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[[Category:New Reviews|Lifestyle]]__NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Anita Anand, Julian Barnes, Bella Bathurst, Alan Bennett and others1454955546|title=The Library BookSugarless|author=Nicole M Avena|rating=4.5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=I had better begin by saying that I had a vested interest in liking this book since I am a chartered librarian myself and so am wholeheartedly in support of saving our nation's public libraries. But you don'This isn't need to be a librarian to enjoy this diet book. It The last thing anyone needs is rich with anecdotes from some wonderful writers and makes a pleasant read whether you're keen to save libraries or not.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781250057</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Francesca Beauman|title=Shapely Ankle Preferr'd: A History of the Lonely Hearts Advertisement|rating=5|genre=History|summary=You might think the Lonely Hearts ad a trivial matteranother diet book. You might think it should appear in lower case and not be capitalised, but you'd be in disagreement with Ms Beauman, who gives a big L and a big H to it every time she writes of it in her survey of its history. What's more, she gets to write about a lot more than just the contents of the adverts in this brilliant book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009951334X</amazonuk>}}
{{newreview|author=Roman Krznaric|title=The Wonderbox: Curious Histories of How There was a time, not that long ago, when it was thought that sugary food was better for you than food with high-fat content. Fat was the demon food which was going to Live|rating=5|genre=History|summary='How should we live?' asks author Roman Krznaricelevate your cholesterol and cause heart disease. To answer this ancient question Sugar was a carbohydrate, he looks to historyso good. There'I believe that the future of the art of living can be found by gazing into the past's a problem, he saysthough. Creating a book which Sugar is addictive and can hijack your brain in much the same way as full of curiosities as a Renaissance 'Wunderkammer', he has a stab at drugs like heroin and cocaine. Does that sound over the big questions: top? loveWell, belief, money, family, death. The result is a pot-pourri of delights which left this particular reader stimulated and invigoratedit isn't.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846683939</amazonuk>
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschappeler1635866847|title=The Question BookLavender Companion|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci
|rating=4.5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=Most of us have probably made at least one of those end-of-It's strange, the-year lists of things that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is the best booksbook for you. Before I started reading ''The Lavender Companion'', albums and parties we have been to in I visited the previous twelve monthsauthor's [https://www.pinelavenderfarm. But can you, with some effort, locate the one you made in 1987? Have you ever constructed com/ website] and there's a graph picture of your ups and downs in a given period, and then decided to expand it by separating emotional, intellectual, sexual and financial aspects and colour coding them? Have you made a list slice of all your lovers, bosses or friends and then rated them from 1 to 10 chocolate cake on several dimensions each? Do you have one of the books homepage. I don't eat cakes and desserts - but I wanted that list cake viscerally. (There''100 things to do before you die'' or ''500 books to read s a recipe in your lifethe book, which I'' (m avoiding with some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and ticked off the ones you have done)? Did you ever spend I was told to make a whole evening and half mess of a night filling it. Notes in dubious 'personality' questionnaires on the Internet? Have you ever doodled something, decided margins are sanctioned. You get to fold down the corners of pages. You suspect that it beautifully expresses the deepest essence smears of your personality and then proceeded to draw such icons for all your friends? |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846685389</amazonuk>butter would not be a problem. I ''loved'' this book already.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=0760381267
|title=Verdura: Living a Garden Life
|author=Perla Sofia Curbelo-Santiago
|rating=3.5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=''The most important part of a garden is the one who enjoys it''.
