dittybox

  Hmmmm. Still thinking.... How do I feel about this?  A little cheated perhaps?  Well yes.  This is not a novella, it is a piece of writing to be used as an experiment and it turned out that I, the reader, was the subject of the experiment. Let me explain.  In 1980 Toni Morrison wrote this very short story about two eight year old girls who have been placed in the same room of a girls' shelter.  The reader is told that one of the girls is white and the other black, but it is never made clear which is which. You have to make your own mind up and that is the point of the experiment.  What criteria are you going to apply in order to make your decision?  What if the stereotypes flip back and forth from one girl to the other?  What if the whole process starts to make you feel a bit itchy? Zadie Smith wrote the introduction and I had to stop reading it after a few pages because she was analysing chunks of the text and telling me what to think...

At the end of this book Colleen Hoover has inserted a Note from the Author giving context to the story that has just come to a close.  Towards the end of her note she writes:  'In the past, I've always said I write for entertainment purposes only.  I don't write to educate, persuade or inform.  This book is different.  This was not entertainment for me.  It was the most grueling thing I have ever written.' This book draws on personal experience of a frightening and all to common reality for many people.  It is written carefully to show how families arrive at the point where certain things that go on behind closed doors are covered or excused out of shame, or even love.  If you have ever wondered how intelligent people arrive at a point where they continue to stay when they really should go, then this will help explain how the truth can be hiding in plain sight.  We all believe what we want to believe about those we truly love.  

Gripping.  Yes, that's the word I want for Magpie.  The other night, when I started this book, I thought I would give it half an hour and then go to sleep, but the book had other ideas.  There are twists in the story that you don't see coming and every time you think - Oh, now I see where this is going! - well just don't get too comfortable around that thought.  That's all I'm saying. This is a very modern book, both in style and content, and examines some of the issues associated with fertility and pregnancy.  Nature doesn't always go along with our reproductive plans so sometimes people seek outside help to make a baby and bring it safely through to birth.  This is such a complex subject that Elizabeth Day could have written the whole novel based on that journey alone, but why stop there when so many extra layers can be added on top? This would be a good one to take on your summer holidays as it will be enough to distract you when you are sitting on ...

  Over the archways of medieval Benedictine monasteries shone one phrase: Pax intrantibus - Peace to those who enter here.  Beyond the great doors lay a world of calm and kindness where men and women called to the service of God spent their days praying, working and studying without all the distractions that trouble the minds of those outside.   Monastic communities belonging to The Benedictine Order still follow the Rule of St Benedict (originally written in the year 516) because it still offers the best advice on how monks and nuns can live a fulfilling life.  Although very few of us would wish to spend our lives in an enclosed order, there are many aspects of The Rule that could help us find a little peace in the midst of the noise that fills our lives. I saw this book on the library shelves a little while ago, but I passed it over as I thought it would be another of those books like The Secret that cherry picks wisdom from all manner of sources and then pack...

  Why I love libraries. Way back in 1960, when I was a just two years old, my Mother disappeared for a few days and then returned with a baby.  From that day forth my father was expected to take his nose out of his books from time to time and help out by keeping me entertained while Mum was otherwise occupied.  Dad was an academic man who showed very little interest in my dolls so, in a bid to keep us both amused, he took me down to Ruislip library and persuaded the nice librarian to issue me with my own ticket.  Since that day I have never been without a library ticket. Every Saturday morning we drove into town and while Mum took her place in the queue for the bakers, Dad and I would head to the library where I was settled into the children's section while he selected books for the rest of the family.  He always chose his own books from the non-fiction section as he didn't see much point in reading a book that didn't teach you anything. We all relied on the lib...

  This came very close to being good, but not close enough, and by the time I got to the end I was starting to get annoyed with it. You can certainly play Irish Fiction Bingo with the story-line: Cold harsh farm, cold harsh mammy, copious cups of tea, teenage fall from grace, dark brooding man, dark brooding Catholicism, The Troubles, family rifts and multiple babies.  It starts well but seems to lose its way somewhere around the half way point.   Mary Rattigan has a hard life as a child living in the cold wet farmlands of Northern Ireland.  Her mean-spirited and abusive mother slaps her down at every turn and her father simply looks the other way and slips out the back door rather than stand up to his wife in her anger.  Despite all this, Mary does well at school and hopes one day to marry her long-term boyfriend, the doctor's son, and escape far away to America. It wouldn't be an Irish novel if all this went according to plan, and of course it doesn't, and Mar...