Difference between revisions of "Newest Lifestyle Reviews"

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{{Frontpage
|title=Flowerpot Farm: A First Gardening Activity Book
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|isbn=1454955546
|author=Lorraine Harrison
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|title=Sugarless
|rating=3.5
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|author=Nicole M Avena
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
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|rating=5
|summary=With the demand for us to eat seemingly more fruit and vegetables every day, the world of grow-your-own is backWhy buy from the supermarket when you can release the kids into the garden to graze like cattleHowever, before you do this, perhaps you should pick up a book like ‘Flowerpot Farm’ by Lorraine Harrison and Faye Bradley which will show them how to create their own fruit, veg and flower garden no matter how small a space they have to work with.
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|genre=Lifestyle
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782400818</amazonuk>
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|summary=''This isn't a diet book.  The last thing anyone needs is another diet book.''
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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 elevate your cholesterol and cause heart disease.  Sugar was a carbohydrate, so good.  There's a problem, thoughSugar is addictive and can hijack your brain in much the same way as drugs like heroin and cocaine.  Does that sound over the topWell, it isn't.
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1635866847
|title=He Texted: The Ultimate Guide to Decoding Guys
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|title=The Lavender Companion
|author=Lisa Winning and Carrie Henderson-McDermott
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|author=Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci
|rating=4
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|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Lifestyle
 
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=This book, despite the title, is about more than texting. It is about the whole digital world and how guys and gals interact within it (Companies’ House stalkerage aside). From how long to wait to text back, to how to respond to friend requests and what to do with the power when you’re unleashed on his Facebook wall, this book promises to provide hilarious and essential advice on how to navigate the perplexing world that is trouser-shaped.
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|summary=It's strange, the things that make you ''immediately'' feel that this is the book for you. Before I started reading ''The Lavender Companion'', I visited the author's [https://www.pinelavenderfarm.com/ website] and there's a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the homepage.  I don't eat cakes and desserts - but I wanted that cake viscerally.  (There's a recipe in the book, which I'm avoiding with some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to make a mess of it.  Notes in the margins are sanctioned.  You get to fold down the corners of pages.  You suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem.  I ''loved'' this book already.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780892071</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=0760381267
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|title=Verdura: Living a Garden Life
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|author=Perla Sofia Curbelo-Santiago
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|rating=3.5
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|genre=Lifestyle
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|summary=''The most important part of a garden is the one who enjoys it''.
  
{{newreview
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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?
|author=William Hanson
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|title=The Bluffer's Guide to Etiquette (Bluffer's Guides)
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Sarah Wilson
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|title=This One Wild and Precious Life: the path back to connection in a fractured world
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|rating=3.5
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|genre= Lifestyle
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|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 precious 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.
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|isbn=1785633848
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=1394159544
 +
|title=Recycling for Dummies
 +
|author=Sarah Winkler
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Lifestyle
 
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=If you ask people what they fear most in any social situation most will tell you that it's not knowing how to behave. They'll be fine about the basics, but it's those little niceties - how to introduce yourself, what to ask for as an aperitif, how to address someone, for instance which can suddenly reveal you as a parvenu. William Hanson gives us a quick trip through the essentials in a book which is very readable and - in places - hilariously funny.
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|summary=''Recycling one ton of plastic can save up to 16.3 barrels of oil.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1909937002</amazonuk>
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''Recycling one ton of paper can save 17 trees from being cut down.''
  
{{newreview
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If you send an apple core to landfill, it will take between 6 months and 2 years to decompose.  A glass bottle will take up to 1 million years.
|author=John Jackson
 
|title=A Little Piece of England: A tale of self-sufficiency
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Lifestyle
 
|summary=Here at Bookbag we're great fans of John Jackson.  We loved his [[Tales for Great Grandchildren by John Jackson and Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini|Tales for Great Grandchildren]] ''and'' [[Brahma Dreaming: Legends from Hindu Mythology by John Jackson and Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini|Brahma Dreaming: Legends from Hindu Mythology]] so it was something of a treat to meet the author on his own ground, so to speakOriginally published as ''A Bucket of Nuts and a Herring Net: The Birth of a Spare-Time Farm''  this is actually Jackson's first book and thirty-five years later we're delighted that it's been republished in hardback complete with the original black-and-white illustrations by Val Biro.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1909661031</amazonuk>
 
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{{newreview
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As a just-post-WWII baby, I faced a dilemma: reducing, reusing and recycling is part of my DNANEVER throw away anything that might ''possibly'' come in handy now or in the future. NEVER buy anything if you can cobble together something that would serve the purpose. Almost everything can be used one more time and any purchase must pass the test of 'Is this absolutely essential?'  On the other hand, I 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 get conflicting advice - but what I needed was a recycling bible.s
|title=Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes
 
|author=Maria Konnikova
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Lifestyle
 
|summary=Psychologist Maria Konnikova seems to have rather ambitious aims regarding her new book, ''Mastermind'' . She plans to teach her readers how to think like Sherlock Holmes. Anyone who has read the adventures of the world’s most famous detective will have no doubt marvelled at his uncanny powers of analysis and observation. Can a book really unlock the power of the mind and turn average-Joe into a master of deduction?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>085786727X</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=0760378134
|author=Chip Heath and Dan Heath
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|title=The First-Time Gardener: Container Food Gardening
|title=Decisive: How to Make Better Decisions in Life and Work
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|author=Pamela Farley
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Business and Finance
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|genre=Home and Family
|summary=I don't have a problem with making decisions, probably because I've always tended to the view that it's better to make a decision and get on with life than haver and waste time in limboWith a few notable exceptions it's served me well, but when ''Decisive'' appeared on my desk it struck me that there could be advantages to improving the quality of the decisions tooThe Heath brothers have a good history of collaborating on such subjects and delivering books which open the mind.
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|summary=If you've ever thought how good it would be to be able to pop out into the garden and pick some fruit and vegetables for a meal – but realised that you wouldn't know where to start, this is the book you needIt's comprehensive: you'll cover everything from why you should grow your own food, what you're going to grow, what you'll grow it in (both containers and soil), where you'll put these containers, how you'll water and fertilise them and you finish the main part of the book with a handy section on troubleshootingThere's also a good glossary. So, is it any good?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847940862</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1398508632
|title=The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves
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|title=The Wilderness Cure
|author=Stephen Grosz
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|author=Mo Wilde
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Lifestyle
 