I've 'gardened' in a vague, indefinite sort of way for more than half a century. I know (most of) the basics but life has changed and I needed 'projects' rather than a general commitment to gardening. ''Verdura'' with its promise of projects for both indoors and outdoors of varying complexity seemed like the answer. So, how did it stack up?}}{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Luca Turin Sarah Wilson|title=This One Wild and Precious Life: the path back to connection in a fractured world|rating=3.5|genre= Lifestyle|summary= My favourite Mary Oliver line is the one in which she asks ''What is it you plan to do with your one wild and Tania Sanchezprecious life?'' I get to love that line so much because my answer is ''This! Precisely this.'' I'm lucky enough to be living my one wild and precious life the way I want to. Sarah Wilson is equally lucky. In her book that takes Oliver's words as her title (though I can't see that she acknowledges the source) she pushes us to think about whether we really ''are'' living the life we want – the best life that we could be living. Her answer is an unequivocal ''no, we are not''. Don't care what you're doing, she thinks you (we, I) could be doing more…And she's effing furious about the fact that we are not.|isbn=1785633848}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1394159544|title=The Little Book Of PerfumesRecycling for Dummies|author=Sarah Winkler
|rating=5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=I have always admired people who seem ''Recycling one ton of plastic can save up to know about scent, those whose dressing tables are littered with bottles none of which flaunt the name of a major (or increasingly, minor) celebrity16. Some of the bottles might be works 3 barrels of art in themselves, but the general understanding is that they’ve been bought not for their vessels, nor for their exclusive advertising campaigns, special offers or celeb endorsement, but for their evocative scent. Perfumery is clearly an art and a science and if your skills aren’t as honed as they might be, this is a wonderful little book to sink your teeth into as you’re guided through the field by two people very much in the knowoil.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846685192</amazonuk>}}''
{{newreview|author=Linda M James|title=How to Write and Sell Great Short Stories|rating=5|genre=Lifestyle|summary=Having read any number ''Recycling one ton of books about crafting great stories, I thought I had had my fill and that there were no more books left that could bolster my enthusiasm and help me to get on with my writingpaper can save 17 trees from being cut down. In short, I thought the only thing left that could motivate me was, well, me.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846947162</amazonuk>}}''
{{newreview|author=Tom Ryan|title=Following Atticus: How a little dog led one man on a journey of rediscovery If you send an apple core to the top of the world |rating=4|genre=Pets|summary=Tom Ryan is a middle-agedlandfill, stressed journalist, running his own newspaper, the ''Undertoad'' in Newburyport in America. His life is full of political intrigues it will take between 6 months and mayoral elections, boardroom deals and subterfuge and his life is full of challenges2 years to decompose. He doesn't need a dog. He doesn't even particularly want a dog, but when a miniature schnauzer enters his life one day, everything changesA glass bottle will take up to 1 million years.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141048972</amazonuk>}}
{{newreview|author=Jolyon Fenwick and Marcus Husselby|title=It Could Have Been Yours: The enlightened person's guide to the year's most desirable things|rating=4|genre=Trivia|summary=In As a world of diamondjust-post-encrusted skullsWWII baby, gold-leafed iPhones and luxury yachts ten I faced a pennydilemma: reducing, reusing and recycling is part of blingy shit (my DNA. NEVER throw away anything that might ''possibly'' come in handy now or should in the future. NEVER buy anything if you can cobble together something that would serve the purpose. Almost everything can be shitty bling?) it's a relief to know people are still spending money on unique used one-offs that are more worthwhile. The records for costliest photo, artwork, musical instrument time and manuscript have all been broken in any purchase must pass the twenty four months leading up to test of 'Is this bookabsolutely essential?'s release. Our collators have scoured On the press for those and otherhand, similarly noteworthy auctionsI suspected I was guilty of wishcycling: assuming that something must be recyclable (toothpaste tubes - I'm looking at you) and dropping it in the kerbside bin. Yes, I could go searching on the internet - and found get conflicting advice - but what other people paid for what you didn't know you would have wanted given the moneyI needed was a recycling bible.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846684900</amazonuk>s
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=David Savage0760378134|title=Furniture with SoulThe First-Time Gardener: Master Woodworkers and Their CraftContainer Food Gardening|author=Pamela Farley
|rating=5
|genre=CraftsHome and Family|summary=David Savage is a master furniture maker and one of the artists featured in the book, so he is not – as he says himself – a neutral observer and nor can he If you've ever thought how good it would be to be neutral in choosing who able to include in pop out into the book. Having said garden and pick some fruit and vegetables for a meal – but realised thatyou wouldn't know where to start, this is the pictures alone will tell book you that he has chosen people who create furniture of great beauty and – often – originalityneed. It's the text that makes the book shinecomprehensive: you'll cover everything from why you should grow your own food, what you're going to grow, though – as what you'll grow it seeks not to give a critical appreciation of each man in (both containers and one womansoil), where you's workll put these containers, but to look at what makes them tick, what drives how you'll water and fertilise them on and how they have handled you finish the good times as well as main part of the badbook with a handy section on troubleshooting. It is, if you like, ten in-depth biographies of artists who work in There's also a common medium and ten shorter pieces about those we should look out for in the futuregood glossary.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>4770031211</amazonuk> So, is it any good?
