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Showing posts from January, 2018

The Woman in the Window - A J Finn

Description What did she see? It’s been ten long months since Anna Fox last left her home. Ten months during which she has haunted the rooms of her old New York house like a ghost, lost in her memories, too terrified to step outside. Anna’s lifeline to the real world is her window, where she sits day after day, watching her neighbours. When the Russells move in, Anna is instantly drawn to them. A picture-perfect family of three, they are an echo of the life that was once hers. But one evening, a frenzied scream rips across the silence, and Anna witnesses something no one was supposed to see. Now she must do everything she can to uncover the truth about what really happened. But even if she does, will anyone believe her? And can she even trust herself? Review There are a lot of psychological thrillers around at the moment and as I began to read this one I did wonder what was going to be different - would I just work out what had happened. I gave myself a pat on the...

Uncommon Type - Tom Hanks

Description A collection of seventeen wonderful short stories showing that two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks is as talented a writer as he is an actor. A hectic, funny sexual affair between two best friends. A World War II veteran dealing with his emotional and physical scars. A second-rate actor plunged into sudden stardom and a whirlwind press junket. A small-town newspaper columnist with old-fashioned views of the modern world. A woman adjusting to life in a new neighborhood after her divorce. Four friends going to the moon and back in a rocket ship constructed in the backyard. A teenage surfer stumbling into his father’s secret life. These are just some of the people and situations that Tom Hanks explores in his first work of fiction, a collection of stories that dissects, with great affection, humour and insight, the human condition and all its foibles. The stories are linked by one thing: in each of them, a typewriter plays a part, sometimes minor, sometimes central. To ma...

Boundaries - Jennie Miller and Victoria Lambert

Description A four-step programme to help develop self-esteem, create time to do the things that nourish and fulfil you, discover a deep sense of calm, and achieve healthy control over your life, home and work, co-written by psychotherapist and relationship expert Jennie Miller and award-winning journalist Victoria Lambert. The need to understand where to draw the line has never been more acute, with new online trends seeping quickly into our consciousness often before we’ve had time to consider what personal boundaries they might require. Covering email etiquette, office politics, healthy parenting, dating among the over 50s, oversharing, relationships and more, there is no other book that deals effectively and practically with the embryonic and ever-evolving relationship codes of today. Discover how to set personal boundaries in the most important aspects of your life: from sleep to fitness, diet to social media and computer usage, and build the self-confidence that results from l...

The Group - Mary McCarthy

Description THE GROUP follows eight graduates from exclusive Vassar College as they find love and heartbreak, forge careers, gossip and party in 1930s Manhattan. THE GROUP can be seen as the original SEX AND THE CITY. It is the first novel to frankly portray women's real lives, exploring subjects such as sex, contraception, motherhood and marriage. Review This is a book that I have had on my TBR list for ages and I decided I would get it read over the Christmas break. At 437 pages that should have been doable, but I didn't reckon on the small typeface (I'm reading the paperback) and the language which takes a little getting use to. I recently saw the film "The Greatest Showman" which I loved. However, I was a little critical as most of the women wore false eyelashes and the song which Jenny Lind sings whilst absolutely fantastic is nothing like a song she would have sung in those days. My point is this; whilst I felt that was not realistic of ...