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=I usually review fiction. For that reason alone, I knew that reviewing this particular book would be a challenge. I was attracted to it for many reasons; I thought it would give me a window into many situations of which I know little or nothing.
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|summary=It had been on the cards for a while but it was the week-long consumer binge which pushed Mo Wilde into beginning her year of eating only wild food. The end of November, particularly in Central Scotland was perhaps not the best time to start, in a world where the normal sores had been exacerbated by climate change, Brexit and a pandemic. Wilde had a few advantages: the area around her was a known habitat with a variety of terrains.  She had electricity which allowed her to run a fridge, freezer and dehydrator.  She had a car - and fuel.  Most importantly, she had shelter: this was not a plan to ''live'' wild just to live off its produce.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099549034</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Bjorn Natthiko Lindeblad, Caroline Bankeler, Navid Modiiri and  Agnes Bromme (Translator)
|author=Sue Hadfield
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|title=I May Be Wrong
|title=Change One Thing
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|rating=5
|rating=3
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|genre= Autobiography
|genre=Lifestyle
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|summary= When the Dalai Lama adds his words to your frontispiece, I'm inclined to think it doesn't really matter how the rest of the world responds to your bookI know, having read the book in question, that Lindeblad would disagree with that thoughtHe knows (and at core so do I) that it matters very much how the rest of the world responds to this book, because it tells the truth as it is, in the early 21st century.
|summary=On the face of it the principle is simple: just change one thing for a better lifeOf course it's not that simpleWorking on the basis that the longest journey starts with a single step Sue Hadfield looks at the disillusionment which is a by-product of our work-driven life and guides us towards the steps we'll need to take to pull ourselves out of what's not so much a rut as a pit of despair on occasions.  Changing one thing is just the beginning, but as she points out, it can be what's needed to kick-start the whole process - to a better way of our current life or a whole new life.
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|isbn=1526644827
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857084607</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1732898731
|title=How to Win: The Argument, the Pitch, the Job, the Race
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|title=The Boy Who Loved Boxes: A Children's Book for Adults
|author=Dr Rob Yeung
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|author=Michael Albanese
|rating=3.5
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|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Lifestyle
 
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=Looking for a sure-fire way to intimidate the competition during a job interview? Just sit in the waiting room perusing the oh, so subtly titled ''How to Win'', with the book tilted at the optimum angle to allow everyone to see the bold heading on the cover. Of course, if more than one candidate is reading the same book, difficulties may ensue...
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|summary=There was a Boy who loved boxes.  He had a box for everything and he was meticulous about storage: his parents probably couldn't believe their luck!  It began with art supplies, stuffed toys and the like: all the things which most children have in abundance.  The Boy's delight was in the sense of order in his room: it made him feel happy.  As he grew up and became a Man, his life became more complicated and he dealt with this by getting bigger and better boxes.  Look carefully at the pictures and you'll see that one of them has a padlock...
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857084291</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1846276772
|title=The Mistress Contract
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|title=The End of Bias: How We Change Our Minds
|author=She and He
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|author=Jessica Nordell
|rating=3
 
|genre=Lifestyle
 
|summary='Women feel a reluctance to talk about those things which should be mysterious.'  Well, not all of them.  This line – and I won't say who says it – is a quote from a large audio archive of the thoughts of a most unusual couple.  College friends, they split apart then got back together, and ended up having an affair.  Until she decided to formalise it in a momentary flash of, well, something, saying she would cede all to his every sexual and housework wishes if he would cater for her financially and with a place to live.  Nowhere did that small contract say that they would open up themselves to public scrutiny with recordings of their conversations, over a restaurant table or in bed or a car having a tete-a-tete, but they soon did – and these small pages are the resulting book.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846689430</amazonuk>
 
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{{newreview
 
|title=Dedicated to...: The Forgotten Friendships, Hidden Stories and Lost Loves found in Second-hand Books
 
|author=W B Gooderham
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Entertainment
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|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=I have found many strange and unusual things in second-hand bookshops.  I have done one or two strange and unusual things in them as well, but that's a different storyTwice now I have managed to find a second-hand book, completely signed and dedicated by the author, yet discarded by the recipient, and have been able to present the author with the edition at hand and get it re-dedicated(If I'm not mistaken, the discarders were a neighbouring babysitter, and a teacher of the author's children.) I'll admit that's rarefied, however, and on the whole the scribble you find in second-hand books is from the person who bought it, and gave it as a gift, not the person who wrote it.  But even so, the dedication of the donor can be immensely fascinating and open to all kinds of interpretation, as these examples show perfectly clear.
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|summary=Anyone who is not an able, white man understands bias in that they may no longer even recognise the extent to which they suffer from it: it's simply a part of everyday lifeWhite men will always come first.  The able will come before the disabled.  Jobs, promotions, higher salaries are the preserve of the white manEven when those who wouldn't pass the medical become a part of an organisation it's rare that their views are heard, that their concerns are acknowledgedIt's personally appalling and degrading for the individuals on the receiving end of the bias but it's not just the individuals who are negatively impacted.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0593072847</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Erling Kagge
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|title=Walking: One Step At A Time
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|rating=5
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|genre= Lifestyle
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|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).
  