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Alex Buckley1398508632|title=Ssh! Lose Weight in 20 Minutes|rating=3|genre=Lifestyle|summary=After years of limited exercise combined with a love of fine food, Alex Buckley was known to his friends as Fat Al. He followed a number of diet plans to no effect before coming up with his own solution, which is outlined in this book. His message is basically an extended version of the long standing sound advice that to lose weight you need to eat less and exercise more. Buckley's suggestions break this broad truth down into achievable micro steps. He provides tips on ways of sustaining weight loss by very gradually changing your behaviour. The book does not offer detailed recipes or a programme of food exclusion. It is very much about advice on small day to day choices and gradual change, written in a straightforward and easily accessible style.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908218282</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewWilderness Cure|author=Rosie O'Hara|title=No More Bingo Dresses: Using NLP to cope with breast cancer and other people Mo Wilde|rating=2.5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=I'd love to meet Rosie O'Hara. She sounds like It had been on the cards for a fullwhile but it was the week-onlong consumer binge which pushed Mo Wilde into beginning her year of eating only wild food. The end of November, earthy lady who has more than a few tales particularly in Central Scotland was perhaps not the best time to tell about her life to date. Rosie is start, in a professional neuro-linguistic programming trainer in world where the Highlands of Scotlandnormal sores had been exacerbated by climate change, Brexit and has already published an NLP-based self-help booka pandemic. At Wilde had a few advantages: the beginning of 2009, area around her was a routine mammogram turned up 'known habitat with a little breast cancer'variety of terrains. Rosie set out in She had electricity which allowed her very direct and determined way to put the cancer in its rightful place as run a challenge in her life rather than a defining disaster and this feisty diary is the result.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908218347</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Anthony T DeBenedet and Lawrence Cohen|title=The Art of Roughhousing: Good Old Fashioned Horseplay and Why Every Kid Needs It |rating=4|genre=Home and Family|summary=Rather than running around outdoorsfridge, going for bike rides freezer and building dens, lots of children nowadays end up spending hours watching TV or playing computer gamesdehydrator. Play times in school are often very regimented and in some schools certain games like 'British Bulldog' She had a car - and 'Leapfrog' and even 'Tag' have even been bannedfuel. Children are discouraged from physical playMost importantly, for fear that they will hurt themselves and also through the fear that those responsible for them will find themselves facing she had shelter: this was not a lawsuit if someone does get hurt. This book aims plan to support the thinking that very physical play is good for children; that unless they face risks in their lives and learn ''live'' wild just to assess those risks, or experience a few bumps and bruises and learn to get up and carry on, then they will lack vital life skills for their future adult liveslive off its produce.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594744874</amazonuk>
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Sue BrayneBjorn Natthiko Lindeblad, Caroline Bankeler, Navid Modiiri and Agnes Bromme (Translator)|title=Sex, Meaning and the MenopauseI May Be Wrong
|rating=5
|genre=LifestyleAutobiography|summary=Things change as you get older. As men – and particularly women – approach their late forties and early fifties they expect that there will be physical changesWhen the Dalai Lama adds his words to your frontispiece, some more permanent than others, but theyI'm inclined to think it doesn're frequently taken by surprise by t really matter how the rest of the mental changes which occurworld responds to your book. Women expect I know, having read the book in question, that Lindeblad would disagree with that the menopause will bring the end of menstruation thought. He knows (some looking and at this more gratefully than others...core so do I) but fail to appreciate that they are moving into a different stage it matters very much how the rest of their life. Looked at positively the world responds to this can be book, because it tells the most fulfilling period of woman's lifecycle – and I doubt that there's a husband who would object to that!truth as it is, in the early 21st century.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0826423019</amazonuk>1526644827
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Diane Ackerman1732898731|title=One Hundred Names For LoveThe Boy Who Loved Boxes: A Stroke, a Marriage, and the Language of HealingChildren's Book for Adults|author=Michael Albanese
|rating=4.5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=Diane Ackerman's husband, Paul West, There was a Boy who loved boxes. He had been in hospital a box for three weeks everything and he was meticulous about storage: his parents probably couldn't believe their luck! It began with a kidney infection art supplies, stuffed toys and was just rejoicing in the fact that he was to go home like: all the next day. As Diane watched , Paul suffered a massive strokethings which most children have in abundance. The effects were catastrophic, but worst of all, Boy's delight was in the man who had been a brilliant wordsmith was robbed sense of order in his power of speech and lost his extensive vocabularyroom: it made him feel happy. It's eight years since this happened As he grew up and the intervening years have been became a constant battle to improve Paul's speech and restore some joy to Man, his life. There have been ups – became more complicated and many downs – but despite a brain scan indicating that Paul might well be a vegetable he has since his stroke written booksdealt with this by getting bigger and better boxes. His vocabulary will never be back to what it was, but it remains impressive Look carefully at the pictures and, strangely enough, many you'll see that one of the words which he finds easiest to use are those which he encountered them has a number of years agopadlock...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>039307241X</amazonuk>
