Book Reviews.

Writers and Lovers by Lily King
Review by Taragh Taragh Review by Taragh Taragh

Writers and Lovers by Lily King

Casey is first and foremost a writer but in the wake of her mother’s death and the end of a tumultuous relationship she feels lost and untethered. Unsure of herself, her life and her career, she meets two very different men who offer her very different paths.

Oscar is a successful author who lost his wife and is now raising their two young boys. Then there is Silas, who is also a writer but struggling with his career like Casey. He is kind, intelligent and handsome but battling his own demons. Caught between two men, Casey slowly starts to how she is living her live and the choices that brought her to where she is. Slowly she begins to take ownership of her life…

Read More
F*ck Being Humble by Stefanie Sword-Williams
Review by Taragh Taragh Review by Taragh Taragh

F*ck Being Humble by Stefanie Sword-Williams

A corker of a book for anyone looking to be their own cheerleader both professionally and personally. We are talking SELF PROMOTION PEOPLE! No longer sitting in the shadows hoping our bosses will recognise the extra mile(s) we go and the long hours we stay. Now is the time to champion ourselves, speak up in meetings and get the recognition we deserve…

Read More
The Memory Police by Yōko Ozawa
Review by Taragh Taragh Review by Taragh Taragh

The Memory Police by Yōko Ozawa

On the island things disappear. It can be anything, hats, birds, perfume, photographs, even limbs.. When the Memory Police have decided something is to be disappeared, it no longer has any meaning and must be disappeared by any means necessary until it is completely erased from living memory. However, there are people on the island who don't forget. When a young novelist discovers that her editor is in danger of being taken away by the Memory Police, she desperately wants to save him…

Read More
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Review by Pia Pia Review by Pia Pia

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

A mixed bag of responses from Brunch Book Club; a number of us struggled to get into and it wasn’t until around Part 2 that we really got stuck in. As ever, it sparked a beautiful discussion with great topics and thoughts debated. So for that it gets a thumbs up!

Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his mother was sold away, Hiram was robbed of all memory of her — but was gifted with a mysterious power. Years later, when Hiram almost drowns in a river, that same power saves his life. This brush with death births an urgency in Hiram and a daring scheme: to escape from the only home he’s ever known. (From Goodreads)…

Read More
Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez
Review by Taragh Taragh Review by Taragh Taragh

Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez

Rainbow Milk is a tender, explicit, and beautiful intersectional story about race, sexuality, and religion.

It begins in the 1950s with Norman Alonso, a wonderful man from Jamaica. Wanting to seek out a better life, he and his wife travel to the UK. They arrive in the motherland with many other Caribbean people – now known as the Windrush generation – and settle in the Black Country in the Midlands. However, their arrival is met with racism, ostracisation, and illness…

Read More
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Review by Taragh Taragh Review by Taragh Taragh

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

This is a masterclass in writing; Brit Bennett is a marvel!

The Vignes twins, Stella and Desiree, are born in the fictional town of Mallard, Louisiana, an exclusive place established by their ancestor for light-skinned black people. Identical in every physical way but with very different personalities, the girls are inseparable growing up. However, longing to escape the restraints of living in a small town like Mallard the girls runaway to New Orleans. It is there that their paths begin to diverge. Ten years later, the twins' lives couldn't be more different: one has returned to Mallard with her young black daughter having escaped an abusive relationship, while the other is in LA, in a white neighbourhood, married to a wealthy white man and living as a white woman…

Read More
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
Review by Taragh Taragh Review by Taragh Taragh

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

Fifteen-year-old Vanessa is a talented writer with a love of literature. She is a deep thinker and has always felt painfully different from everyone else. Feeling alone and isolated from her classmates, she immediately takes to her English teacher, 42-year-old Jacob Strane. Like a diary entry, Vanessa describes in intricate detail every way she is attracted to him, weaving the tale of her first love. Slowly, he begins to indulge her teenage fantasies. It begins small — a touch of the knee, long hours spent in the classroom alone together — but evolves into something much bigger and more sinister…

Read More
Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
Review by Pia Pia Review by Pia Pia

Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez

We all know that we live in patriarchal societies, but to what degree is the world built for men? This is a question Caroline Criado Perez answers in Invisible Women and let’s just say that the answer should make us all angry.

Data is used in the modern world to dictate decisions related to every aspect of our lives – education, healthcare, infrastructure and so on and because so much data fails to account for gender, much of our systems are biased towards men. Gender biases cost women money, time, and often their lives…

Read More
Dare to Lead by Brené Brown
Review by Taragh Nat Review by Taragh Nat

Dare to Lead by Brené Brown

Dare to Lead is the seventh book written by researcher Brené Brown. This time, we are invited to take a deeper look into the world of leadership. 

Firstly, Brené is an amazing storyteller who knows how to present the topic in an interesting way. It is clear she doesn’t shy away from her own mistakes as she uses them to help the reader understand what it means to lead a team of people and how can it be done better. The reader will find a bunch of useful tips on how to deal with miscommunication, negative feedback, and overall frustration in the workplace…

Read More