I speed-walk to the pub, clutching a paper bag. I am running late, as usual, and I didn’t really have time for lunch, as usual, so I had to pick something up. Unusually, today I went to Greggs. Today is a day I have been looking forward to for the last 18 hours, since I […]
Q and A with Mike Gayle
Mike Gayle’s latest book, The Man I Think I Know, tells the story of James and Danny. Both stars at school, their lives have both gone wrong. They meet again at a respite centre, where Danny is working a care assistant and James is being cared for because of his Acquired Brain Injury. It’s a warm, funny […]
WTF is a Mooncup?
Recently I have been thinking about tampons and man they are shit. I’ve been prompted by this ace poem by Hollie McNish that’s been going around, and also by having my period while away for the weekend. This is possibly the thing I miss least about the monthly meetings at my old office job! […]
The Toymakers by Robert Dinsdale and My Fear of Broken Toys
The Toymakers is a long, sweeping story, following the life of young runaway Cathy from 1907 to 1953. Pregnant, she flees home, answering an advert in the paper asking for shop-hands at Papa Jack’s Emporium, a magical toy shop open only from first frost to first thaw. Rescued by Papa Jack’s two sons, Cathy is […]
Whisper Networks and Staying In Your Lane
For International Women’s Day, have a weirdly specific feminist rant… A few days ago a sweet man of my acquaintance retweeted something a woman said about whisper networks. He added that he would love it if the women he knew felt able to tell him these things as well, so he could work to reduce […]
A Monster Calls
It is the 27th of December, and as we spent the 26th flying from Yorkshire to Northern Ireland, then doing a second Christmas celebration with my husband’s family, it somehow feels like double Boxing Day. It is one of those cosy, comfortable mornings where no one is doing anything in particular so you can read […]
Time of the Month – September 2017
Hello lovely readers! Welcome to autumn, a time bloggers are traditionally obsessed with. Is it because they love the reminder that one day, like the leaves, we will all wither and die? Probably. In Reading The Break by Marian Keyes I read this over the course of a long weekend in Romania and it is SUCH a good […]
Time of the Month – August 2017
Oh, readers. I am so rubbish at blogging, and for that I can only apologise. I’d promise to do better in the future, but that is my New Month Resolution pretty much every month and yet it never happens. But let’s try again… In Reading Dark Places by Gillian Flynn My GOD Gillian Flynn’s other […]
How to Plan a Wedding
I got married last year and, like everyone else who has done this, I reckon this makes me an expert on the subject. So I’m dispensing my wisdom. As I am 31 years old, LOTS of people I know are getting married. Is this you? Is this very confusing? Have you suddenly gone from having […]
Dragon’s Green by Scarlett Thomas
I’ve loved Scarlett Thomas for a long time. I first read The End Of Mr Y as a student – thrilled at its weirdness, its boldness. She wrote my favourite book on writing, Monkeys With Typewriters, which I read every year. So, as a heads up, I wasn’t going into this review entirely neutral. I […]