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Eleanor Birne1846276772|title=When Will I Sleep Through the Night? An A - Z The End of BabyhoodBias: How We Change Our Minds|author=Jessica Nordell
|rating=4.5
|genre=Home Politics and FamilySociety|summary=When it comes to parentingAnyone who is not an able, I have discovered white man understands bias in that they may no longer even recognise the extent to which they suffer from it: it's simply a lot part of people lieeveryday life. White men will always come first. They lie about sleepThe able will come before the disabled. Jobs, about tantrumspromotions, about feeding and nappies and higher salaries are the effects preserve of a screaming newborn on your marriagethe white man. There Even when those who wouldn't pass the medical become a part of an organisation it's rare that their views are books galoreheard, and Mummy blogs, and tweeters all happily proclaiming how marvellous it all is, first of all being pregnant, then giving birth, and then raising the babythat their concerns are acknowledged. It's all glowing skin personally appalling and sunshine smiles and meeting friends degrading for coffee. I quickly stopped reading anything baby-related when I was pregnant because I was sick as a dog for 5 months, I had an awful labour and that first year with my little girl was almost impossibly difficult and totally consumed with the horror individuals on the receiving end of a non-sleeping baby. Now, four and a half years on from giving birth and (mostly) sleeping all night long I felt able to open up this latest baby book, mainly because the title roused such familiar feelings in mebias but it's not just the individuals who are negatively impacted.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846684862</amazonuk>
}}
{{Frontpage
|author=Erling Kagge
|title=Walking: One Step At A Time
|rating=5
|genre= Lifestyle
|summary= Those who have read my reviews before will know that how much I loved a book is evidenced by the number of pages with corners turned, so let me start this one with an apology to the Norfolk Library Service: sorry! I forgot it was your book not mine. In my defence, I will say that as a reader of this type of book there is something connective about noting where prior readers were inspired (provided it is subtle – I'll allow creased corners, but not scribbles – for the latter we must buy our own copy – which I am about to do as soon as I have finished telling you why).
Erligg Kagge is a Norwegian explorer who has walked to the South Pole, the North Pole and the summit of Everest. He knows a thing or two about walking. However, this isn't a travelogue about any of those epic journeys, it is instead a thoughtful exploration of what it means to walk. It is a plenitude of unnumbered essays about walking. There is no 'contents' page and I haven't counted. In small format paperback, each essay is only a few pages long. Perhaps then, better thought of as a meditation rather than an essay.|isbn=0241357705}}{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Hugh BowringRichard Brook|title=Green Living Understanding Human Nature: A User's Guideto Life
|rating=4.5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=The I am a firm believer that sometimes we choose books, and sometimes books choose us. In my case, this is one of the latter. Not so very long ago, if I had come across this book I'd have skimmed it, found some of it interesting, but it would not have 'Green Living Guidehit home' is a Magbook - so in the format is like way that of a magazine - and although it initially seems does now. I believe it came to me not just because I was likely to give it a little expensive for something favourable review [ ''full disclosure The Bookbag's u.s.p. is that looks just people chose their own books rather than getting them randomly, so there is a predisposition towards expecting to like a magazine you quickly find, on openingthe book, even if it doesn't always turn out that way'' ] – but also because it contains an enormous amount of interesting and useful information. Even already determined eco-warriors should find something of interest in this wide-ranging guideis a book I needed to read, right now.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1907232060</amazonuk>1800461682
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Arianne Cohen0753558378|title=The Sex Diaries ProjectEffortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters|author=Greg McKeown|rating=4.5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=It's often said 'there's nowt so queer as folk'. Surely this should be qualified as 'there's nowt so queer as folks' sex lives'. Arianne Cohen has made a major online database The marginal return of testimony from people about their thoughts regarding sex - having itworking harder was, not having itin fact, having it with whom theynegative.'re with, having it with those whom they're not with. And in every sense, the results can be exceedingly queer.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091939356</amazonuk>}}