{{newreview
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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.
|title=A Piece of Danish Happiness
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|isbn=0241357705
|author=Sharmi Albrechtsen
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Autobiography
 
|summary=
 
Sharmi Albrechtsen was a true Hindu-American princess. Obsessed with shoes and handbags and designer labels, she saw status and wealth as the only route to happiness. But she wasn't happy enough, no matter how much designer gear she owned. And it wasn't until 1997, when she married her second husband, a Dane, and relocated to Denmark, that she began to wonder if it was something lacking in herself, rather than her possessions, that was at the root of her problems.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00EAINZM8</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
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|author=Richard Brook
|author=Rachel Ashwell
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|title=Understanding Human Nature: A User's Guide to Life
|title=Couture Prairie And Flea Market Treasures
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|rating=4.5
|rating=4
 
 
|genre=Lifestyle
 
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=''Shabby Chic'' has always appealed to me: it fits neatly with my views on recycling, upcycling and generally refusing to replace anything which still looks good and has life left in itRachel Ashwell takes this to a whole new level, but her most glorious moment must have been when - on her regular yearly visit to the flea markets of Round Top in Texas - she decided on a whim to buy The Outpost at Cedar Creek and she turned this into The Prairie, a group of buildings which would house her retail store and a B&B which exhibited some of her most treasured finds.  As she said herself, her cowboy boots, jeans and love of poetry in country music had come home.
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|summary= I am a firm believer that sometimes we choose books, and sometimes books choose usIn 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 'hit home' in the way that it does now.  I believe it came to me not just because I was likely to give it a favourable review [ ''full disclosure The Bookbag's u.s.p. is that people chose their own books rather than getting them randomly, so there is a predisposition towards expecting to like the book, even if it doesn't always turn out that way'' ] – but also because it is a book I needed to read, right now.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782490434</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1800461682
 
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=0753558378
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|title=Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters
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|author=Greg McKeown
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|rating=4.5
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|genre=Lifestyle
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|summary=''The marginal return of working harder was, in fact, negative.''
  
{{newreview
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That's what happened to Patrick McGinnis.  It's no exaggeration to say that he devoted his life to the company 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.  He made a bargain with God; if he survived, he would make some changes.  He did survive and came through stronger - and richer.  There is, you see, a different way: ''great things are not reserved for those who bleed, for those who almost break.''
|title=Very British Problems: Making Life Awkward for Ourselves, One Rainy Day at a Time
 
|author=Rob Temple
 
|rating=3
 
|genre=Humour
 
|summary=Are you compelled to apologise multiple times a day – even when you are not at fault, or even to inanimate objects? Would you subject yourself to great inconvenience rather than confront someone who is sitting in your reserved seat on a train? Have you been known to commit desperate acts in the search for your next cup of tea? If so, you may be suffering from Very British Problems.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0751552593</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=1523092734
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|title=A Women's Guide to Claiming Space
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|author=Eliza Van Cort
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|rating=5
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|genre=Politics and Society
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|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
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''To claim space is to live the life of choosing unapologetically and bravely. It is to live the life you've always wanted.''
|title=How to Keep Calm and Carry On
 
|author=Daniel Freeman and Jason Freeman
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Lifestyle
 
|summary=Heart pounding, rapid breathing, dry mouth and sweaty palms are just some of the unpleasant symptoms associated with anxiety. Anxiety affects us all at one time or another in our lives and occurs in varying degrees of severity. For example, a little nervousness is par for the course when a performer steps on stage in front of a huge crowd, but on the other end of the spectrum, conditions such as OCD and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can leave sufferers paralysed with fear.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0273777750</amazonuk>
 
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{{newreview
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Sometimes the reviewing gods are generous: at a time when violence against women is much in the news, ''A Women's Guide to Claiming Space'' by Eliza Van Cort dropped onto my desk. Now - to be clear - this book is not a 'how to disable your attacker with two simple jabs' manual: it's 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.
|title=Hospice Voices: Lessons for Living at the End of Life
 
|author=Eric Lindner
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Autobiography
 
|summary=''Hospice Voices'' tells the stories of the last days of some fascinating people while it follows author Eric Lindner through his journey as a hospice volunteer and a crisis in his own daughter's health.  
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1442220597</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=1529109116
|author=Jill Stark
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|title=Call Me Red: A Shepherd's Journey
|title=High Sobriety: My Year Without Booze
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|author=Hannah Jackson
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Lifestyle
 
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=On the first of January 2011 Jill Stark woke up with the hangover from HellShe was no stranger to them: at thirty five she'd been binge drinking for more than twenty years and was in the dubious position of being the health reporter who wrote herself off at weekendsAnd by 'wrote herself off' I mean being seriously drunk on a very regular basis, having consumed vast quantities of alcohol and having regularly put herself in danger of serious illness, unwanted pregnancy and assault.  But on that first day in January Stark decided that she was going to do something about it and the initial decision was that she would spend three months on the wagon.
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|summary=''I want the image of a British farmer to simply be that of a person who is proudly employed in feeding the nation.  I don't think that is too much to ask.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1922247030</amazonuk>
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The stereotypical farmer was probably born on the land where ''his'' family have farmed for generations.  He's probably grown up without giving much thought as to what he really wants to do: he knows that he'll be a farmer.  It's not always the case thoughHannah Jackson was born and brought up on the Wirral: she'd never set foot on a commercial farm until she was twenty although she'd always had a deep love of animalsHer original intention was that she would become 'Dr Jackson, whale scientist' and she was well on her way to achieving this when her life changed on a family holiday to the Lake District.  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.  With the determination that you'll soon realise is an essential part of her, she set about achieving her ambition.
 
