Egon Schiele’s painting, ‘Seated Woman with Legs Drawn Up’ hung on my friend’s wall at university when we lived together in dorms. I remember going into her room and being captivated by the image, my eyes drawn to it every time I visited. The vivid use of colour and the provocative look in her eyes … More The Flames by Sophie Haydock

Mental illness still carries with it today a significant amount of stigma and conditions such as bipolar seem to be little understood and so carry more than most. In ‘Manic Man: How to Live Successfully with a Severe Mental Illness’ Jason Wegner challenges such notions and stereotypes illustrating rather wonderfully how it is possible to … More Manic Man: How to Live Successfully with a Severe Mental Illness by Jason Wegner and Dr. Kerry Bernes

I have felt in recent weeks in a bit of a reading slump. My TBR pile is increasing yet I have not been able to settle and read any book at length. There are so many interesting reads and so many books that I have wanted to get to that I have found it difficult … More The Haunting Season by Various Authors

Carolyn Hobdey’s book ‘Redefining SELFISH’ made me feel somewhat uncomfortable. It demands honesty from its readers and asks them to examine the way they live their life, the priorities we hold and how much we might adhere to societal expectations of the necessity to do and be more in order to be considered ‘successful.’ I … More Redefining S.E.L.F.I.S.H by Carolyn Hobdey

When I first began reading ‘Conversations at the Pond’ I found myself trying to place the book into a genre. Who is it aimed at? Which age group would it appeal to more? These preoccupations subsided as I became more immersed into the story of the narrator and his conversations with the inhabitants of his … More Conversations at the Pond by Henry Slator

In a world where just looking at the news can create anxiety and a sense of hopelessness it is important to take time out and look after yourself. Things can very quickly become overwhelming and it leads to a sense of feeling isolated, not knowing where to go to for help. On reading Natalie Read’s … More Being Human by Natalie Read

I have not read many books that have a young child as a narrator and so I have to confess that I was a little sceptical when I discovered the entirety of ‘This Much Huxley Knows’ by Gail Aldwin was narrated from the viewpoint of the seven-year-old protagonist himself. This scepticism, however, was very soon … More This Much Huxley knows by Gail Aldwin

I was originally drawn to this memoir by Daniel Snowman because of its title. The concept of the significance of a life lived amongst and alongside global events is an intriguing one. We are all ‘Just Passing Through’ but what is fascinating is the diverse and different paths we take that constitute a life lived. … More Just Passing Through: Interactions with the World 1938-2021 by Daniel Snowman

It is surprising that Klara and the Sun is only the second of Kazuo Ishiguro I have ever read. It is surprising because the other novel, Never Let Me Go, had such a profound effect on me when I first read it in my early twenties. There are some novels that never fade from your … More Klara and The Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

It is perhaps fortuitous that as I finished John Dunn’s ‘The Glitter in the Green’ I should have heard at the open window both the roar of traffic on the M1 and the sound of blackbirds on the trees outside. The encroachment of man on the natural world and the devastating impact we are having … More The Glitter in the Green by Jon Dunn