It’s time for #6degrees. Start at the same place as other wonderful readers, add six books, and see where you end up. Continue reading
Tag Archives: V C Andrews
Unlike the Heart by Nicola Redhouse
When I was studying counselling, I had frequent debates with one of my lecturers about the intersect of the mind and our biological instincts – I am a scientist at heart; I have always listened to my instinct or ‘gut feeling’; and believe that although our mind can be powerful, sometimes biology drives what we do. It’s a huge topic, with many facets (for example the links between gut health and mental health, and the study of epigenetics in terms of inherited trauma), and one that goes well beyond the scope of a blog post, but it’s why I was drawn to Nicola Redhouse’s Unlike the Heart (a book billed as a ‘memoir of brain and mind’).
Redhouse wrote the book in response to her experience of postnatal anxiety. Prior to pregnancy, she had been devoted to psychoanalysis –
What use would it be to spend more years patching up where the cracks were by using the putty of another person’s positive affirmation and kindness? Psychoanalysis with Dr Parkes served the purpose of an engineering surveyor: it felt out the cause of the cracks to begin with. Continue reading
Six Degrees of Separation – from Flowers in the Attic to The Rules of Civility
It’s time for #6Degrees – join in! Link up!
We begin this month’s chain with the controversial eighties best-seller by V. C. Andrews, Flowers in the Attic. It’s truly a diabolical book and in 1987, I couldn’t put it down. Continue reading
What I should have been reading and what I did read
There were the books I was assigned to read at school and then there were the books I was actually reading. Obviously I did read the class texts (because: English nerd) but as soon as I got home, it was other books that I was engrossed in.
1985 – supposed to be reading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, was actually reading the Caitlin series by Francine Pascal Continue reading
Bookish (and not so bookish) Thoughts
1. The Stella Prize shortlist book group is up and running. We go crazy on Twitter every Monday evening. #fun
2. Read my first 5/5 book for the year – Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum. Get on it peoples.
3. The Baileys Prize 2015 longlist was announced recently. I’ve only read one… Poor show, me.
4. Related: Why the eff wasn’t Hausfrau on that longlist? #travesty Continue reading
Book vs. Film: Flowers in the Attic
They’re both so terrible, I can’t even… Continue reading
Bookish (and not so bookish) Thoughts
As always, Bookish Thoughts is hosted by the lovely Christine.
1. Summer is here – yay! Continue reading
Six Degrees of Separation – from Gone Girl to A Room With a View
It’s time again for my favourite meme. Based on the concept of six degrees of separation, Emma Chapman and Annabel Smith have created #6DEGREES, where bloggers share links between books in six moves. Check out the rules if you want to play along.
This month’s starting point is Gillian Flynn’s bestselling psychological thriller, Gone Girl. I only read this book a few months ago, long after hearing all the hype and having friends recommend it. Unfortunately it didn’t meet my expectations (but I didn’t hate it, either). Continue reading
Top Ten Tuesday – Books to Get in the Halloween Spirit
At the risk of being black-listed by The Broke and the Bookish crowd, I’m admitting that I have no real interest in books about vampires. Or witches. Or anything para-normal. Yes, I did read the Twilight series (because I like a book with hype) and I did enjoy it but it hasn’t gone further than that. So I’m likely to fail miserably at this week’s top ten topic – Top Ten Books to Get in the Halloween Spirit.
So whilst there’s nothing terribly ghoulish or fitting for Halloween on my list, here’s the ten books that scared the pants off me (for all sorts of reasons) – Continue reading
‘The Hunger Games’ by Suzanne Collins
There are a million reviews of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and you’d have to be living under a rock to have avoided hearing about the movie, which is out now.
It’s the story of sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in a post-apocalyptic world in the fictional country of Panem where the countries of North America once existed. The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis, holds absolute power over the rest of the nation, which is divided into twelve districts. The Hunger Games are an annual event in which one boy and one girl aged 12 to 18 from each district are selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle in which only one person can survive. The ‘winner’ secures glory and food for their district.
I found The Hunger Games compelling reading but in addition, it got me thinking – not so much about the book itself but about the ‘genre’ that it has been put in. I saw the movie trailer for The Hunger Games when I was at Breaking Dawn* in November 2011 (no, I’m not a Twi-hard but I can answer the question “Are you on Team Edward or Team Jacob?”). I hadn’t heard of The Hunger Games at that point but later downloaded the book onto my Kindle (it’s always book first, movie second for me). Continue reading