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{{Frontpage
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|isbn=1786495902
|title=The Sex Diaries
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|title=The Natural Health Service: How Nature Can Mend Your Mind
|author=Arianne Cohen
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|author=Isabel Hardman
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Lifestyle
 
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=As far as ‘doing what it says on the tin’ goes, this book is a good one. It’s the diaries, plural, from people, plural, talking about their sex lives. But it’s not just the doing of the deed and the sowing of the seed, it’s also all the stuff that goes with being in a relationship or not being in one. The daydreams. The texts. The efforts made to secure a hook-up, if there’s not one waiting for you at home.
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|summary=Isabel Hardman suffered a trauma which she chooses not to share. She says that a friend who does know, burst into tears and health-care professionals' jaws have sagged in disbelief. Hardman dealt with this at the time by 'keeping going': the next day she went to work to cover the budget, next there was the EU referendum, the political party leadership contests and 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: 2020 was the year when the bins went out more often than I did.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091939550</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|author=Lauren Martin
|author=Chris Ward
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|title=The Book of Moods
|title=Out of Office: Work Where You Like and Achieve More
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|rating=5
|rating=3
 
 
|genre=Lifestyle
 
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary='Imbibe coffee and become imbued with an entrepreneurial spirit' would be an apt summary of the gist of 'Out of Office' by Chris Ward. If you choose to read the book, be prepared to receive inspiration rather than practical instruction on how to build an empire, if anything. This is not to discredit the book; it is attractively designed, full of fundraising event photos and company founder portraits, motivational quotes and brief enthusiastic testimonies of the interviewees featured. But in terms of content, it doesn’t offer substantial advice on how to make that leap from the office cubicle – a context quite heavily vilified by Ward – to the existence of the creatively liberated mover and shaker.
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|summary= I was in a great mood when I first learnt of this book, and because sarcasm doesn't always translate well into writing, imagine the word ''great'' being delivered with an eye roll and a sigh, through clenched teeth. I had spent the best part of a rainy, windy weekend afternoon out on the water at our local sailing club in the rescue rib, on standby in case anyone who was racing needed support. It's a volunteer duty we all do during the year, and normally I'm happy to, but that day the weather was miserable and I was miserable, and it all came to a head that evening when I noticed on the website that we had been thanked for our time as "Dave and wife". Wow. I had never needed this book more.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0957612303</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1538733625
 
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{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=0008420386
|author=Michael Blastland and David Spiegelhalter
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|title=Failosophy: A handbook for when things go wrong
|title=The Norm Chronicles: Stories and numbers about danger
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|author=Elizabeth Day
|rating=5
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|rating=4
|genre=Politics and Society
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|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=I'd like you to meet Norm.  He's an absolutely average kind of guy, thirty one years old, 5'9”, a touch over thirteen stone and he works a thirty-nine hour week with the occasional treat of a bar of milk chocolate. Oh, and he's ambivalent about Marmite - couldn't care one way or the other - can take it or leave it.  In ''The Norm Chronicles'' we hear the story of his life and the lives of his friends Prudence (the name tells you what you need to know) and Kelvin, who's a dare-devil, hard-living kind of guyIt's the story of the hazards they face - some real and some imagined - in every aspect of their lives.  And along with these stories are the ''real'' facts about the reality of the risks they take.
+
|summary=What do Malcolm Gladwell, Alain de Botton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Lemn Sissay, Nigel Slater, Emeli Sandé, Meera Syal, Dame Kelly Holmes and Andrew Scott have in common? They've all failed and - more importantly - they've been willing to appear on Elizabeth Day's podcast to discuss their failures and how life worked out for them afterwardsYou'll find the results of these discussions in ''Failosophy''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846686202</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1504321383
|author=Simon Dawson
+
|title=Single, Again, and Again, and Again
|title=Pigs in Clover: Or How I Accidentally Fell in Love with the Good Life
+
|author=Louisa Pateman
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Autobiography
 
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Simon Dawson really had no intention of leading a life of self-sufficiency - he accidentally fell into the beginnings of it at a New Year's Eve party which was a little too noisy for him to be completely certain what it was he was agreeing to.  But even then there was no need for it to go too farAfter all, this man's heart was in London and he was an estate agent - a member of the profession whose place at the top of the opprobrium ladder was only made wobbly after a serious PR campaign on behalf of journalists and politiciansBut his wife was determined that she couldn't stand being a property solicitor any longer and so they sold their flat in London and rented a property on Exmoor and Simon began a weekly commute - weekends in Devon and most of the week in London.
+
|summary=''You can't be happy and fulfilled on your own.  You are not complete until you find a man''.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780285019</amazonuk>
+
 