{{newreview|author=Vatsyayana|title=Kama Sutra|rating=4|genre=Lifestyle|summary=That''Kama Sutra'', thens what happened to Patrick McGinnis... What could I possibly say to introduce it that you don't already know or think you know? For all that Kama Sutra is, it It's no longer a guide exaggeration to say that he devoted his life to the art of pleasurecompany he worked for, struggling through, even when he was ill, only to find that he was working for a bankrupt company. His stock had fallen by 97%, he had lost his health and his job had little value. It's He made a fascinating historical documentbargain with God; if he survived, he would make some changes. He did survive and undoubtedly influential, but it's very much of its time came through stronger - and of its societyricher. Try to follow all its suggestions and at best There is, you'd never get laid again; at worstsee, you'll be up on a rape charge within a week. (different way: ''After sending the nurse's daughter awaygreat things are not reserved for those who bleed, he takes the girl's maidenhead while she is alone, asleep and out of her senses..for those who almost break.'') |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846141095</amazonuk>
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1523092734
|title=A Women's Guide to Claiming Space
|author=Eliza Van Cort
|rating=5
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=''She brings a hug-kick-thunderclap that every woman needs in her life. Again and again and again.'' (Alma Derricks, former CMO, Cirque du Soleil RSD)
{{newreview|author=Jane Shilling|title=The Stranger in the Mirror: A Memoir of Middle Age|rating=5|genre=Autobiography|summary=Middle-aged women disappear. They are not see on television, their lives do not appear in newspapers, the legions of novels that are written each year rarely feature them. At least, that ''To claim space is what the author Jane Shilling believes as she wakes up aged 47 to find the narrative of her contemporaries and their lives which she has been reading about and living in parallel with since leaving university has vanished. She looks in live the mirror and sees a face she does not recognise. Even with a punishing regime life of early bed, no alcohol choosing unapologetically and litres of water, it refuses to regain its youthful bloombravely. So she decides It is to take a magnifying glass to this particular moment in time, this journey between youth and old agelive the life you've always wanted.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0701181001</amazonuk>}}''
{{newreview|author=Jacques Bonnet, James Salter and Sian Reynolds|title=Phantoms on Sometimes the Bookshelves|rating=3.5|genre=Lifestyle|summary=Translated from French this beautifully presented little book takes reviewing gods are generous: at a time when violence against women is much in the reader into homes boasting book collectionsnews, large and small''A Women's Guide to Claiming Space'' by Eliza Van Cort dropped onto my desk. Studded with succinct and appropriate quotations such as 'there Now - to be clear - this book is no better reason for not reading a book than having 'how to disable your attacker with two simple jabs' manual: it' by Anthony Burgesss something far more effective, but discussion at the moment seems to be about how women can be ''protected''. I've always thought that women need to rise above this, to be people who don't need protection, people who claim their own space. If all women did this, those few men who are violent to women would realise that we are not just an easy target to be used to prove that they are big men.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906694583</amazonuk>
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Sandy Donaghy1529109116|title=The Longest Call Me Red: A Shepherd's Journey: Nine Keys to Health, Wealth and Happiness|author=Hannah Jackson
|rating=4.5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=How many self-help books have you read where the ideas all seem very good, but they've not been tested in 'I want the fire, so image of a British farmer to speak? The end result seems good, but you suspect simply be that of a person who is proudly employed in feeding the starting point wasnnation. I don't think that is too much to ask.''all The stereotypical farmer was probably born on the land where '' that disadvantageous and more to the point, the cynic inside you wonders if the motivation his'' family have farmed for writing the book was financial gaingenerations. Has it made you shy away from such books? Now, I want you He's probably grown up without giving much thought as to drop the cynicism, because what we have here is he really wants to do: he knows that he'll be a book thatfarmer. It's written from not always the heart case though. Hannah Jackson was born and not brought up on the wallet Wirral: she'd never set foot on a commercial farm until she was twenty although she'd always had a deep love of animals. Her original intention was that she would become 'Dr Jackson, whale scientist' and the only motivation in writing it she was well on her way to help peopleachieving this when her life changed on a family holiday to the Lake District. Unusual? She saw a lamb being born and, although 'Hannah Jackson, farmer' lacked the kudos of her original intention, she knew that she wanted to be a shepherd. Yup; it With the determination that you'll soon realise isan essential part of her, she set about achieving her ambition.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1425161065</amazonuk>
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 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Roy Vickery1786495902|title=Garlands, Conkers and Mother-DieThe Natural Health Service: British and Irish Plant-LoreHow Nature Can Mend Your Mind|author=Isabel Hardman
|rating=5
|genre=HistoryLifestyle|summary=For many centuries, plants have Isabel Hardman suffered a trauma which she chooses not only had practical uses as food, remediesto share. She says that a friend who does know, textiles burst into tears and dyes, but health-care professionals' jaws have also symbolic and folkloric meaning sagged in many different culturesdisbelief. The term Hardman dealt with this at the time by 'keeping going'plant-lore'' has been coined : the next day she went to work to describe cover the profusion of budget, next there was the customs EU referendum, the political party leadership contests and beliefs associated with plants, then it was party conference season. One night she had to be sedated and returned home to begin long-term sick leave. That was what brought me to this book gathers together many of : 2020 was the plant-lore traditions of Britain and Irelandyear when the bins went out more often than I did.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1441101950</amazonuk>
