dittybox

Published: 2014, Bloomsbury Genre: Fiction Themes: Youth in Dublin, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, violence, crime My rating (out of 5):  ❤❤❤❤ Please note that the pills used as props in the picture are indigestion tablets. Reading this book is very much like picking a scab.  The sensible part of your brain tells you to leave it alone for God's sake, but there is this other part of your brain that makes you just keep on going even though you know it is not going to end well.   I have given this book a score of 4/5 because there is no doubt about the high quality of writing, but the subject matter is so horrible I wouldn't find myself recommending it to anyone.  The saddest part about it is that the story-line reflects reality for a great many young people who spend far too many hours a week getting 'off their heads' on drugs and alcohol. The book follows Cocker, Matthew, Kearney, Rez and Jen through the summer holidays that follow their last day at school.  They are...

  Published: 2020, Faber and Faber Genre: Fiction Themes: Social media, single parenthood, data algorithms My rating (out of 5):  ❤❤❤❤ The story in this book is a cautionary tale about the potential dangers of social media, and how it can change from friend to foe in the time it takes to install an intrusive algorithm.  Someone once told me that if anything online is free to the user, then you are the product, and that is exactly the message this book is presenting to us. DBC Pierre is the author of the book Vernon God Little that won the Man Booker Prize in 2003, and that is one of the few book that have caused me to laugh out loud as I read it.  However, I have been passing this new book over on the library 'bestseller' shelves for some weeks now, as the title didn't particularly appeal to me, and I had the impression it would be heavy going.  (It's amazing what conclusions you can come to without even reading the blurb inside the cover of a book!)  Anywa...

Published:  2020, Hodder and Stoughton Genre: Fiction Themes:  Nigeria, child brides, modern day slavery My rating (out of 5):  ❤❤❤ This book is written in the style of speaking used by fourteen year old Adunni who is a girl bought up in rural Nigeria, far away from modern comforts that might be found a city such as Lagos.  Her words are simple, yet powerful in the descriptions of what she sees and feels. 'I rub my chest where too many questions is causing a sore, climb to my feets with a sigh and walk to the window.  Outside, the moon is red, hanging too low the sky, be as if God pluck out his angry eye and throw it inside our compound.' Adunni lives in poverty with her Papa and two brothers and every day is a struggle for survival since her mother died.  Her mother was the main source of income for the family and she made whatever money she could by frying and selling 'puffs' at the roadside.  Without her income, Adunni's father has fallen into debt,...

  Published:  1999, Virago Genre:  Fiction Themes:  Lives of women, mother daughter relationship, love, survival My rating (out of 5): ❤❤❤❤❤ If you have anything else that you really ought to be doing, such as: sleeping, caring for children, going to work or providing meals, I suggest you don't even attempt to read this book.  As soon as you start reading, it will suck you under and you will be lost in its depths until the school rings and asks if you are considering picking up your children today. At the top level, the book is about the extraordinary relationship between young Astrid and her mother Ingrid, but as the story progresses it becomes clear that this book is really about what it means to be a woman.  Every aspect of female life is examined through the various characters, who range from those living in great comfort to those who scratch a living by whichever means they can.  In every life story there is a mix of good and bad, and those we mig...

  Published: 2018, Picador Genre: Fiction Themes: Singapore, teenage friendships, ambition, loss My rating (out of 5): ❤❤❤ Reading this book is rather like looking through a kaleidoscope as the key elements are shown from many different perspectives, but new pieces of information are constantly falling into place.  The time-line flips backwards and forwards as we follow teenage school friends Szu and Circe and discover how their lives have been influenced by a set of three horror movies staring Szu's mother, Amisa. When Amisa was a teenager herself, she was spotted by a wealthy man who wanted to make a film about a Pontianak, which is a mythical female ghost from Singaporean folklore.  The man chose Amisa because of her classic beauty and promised he would make her a star if she would agree to leave her job and come and take the lead in his film.  In the end they made three films about the Ponti, but they were not successful as audiences had tired of traditional stor...

Published: 2013, Penguin Genre: Fiction Themes: New Testament, grief, loss, reflection My rating (out of 5): ❤❤ I'm sorry to say that I was disappointed with this book, but that could quite possibly be because I am missing something.  I am familiar with the New Testament and my problem is that I don't recognise the characters of Mary, Jesus or the disciples.  They don't behave as I would have expected them to. This short novella gives Mary's account of Jesus' ministry and death on the cross, and it is told from the vantage point of her old age when she is nearing the end of her life.  The way the story is told in Colm  Tóibín, it seems that Mary does not understand what her son and his friends are doing when they make a fuss in the Temple and cause a 'frenzy' among the people.  In the Bible, Mary knows exactly what her son has been sent to do, and even encourages him to begin his work when the time is right. Colm  Tóibín also alters the order of events....

Published: 2015, Penguin Random House Genre: Fiction Themes: Crime, thriller, American west My rating (out of 5): ❤❤❤ This is one of those books that reads as though the story was written up after somebody watched the film, although that is not actually the case.  Endangered by C J Box is a thriller in the same sort of style as the Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child and I can well imagine it sells well at airports in America.   C J Box is the number 1 New York Times Best Selling Author, and Endangered is part of a series written about Joe Pickett who is a game warden in Wyoming.  All the characters are so stereotypical that you could pick them out in a game of misfits and there is a clear demarcation between the bad guys, who beat up and mistreat women, and the good guys who chase after them and ensure 'justice' is done. Warden Pickett works in and around the law as it suits him, but this is apparently ok as he is a good guy and the bad guys had it coming to them....