 +
This was what Louisa Pateman was brought up to believeIt wasn't unkind: it was simply the adults in her life advising her as to what they thought would be best for herIt was reinforced by all those fairy tales where the girl (she's usually fairly young) is rescued by the handsome prince who then marries her so that they can live happily ever after.  Few girls are lucky enough to be brought up ''without'' the expectation that they will marry and have childrenIt was a belief and it would be many years before Louisa would conclude that ''a belief is a choice''.
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
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|isbn=1538731738
|author=Naomi Schillinger
+
|title=Simple Abundance: 365 Days to a Balanced and Joyful Life
|title=Veg Street: Grow Your Own Community
+
|author= Sarah Ban Breathnach
|rating=4.5
+
|rating=5
 
|genre=Lifestyle
 
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=As a child Naomi Schillinger helped her parents to grow fruit and vegetables in their South London garden and the urge to grow resurfaced when she had her own property.  It wasn't just the ''growing'' which she remembered, but the ''sharing'' of the produce and sense of community which went with it.  Soon after starting to grow food for herself she was a prime mover in getting whole streets involved in growing fruit and vegetables in their front gardens, making the most of recycled materials and free seeds and compost.  When we're constantly urged to reduce food miles what could be better than growing your food (quite literally) on your own doorstep?
+
|summary=Someone once said: it's not self-indulgence, it's therapy!  I think they were talking about shopping, but it probably can be applied to most thingsIn my case, it applies to writing about things because I want to, rather than because I can sell it or because I've got something to sell.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780721129</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Sharon Blackie
|author=Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
+
|title=If Women Rose Rooted
|title=How To Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk
 
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Lifestyle
+
|genre= Biography
|summary=Many parents, it seems, go through life in a constant state of feud. Not with each other, necessarily, but with their children. Their small, beloved bundles of joy turn into obstreperous toddlers, defiant pre-schoolers, angry schoolchildren or morose teens. Parents find themselves caught up in arguments, advice, failed attempts at consolation...  and then may resort to punishment of some kind.
+
|summary= I normally say that you can tell how much a book means to me by how many pages have corners turned down. Perhaps an even greater measure of impact is setting out to buy my own copy before I've finished reading the one I've borrowedI want to avoid clichés like 'powerful' 'inspiring' 'life-changing' – although it is definitely the first two and only time will tell about the third – but clichés exist for a reason and I'm not sure I can succinctly put it any better.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848123094</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1912836017
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1543987877
|author=Hilly Janes
+
|title=Learn to Love: Guide to Healing Your Disappointing Love Life
|title=Latte or Cappuccino: 125 Decisions That Will Change Your Life
+
|author=Dr Thomas Jordan
|rating=4
+
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Lifestyle
 
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=I must admit that my immediate reaction when I saw the title ''Latte or Cappuccino?'' was that a filter coffee would be very pleasant, particularly with a shortbread biscuit.  But it's not a book about coffee but rather about choices we encounter which could make a real difference to our livesYou see one coffee has 150 calories and the other just 90 and over the weeks and months that decision can mean substantial weight gain - or lossThere are 125 of these relatively minor questions which can have real impact, particularly when you add them all up.
+
|summary=''Learn to Love: Guide to Healing Your Disappointing Love Life'' is a book about love relationships rather than a book about loveThe two greatest emotions are love and grief and love is the opposite of grief: ''if you love'', Dr Thomas Jordan tells us, ''you will inevitably grieve''.  Your love relationships begin the moment you're born and end only when you die.  Whilst we all come into the world hoping to give and receive love there are many people for whom love is not quite so simple.  Some people suffer multiple disappointments - sometimes repeating the same mistakes - and this eventually becomes resignationFor people who are making the same mistakes repeatedly, self-preservation, in the form of resignation is a necessity.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1843175584</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|author=Michael Harris
|author=Daniel Smith
+
|title=Solitude: In Pursuit of a Singular Life in a Crowded World
|title=How to Think Like Sherlock: Improve Your Powers of Observation, Memory and Deduction
+
|rating=5
|rating=3.5
 
 
|genre=Lifestyle
 
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=Whether you're a fan of the original Conan Doyle novels, have enjoyed the recent film and television representations of Sherlock Holmes or if, like me, the name always conjures up the image of Basil Rathbone you'll be impressed by the way that Holmes can reason and deduceYou've probably wished that you were capable of some of the mental acrobatics which he performs.  Much of his prowess is down to being a fictional character (of course) but it is possible to improve your powers of observation, memory and deduction by exercising your brain.  Daniel Smith has some suggestions to get us started.
+
|summary= This 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''Harries examines how we're eroding solitude, which used to be a natural part of our human life, and why that matters.  Of course he talks about how some people have found solitude and what has come of that, and eventually in the final chapter he talks about his own experience of having deliberately sought it out, but mostly he wanders down the alleys and by-ways that his thinking about this lost art led him.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1843179539</amazonuk>
+
|isbn=1847947662
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=0753553236
|author=Richard Gilpin
+
|title=Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything
|title=Mindfulness for Black Dogs and Blue Days: Finding a Path Through Depression
+
|author=B J Fogg
|rating=3
+
|rating=5
 
|genre=Lifestyle
 
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=Richard Gilpin is a counsellor, cognitive behavioural psychotherapist and mindfulness instructor.  He's also suffered from depression since his teens and is well aware of just how debilitating it can beIn 'Mindfulness and Black Dogs' ( a nod to Churchill who referred to his depression as his black dog) he shares his own experiences with the illness and offers insights as to how a sufferer can find a way through the weight which descends upon them. He looks particularly at how ''mindfulness'' can help.
+
|summary=Go on, admit it - you're not quite perfectYou still have those odd, quirky even loveable (to you) habits which seem to annoy other people. Other people, of course, are sorely afflicted with some dreadful flaws which they could so easily correct, if only they would make just a little bit of effort.  Or put another way, I get cross with myself because I forget to do things or do some actions more than I should and no matter how I try to make what seem to be quite monumental changes I never quite seem to get to grips with the conceptsI constantly fail and then I get cross with myself for failingLack of willpower is another burden to add to the list.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907332928</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Nick Coleman
 
|title=The Train in the Night: A Story of Music and Loss
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Autobiography
 
|summary=Picture the scenario.  You have always been passionate about music, with a catholic taste which embraces classical, soul and heavy rock with a bit of everything in between, and your job is that of an arts and music journalistIn your mid-forties you wake up one morning to find your whole world changed overnight by Sudden Neursosensory Hearing LossIt has a devastating effect on your balance when subjected to any kind of sound, whether it is an aeroplane overhead, the roar of the crowd at a football match, or the music which you once adored with every fibre of your being.  Your head is filled with tinnitus, like a very poorly-tuned radio which lacks an off switch.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224093576</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1785785516
|author=Daniel Coyle
+
|title=Fucking Good Manners
|title=The Little Book of Talent
+
|author=Simon Griffin
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Lifestyle
 