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Cindy M Meston and David BussLauren Martin|title=Why Women Have Sex: Understanding Sexual Motivation from Adventure to Revenge (and Everything in Between)The Book of Moods|rating=4.5|genre=Popular ScienceLifestyle|summary=Many many years ago, I was in a man who was far too young to be the fusty, dusty RE teacher he was shaping to be, asked my best friend and I why we were each having sex with our girlfriends. Even aged fifteen great mood when I thought something along the lines first learnt of 'wellthis book, if he and because sarcasm doesn't know by nowalways translate well into writing, he never willimagine the word ''great'', being delivered with an eye roll and listed that it was great fun, a very enjoyable sensationsigh, showed an appetite for through clenched teeth. I had spent the relationshipbest part of a rainy, and that sex proved windy weekend afternoon out on the ultimate water at our local sailing club in bonding - how much closerthe rescue rib, to be blunton standby in case anyone who was racing needed support. It's a volunteer duty we all do during the year, could you be to someone than actually inside them? and normally I'll come clean now m happy to, but that day the weather was miserable and admit said girlfriend I was not real, but several have been sincemiserable, and it all came to a head that evening when I have noticed on the website that we had heaps of fun finding out how - been thanked for our time as "Dave and perhaps why - women have sexwife". Wow. I was had never to know, until now, there are 237 reasons for itneeded this book more.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099546639</amazonuk>1538733625
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Karen Wilkin0008420386|title=Elegant EnigmasFailosophy: The Art of Edward GoreyA handbook for when things go wrong|author=Elizabeth Day
|rating=4
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=I'm all in favour of Edward Gorey becoming a bigger nameWhat do Malcolm Gladwell, Alain de Botton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Lemn Sissay, Nigel Slater, Emeli Sandé, especially here in the UKMeera Syal, where his output is certainly less lauded than Dame Kelly Holmes and Andrew Scott have in his native USA. common? ItThey've all failed and - more importantly - they've been willing to appear on Elizabeth Day's evident from the bright, glossy pages here that he was an extraordinary talentpodcast to discuss their failures and how life worked out for them afterwards. Polymath and know-all in real life, in his ink drawings he can show You'll find the complexity results of someone like Dore, while using his draughtsmanship to pen macabre whimsy, like an old-fashioned love-child of Mervyn Peake and Edward Lear.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0764948040</amazonuk>these discussions in ''Failosophy''
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1504321383
|title=Single, Again, and Again, and Again
|author=Louisa Pateman
|rating=4.5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=''You can't be happy and fulfilled on your own. You are not complete until you find a man''.
{{newreview|author=Barbara Warmsley|title=Make, Mend, Bake, Save and Shine!|rating=4|genre=Lifestyle|summary=A slim, slither of a book with a big titleThis was what Louisa Pateman was brought up to believe. It wasn''Green'' is t unkind: it was simply the mantra on most pages, as well adults in her life advising her as tips on how to waste less - whether itwhat they thought would be best for her. It was reinforced by all those fairy tales where the girl (she's food, clothes or water from the tap. This book has a universal message. How to waste less. There usually fairly young) is a nice introduction rescued by seventysomething Barbara Walmsley, aka the charity [http://wwwhandsome prince who then marries her so that they can live happily ever after.oxfam.org.uk/ Oxfam's] Few girls are lucky enough to be brought up ''Green Granny.without'' Certainly catchy but the expectation that they will marry and have children. It was a belief and it catch on? When I was delving inside the first couple of pages looking for the writerwould be many years before Louisa would conclude that 's name (it's not on the front cover) I discovered the phrase a belief is a choice''Printed And Bound In China.'' Defeating the message?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846013674</amazonuk>
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 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Simon Dawson1538731738|title=The Self-Sufficiency BibleSimple Abundance: Window Boxes 365 Days to Smallholdings - Hundreds of Ways to Become Self-Sufficienta Balanced and Joyful Life|author= Sarah Ban Breathnach|rating=45
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=The recent financial crises have taken people by surprise and instead of trying to ride the problem out and then get back to our oldSomeone once said: it's not self-indulgence, profligate ways weit've looked at how we s therapy! I think they were talking about shopping, but it probably can live more sustainably and less expensively. Thrift is the new black and many people are taking pride in not spending moneybe applied to most things. In my case, it applies to writing about things because I might take issue with whether or not Simon Dawson's book should be called a ''bible'' which suggests a completeness which is doesn't seem want to exhibit, but rather than because I can sell itor because I's an excellent starting point for those wanting to become more self-sufficient. It also has the recipe for a chocolate sponge which takes just five minutes ve got something to make – and that takes a lot of beatingsell.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906787689</amazonuk>
