treatment. A story of the wonder and intensity of the manic experience, as well as its peril and strangeness, it is shot through with the love, kindness, humour and care of those who deal with someone who becomes dangerously ill.

Partly a tribute to those who looked after Horatio, from family and friends to strangers and professionals, and partly an investigation into how we understand and treat acute crises of mental health, Heavy Light 's beauty, power and compassion illuminate a fundamental part of human experience. It asks urgent questions about mental health that affect each and every one of us.


'One of the most brilliant travel writers of our day takes us us now to that most challenging country, severe mental illness; and does so with such wit, warmth, and humanity, that, better acquainted with its terrors, we may better face our own' Reverend Richard Coles

' A record of the bravest, most perilous, most intrepid journey that any human being can ever make. It is stricken, moving, urgent, crucial . . . A luminous, beautiful achievement' Niall Griffiths]]> 368 Horatio Clare 1784743526 Jo 0 4.21
author: Horatio Clare
name: Jo
average rating: 4.21
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2021/09/06
date added: 2021/12/27
shelves:
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