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=When you want - or need - to master a new skill you'll be told to practice, but there's not always a lot of advice around on ''how'' to practiceSometimes it's that hint about how to practice more effectively, how to approach the skill from a different direction which makes all the difference. Daniel Coyle has fifty two tips - most of which can be applied to just about everything from improving your golf swing to success in the business worldThe tips are short - all fifty two are covered in about a hundred and twenty pages - easily read and simple to put into practice.
+
|summary=Manners maketh man, they say.  It certainly makes life easier if everybody abides by a set of conventions, some of which are ages old and other which have evolved over timeManners are not about how much to tip or how you should behave if you get an invitation to Buckingham Palace, they have nothing to do with class or financial status: they're about getting the basics right before we try to deal with more difficult mattersOf course we all have more relaxed manners when we're with family and friends, but it's best if we learn to distinguish between our public and private lives and to act appropriately.  ''Fucking Good Manners'' aims to help us on the way.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847946798</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 
+
{{Frontpage
{{newreview
+
|isbn=1999811402
|author=Melissa Kite
+
|title=Painting Snails
|title=Real Life: One Woman's Guide to Love, Men and Other Everyday Disasters
+
|author=Stephen John Hartley
|rating=4
+
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Autobiography
 
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=We're used to thinking about career women who have it all: the high-flyer who goes home to her husband, children and immaculate house to plan their next holiday and their social lifeWe might not know these people - but everything seems to tell us that they're ''there''.  What, though, of the single woman, no longer in the first flush of youth (that's probably nineteen, these days) who struggles just to keep going?  What of the woman who struggles to keep the ''boiler'' going and who is tempted to kidnap the television repairman and tie him to the bed because she's convinced that the television will stop working the moment he goes?
+
|summary=It'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, but you're not going to get advice on what to plant when and where for the best resultsThe answer would be something along the lines of 'try it and see'.  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 is now an A&E consultant (part-time).  I found out that there's an awful lot more to what goes on in a Major Trauma Centre than you'll ever glean from ''Casualty'', but that isn't really what the book's about.  There's a lot about rock & roll, which seems to be the real passion of Hartley's life, but it didn't actually fit into the entertainment genre either.  Did we have a category for 'doing the impossible the hard way'? Yep - that's the one.  It's an autobiography.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780331916</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
  
{{newreview
+
Move on to [[Newest Literary Fiction Reviews]]
|author=Siri Hustvedt
 
|title=Living, Thinking, Looking
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Lifestyle
 
|summary='Living, Thinking, Looking' is a collection of essays by Siri Hustvedt which, she claims, are linked by an abiding curiosity about what it means to be human.  In these essays she examines who we are and how we got that way.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444732633</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=Brett Cohen
 
|title=Stuff Every Dad Should Know
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Home and Family
 
|summary=For an object lesson in how important the little things are, consider this book's title.  This is not one of those collections of trivia or whimsies for fathers to appear cool to their children (ten great variations on tag; 6,000 good records with which to ween your daughter off Justin Bieber), it's not that kind of knowledge on offer.  Here instead is practical information on rearing your own little thing, and in a quiet way this pocket diary-sized volume has the cojones to expect to stick around being useful for a generation, as it starts at budgeting for children in the first place, and goes from the actual birth to marrying them off.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594745536</amazonuk>
 
}}
 

Latest revision as of 09:32, 12 December 2023

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Review of

Sugarless by Nicole M Avena

5star.jpg Lifestyle

This isn't a diet book. The last thing anyone needs is another diet book.

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 elevate your cholesterol and cause heart disease. Sugar was a carbohydrate, so good. There's a problem, though. Sugar is addictive and can hijack your brain in much the same way as drugs like heroin and cocaine. Does that sound over the top? Well, it isn't. Full Review

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Review of

The Lavender Companion by Jessica Dunham and Terry Barlin Vesci

4.5star.jpg Lifestyle

It's strange, the things that make you immediately feel that this is the book for you. Before I started reading The Lavender Companion, I visited the author's website and there's a picture of a slice of chocolate cake on the homepage. I don't eat cakes and desserts - but I wanted that cake viscerally. (There's a recipe in the book, which I'm avoiding with some difficulty!!) Then I started reading the book and I was told to make a mess of it. Notes in the margins are sanctioned. You get to fold down the corners of pages. You suspect that smears of butter would not be a problem. I loved this book already. Full Review

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Review of

Verdura: Living a Garden Life by Perla Sofia Curbelo-Santiago

3.5star.jpg Lifestyle

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? Full Review

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Review of

This One Wild and Precious Life: the path back to connection in a fractured world by Sarah Wilson

3.5star.jpg Lifestyle

My favourite Mary Oliver line is the one in which she asks What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious 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. Full Review

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Review of

Recycling for Dummies by Sarah Winkler

5star.jpg Lifestyle

Recycling one ton of plastic can save up to 16.3 barrels of oil.