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 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Evany ThomasSharon Blackie|title=The Secret Language of Sleep: A Couple's Guide to the Thirty-nine PositionsIf Women Rose Rooted|rating=35|genre=Home and FamilyBiography|summary=This volume takes the premise I normally say that the positions in which couples sleep together are an insight into their private mindyou can tell how much a book means to me by how many pages have corners turned down. Therefore, with the help Perhaps an even greater measure of impact is setting out to buy my own copy before I've finished reading the line drawings of 39 (apparently all of THE 39) positions, one might see where one is going wrongI've borrowed. It’s a chicken and egg situation where you might learn you’re with I want to avoid clichés like 'powerful' 'inspiring' 'life-changing' – although it is definitely the wrong bed partner, first two and change either them or your nocturnal habits, or in order to change yourself alter things having reflected on only time will tell about the contents here third with the help as they suggest of but clichés exist for a ceiling-mounted camcorderreason and I'm not sure I can succinctly put it any better.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1932416471</amazonuk>1912836017
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 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Norah Vincent1543987877|title=Voluntary MadnessLearn to Love: My Year Lost and Found in the Loony BinGuide to Healing Your Disappointing Love Life|author=Dr Thomas Jordan|rating=34.5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=''Voluntary MadnessLearn to Love: Guide to Healing Your Disappointing Love Life'' is journalist Norah Vincent's account of her visits to three mental health facilities in Americaa book about love relationships rather than a book about love. The first two greatest emotions are love and grief and love is an urbanthe opposite of grief: ''if you love'', public hospital that houses mainly homelessDr Thomas Jordan tells us, psychotic patients, many of whom are addicted to drugs''you will inevitably grieve''. In this hospital, Your love relationships begin the doctors are overworked moment you're born and jaded and medication is always the answerend only when you die. Soon, Whilst we all come into the author finds that her latent depression (which led her world hoping to do the book in the first place) give and receive love there are many people for whom love is returningnot quite so simple. The process of being institutionalised breaks her sense of self Some people suffer multiple disappointments - sometimes repeating the same mistakes -worth down astonishingly fastand this eventually becomes resignation. Indeed, she suggests that it is For people who are making the lack of autonomy in institutional lifesame mistakes repeatedly, even for those patients who voluntarily commit themselvesself-preservation, that makes it so hard for them to rebuild independent lives when they finally leave in the institutionform of resignation is a necessity.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099513439</amazonuk>
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 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jean Hannah Edelstein Michael Harris|title=Himglish and FemaleseSolitude: Why Women Don't Get Why Men Don't Get ThemIn Pursuit of a Singular Life in a Crowded World|rating=45
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=Men arenThis is not the book I was expecting it to be. For some reason I expected it to be another self-help manual on how to find calm, how to step outside the mainstream, but it is not that at all. Instead of telling us how, it is more about the ''why't Martian and women don't hail from Venus. We Harries examines how we're all Earthlings apparently; eroding solitude, which seems like progress used to be a natural part of a sortour human life, and why that matters. Even so we still Of course he talks about how some people have trouble understanding each other because we speak different languages – Himglish found solitude and what has come of that, and Femalese. Luckily Jean Hannah Edelstein is fluent eventually in both the final chapter he talks about his own experience of having deliberately sought it out, but mostly he wanders down the alleys and has written by-ways that his thinking about this light hearted volume to define the problem and translatelost art led him.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1848091729</amazonuk>1847947662
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 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jaki Scarcello0753553236|title=Fifty and FabulousTiny Habits: The Best Years of a Woman's LifeSmall Changes That Change Everything|author=B J Fogg|rating=3.5
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=When Go on, admit it - you open a package and find a bright pink book which proudly proclaims 'Fifty and Fabulous: the best years of a woman's life' re not quite perfect. You still have those odd, quirky even loveable (to you can be forgiven for wondering if this is going ) habits which seem to be another annoy other people. Other people, of those books course, are sorely afflicted with some dreadful flaws which recommends strenuous exercise regimesthey could so easily correct, strict diets and if only they would make just a little nip and tuck under the chinbit of effort. PersonallyOr put another way, my heart sank I get cross with myself because, er, well, I'm forget to do things or do some actions more than I should and no longer fiftymatter how I try to make what seem to be quite monumental changes I never quite seem to get to grips with the concepts. I constantly fail and then I get cross with myself for failing. Were my fabulous years behind me?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906787603</amazonuk>Lack of willpower is another burden to add to the list.