Recycling one ton of paper can save 17 trees from being cut down.

If you send an apple core to landfill, it will take between 6 months and 2 years to decompose. A glass bottle will take up to 1 million years.

As a just-post-WWII baby, I faced a dilemma: reducing, reusing and recycling is part of my DNA. NEVER throw away anything that might possibly come in handy now or in the future. NEVER buy anything if you can cobble together something that would serve the purpose. Almost everything can be used one more time and any purchase must pass the test of 'Is this absolutely essential?' On the other hand, I 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 get conflicting advice - but what I needed was a recycling bible.s Full Review

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Review of

The First-Time Gardener: Container Food Gardening by Pamela Farley

5star.jpg Home and Family

If you've ever thought how good it would be to be able to pop out into the garden and pick some fruit and vegetables for a meal – but realised that you wouldn't know where to start, this is the book you need. It's comprehensive: you'll cover everything from why you should grow your own food, what you're going to grow, what you'll grow it in (both containers and soil), where you'll put these containers, how you'll water and fertilise them and you finish the main part of the book with a handy section on troubleshooting. There's also a good glossary. So, is it any good? Full Review

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Review of

The Wilderness Cure by Mo Wilde

5star.jpg Lifestyle

It had been on the cards for a while but it was the week-long consumer binge which pushed Mo Wilde into beginning her year of eating only wild food. The end of November, particularly in Central Scotland was perhaps not the best time to start, in a world where the normal sores had been exacerbated by climate change, Brexit and a pandemic. Wilde had a few advantages: the area around her was a known habitat with a variety of terrains. She had electricity which allowed her to run a fridge, freezer and dehydrator. She had a car - and fuel. Most importantly, she had shelter: this was not a plan to live wild just to live off its produce. Full Review

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Review of

I May Be Wrong by Bjorn Natthiko Lindeblad, Caroline Bankeler, Navid Modiiri and Agnes Bromme (Translator)

5star.jpg Autobiography

When the Dalai Lama adds his words to your frontispiece, I'm inclined to think it doesn't really matter how the rest of the world responds to your book. I know, having read the book in question, that Lindeblad would disagree with that thought. He knows (and at core so do I) that it matters very much how the rest of the world responds to this book, because it tells the truth as it is, in the early 21st century. Full Review

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Review of

The Boy Who Loved Boxes: A Children's Book for Adults by Michael Albanese

4.5star.jpg Lifestyle

There was a Boy who loved boxes. He had a box for everything and he was meticulous about storage: his parents probably couldn't believe their luck! It began with art supplies, stuffed toys and the like: all the things which most children have in abundance. The Boy's delight was in the sense of order in his room: it made him feel happy. As he grew up and became a Man, his life became more complicated and he dealt with this by getting bigger and better boxes. Look carefully at the pictures and you'll see that one of them has a padlock... Full Review

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Review of

The End of Bias: How We Change Our Minds by Jessica Nordell

4.5star.jpg Politics and Society

Anyone who is not an able, white man understands bias in that they may no longer even recognise the extent to which they suffer from it: it's simply a part of everyday life. White men will always come first. The able will come before the disabled. Jobs, promotions, higher salaries are the preserve of the white man. Even when those who wouldn't pass the medical become a part of an organisation it's rare that their views are heard, that their concerns are acknowledged. It's personally appalling and degrading for the individuals on the receiving end of the bias but it's not just the individuals who are negatively impacted. Full Review

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Review of

Walking: One Step At A Time by Erling Kagge

5star.jpg Lifestyle

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. Full Review

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Review of

Understanding Human Nature: A User's Guide to Life by Richard Brook

4.5star.jpg Lifestyle

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 'hit home' in the way that it does now. I believe it came to me not just because I was likely to give it a favourable review [ full disclosure The Bookbag's u.s.p. is that people chose their own books rather than getting them randomly, so there is a predisposition towards expecting to like the book, even if it doesn't always turn out that way ] – but also because it is a book I needed to read, right now. Full Review

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Review of

Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters by Greg McKeown

4.5star.jpg Lifestyle

The marginal return of working harder was, in fact, negative.

That's what happened to Patrick McGinnis. It's no exaggeration to say that he devoted his life to the company 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. He made a bargain with God; if he survived, he would make some changes. He did survive and came through stronger - and richer. There is, you see, a different way: great things are not reserved for those who bleed, for those who almost break. Full Review

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Review of

A Women's Guide to Claiming Space by Eliza Van Cort

5star.jpg Politics and Society

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)

To claim space is to live the life of choosing unapologetically and bravely. It is to live the life you've always wanted.

Sometimes the reviewing gods are generous: at a time when violence against women is much in the news, A Women's Guide to Claiming Space by Eliza Van Cort dropped onto my desk. Now - to be clear - this book is not a 'how to disable your attacker with two simple jabs' manual: it's 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. Full Review

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Review of

Call Me Red: A Shepherd's Journey by Hannah Jackson

4.5star.jpg Lifestyle

I want the image of a British farmer to simply be that of a person who is proudly employed in feeding the nation. I don't think that is too much to ask.

The stereotypical farmer was probably born on the land where his family have farmed for generations. He's probably grown up without giving much thought as to what he really wants to do: he knows that he'll be a farmer. It's not always the case though. Hannah Jackson was born and brought up on the 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 she was well on her way to achieving this when her life changed on a family holiday to the Lake District. 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. With the determination that you'll soon realise is an essential part of her, she set about achieving her ambition. Full Review

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Review of

The Natural Health Service: How Nature Can Mend Your Mind by Isabel Hardman

5star.jpg Lifestyle

Isabel Hardman suffered a trauma which she chooses not to share. She says that a friend who does know, burst into tears and health-care professionals' jaws have sagged in disbelief. Hardman dealt with this at the time by 'keeping going': the next day she went to work to cover the budget, next there was the EU referendum, the political party leadership contests and 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: 2020 was the year when the bins went out more often than I did. Full Review

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Review of

The Book of Moods by Lauren Martin

5star.jpg Lifestyle

I was in a great mood when I first learnt of this book, and because sarcasm doesn't always translate well into writing, imagine the word great being delivered with an eye roll and a sigh, through clenched teeth. I had spent the best part of a rainy, windy weekend afternoon out on the water at our local sailing club in the rescue rib, on standby in case anyone who was racing needed support. It's a volunteer duty we all do during the year, and normally I'm happy to, but that day the weather was miserable and I was miserable, and it all came to a head that evening when I noticed on the website that we had been thanked for our time as "Dave and wife". Wow. I had never needed this book more. Full Review

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Review of

Failosophy: A handbook for when things go wrong by Elizabeth Day

4star.jpg Lifestyle

What do Malcolm Gladwell, Alain de Botton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Lemn Sissay, Nigel Slater, Emeli Sandé, Meera Syal, Dame Kelly Holmes and Andrew Scott have in common? They've all failed and - more importantly - they've been willing to appear on Elizabeth Day's podcast to discuss their failures and how life worked out for them afterwards. You'll find the results of these discussions in Failosophy Full Review

1504321383.jpg

Review of

Single, Again, and Again, and Again by Louisa Pateman

4.5star.jpg Autobiography

You can't be happy and fulfilled on your own. You are not complete until you find a man.

This was what Louisa Pateman was brought up to believe. It wasn't unkind: it was simply the adults in her life advising her as to what they thought would be best for her. It was reinforced by all those fairy tales where the girl (she's usually fairly young) is rescued by the handsome prince who then marries her so that they can live happily ever after. Few girls are lucky enough to be brought up without the expectation that they will marry and have children. It was a belief and it would be many years before Louisa would conclude that a belief is a choice. Full Review

1538731738.jpg

Review of

Simple Abundance: 365 Days to a Balanced and Joyful Life by Sarah Ban Breathnach

5star.jpg Lifestyle

Someone once said: it's not self-indulgence, it's therapy! I think they were talking about shopping, but it probably can be applied to most things. In my case, it applies to writing about things because I want to, rather than because I can sell it or because I've got something to sell. Full Review

1912836017.jpg

Review of

If Women Rose Rooted by Sharon Blackie

5star.jpg Biography

I normally say that you can tell how much a book means to me by how many pages have corners turned down. Perhaps an even greater measure of impact is setting out to buy my own copy before I've finished reading the one I've borrowed. I want to avoid clichés like 'powerful' 'inspiring' 'life-changing' – although it is definitely the first two and only time will tell about the third – but clichés exist for a reason and I'm not sure I can succinctly put it any better. Full Review

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Review of

Learn to Love: Guide to Healing Your Disappointing Love Life by Dr Thomas Jordan

4.5star.jpg Lifestyle

Learn to Love: Guide to Healing Your Disappointing Love Life is a book about love relationships rather than a book about love. The two greatest emotions are love and grief and love is the opposite of grief: if you love, Dr Thomas Jordan tells us, you will inevitably grieve. Your love relationships begin the moment you're born and end only when you die. Whilst we all come into the world hoping to give and receive love there are many people for whom love is not quite so simple. Some people suffer multiple disappointments - sometimes repeating the same mistakes - and this eventually becomes resignation. For people who are making the same mistakes repeatedly, self-preservation, in the form of resignation is a necessity. Full Review

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Review of

Solitude: In Pursuit of a Singular Life in a Crowded World by Michael Harris

5star.jpg Lifestyle

This 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. Harries examines how we're eroding solitude, which used to be a natural part of our human life, and why that matters. Of course he talks about how some people have found solitude and what has come of that, and eventually in the final chapter he talks about his own experience of having deliberately sought it out, but mostly he wanders down the alleys and by-ways that his thinking about this lost art led him. Full Review

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Review of

Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything by B J Fogg

5star.jpg Lifestyle

Go on, admit it - you're not quite perfect. You still have those odd, quirky even loveable (to you) habits which seem to annoy other people. Other people, of course, are sorely afflicted with some dreadful flaws which they could so easily correct, if only they would make just a little bit of effort. Or put another way, I get cross with myself because I forget to do things or do some actions more than I should and no matter 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. Lack of willpower is another burden to add to the list. Full Review

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Review of

Fucking Good Manners by Simon Griffin

4star.jpg Lifestyle

Manners maketh man, they say. It certainly makes life easier if everybody abides by a set of conventions, 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 get an invitation to Buckingham Palace, they have nothing to do with class or financial status: they're about getting the basics right before we try to deal with more difficult matters. Of course we all have more relaxed manners when we're with family and friends, but it's best if we learn to distinguish between our public and private lives and to act appropriately. Fucking Good Manners aims to help us on the way. Full Review

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Review of

Painting Snails by Stephen John Hartley

4.5star.jpg Autobiography

It'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, but you're not going to get advice on what to plant when and where for the best results. The answer would be something along the lines of 'try it and see'. 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 is now an A&E consultant (part-time). I found out that there's an awful lot more to what goes on in a Major Trauma Centre than you'll ever glean from Casualty, but that isn't really what the book's about. There's a lot about rock & roll, which seems to be the real passion of Hartley's life, but it didn't actually fit into the entertainment genre either. Did we have a category for 'doing the impossible the hard way'? Yep - that's the one. It's an autobiography. Full Review

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