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 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Keith Hern1785785516|title=Bangers and Mash|rating=4.5|genre=Home and Family|summary=Keith Hern found a small lump in his neck and when the results of the tests came through he tried to put the appointment off as he had something more pressing to do, but the doctor was insistent. He knew then that he had cancer. The lump in his neck was, in fact, a secondary tumour with the primary being in the back of his tongue. But for the secondary tumour the discovery of the primary might have been too late for successful treatment. Keith takes us through the discovery of his cancer, his reactions to the diagnosis, his treatment and the titular meal of bangers and mash – the first solid food which he had attempted for some time.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904312772</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFucking Good Manners|author=Susan Ostler|title=Flirt Diva - For Women Who Want to be Bold and Sassy and have a Fabulous Life!Simon Griffin
|rating=4
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=There are lots of timetabled books on the marketManners maketh man, that promise to transform everything from your employability to the size of your thighs in they say. It certainly makes life easier if everybody abides by a certain number set of weeksconventions, some of which are ages old and other which have evolved over time. Manners are not about how much to tip or how you should behave if you commit get an invitation to their programmeBuckingham Palace, and this book is really just another one they have nothing to add do with class or financial status: they're about getting the basics right before we try to the 'scheduled self-improvement' piledeal with more difficult matters. Except Of course we all have more relaxed manners when we're not talking here about dropping a dress size in time for Christmaswith family and friends, or sailing through that oh-so-important interview but it's best if we learn to distinguish between our public and private lives and to land the job of your dreams.act appropriately..for this book is a 6 week guide to ''Getting Loved UpFucking Good Manners'' that promises aims to put its participants (and as you'll learn, you're more than a mere reader with this title) help us on the fast track to romance. Goshway.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904312799</amazonuk>
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 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mary Beard1999811402|title=It's A Don's LifePainting Snails|author=Stephen John Hartley|rating=4.5|genre=LifestyleAutobiography|summary=Professor Mary BeardIt's very difficult to classify ''Painting Snails'': originally I thought that as it's loosely based around a year on an allotment it would be a lifestyle book, feisty Cambridge classics don, keeps an eye open for architectural detail wherever she goes. Even but you're not going to get advice on holiday, she notices the changing urban landscape what to plant when and records interesting parallels with ancient cities in her sparky blog. She is engaged in writing a detailed history of Pompeii and suddenly realises, whilst perambulating where for the backstreets of the Mexican city of Oaxacan, that this is exactly what Pompeii must have been likebest results. She observes The answer would be something along the low rise shops, dirt tracks across dusty streets and the close juxtaposition lines of rich 'try it and poorsee'. Impressive portals of grand residential properties tower above humble workshops Then I considered popular science as Stephen Hartley failed his A levels, did an engineering apprenticeship, became a busker, finally got into medical school and this prompts her into imaginative reconstruction. In her blog, from which this intriguing book is culled, she tells us about just how Oaxacan encourages her to ponder again the curious cart ruts of Pompeiinow an A&E consultant (part-time). She even finds walls splashed with political slogans I found out that are just like Roman there's an awful lot more to what goes on in a Major Trauma Centre than you'll ever glean from 'dipinti'Casualty'', but that isn't really what the book's about. Indeed, here in Mexico There's a lot about rock & roll, which seems to be the local library displays an edifying message in Spanish which originates in Ciceroreal passion of Hartley's speech in his Pro Archialife, but it didn't actually fit into the entertainment genre either. Did we have a category for 'Science and letters are doing the impossible the nourishment of youth and hard way'? Yep - that's the diversion of old ageone. It''|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846682517</amazonuk>s an autobiography.
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{{newreview|author=Dr Aaron Carroll and Dr Rachel Vreeman|title=Don't Swallow Your Gum|rating=5|genre=Lifestyle|summary='''BANG'''. That's the sound of copious urban myths being shot down. '''BANG'''. That's the sound of the old wives slamming the door, as their tales get revealed as baseless. '''CLICK'''. That's the noise lots of ill-informed websites make as they get closed down. All noises come due Move on to this brilliant book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141043369</amazonuk>}}[[Newest Literary Fiction Reviews]]