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Reading date - October 2020 This book started out very interesting, giving me an idea of what happened in the West household before the horrors of what they did to those poor women was revealed. However, the more I read, the more I got annoyed with the two kids who write this book.   The book is written by Mae and Stephen West, both of whom are totally products of their feckless parents.  Mae seems equally hyper aware yet also hyper in denial about what her mum did whilst Stephen is a certified nonce.  Check it, he has been working on the building sites and erecting his scaffolding on sites that haven't yet come of age. The book is very eye-opening, it goes through how the family grew up, with Rose getting on the game and working from home and Fred being really weird towards his female kids.   When suspicion was first aroused and the police came to the house to check the garden, for some reason, Fred came home late..it's my belief that Stephen knew more abo...

Reading date - October 2020 I read the Lonely Londoners a few years ago and I loved it.  I am the product of refugees and my understanding of the world is based always from that perspective.  Sam Selvon writes books about the Windrush generation and he writes it so well that I manage to find myself sharing their joys and their pains.  His works always makes me think how I would cope if I had to leave everything I knew and had to start life in a new country..and how hard it would be, and that is with me being able to speak English.  Imagine how hard it must be to do this in a country where you don't know anyone, you don't speak the language and the natives don't like you just because your skin is a different colour. This book is a bit more cheerful than the Lonely Londoners, it is about a group of friends who are fed up of renting and decide to pool together to buy their own place. I loved it, it describes them as normal people, trying to get money, trying to save and...

Reading date - October 2020 This book is very strange.  I can't describe it any further than that.   It's about two sisters in Nigeria, one is serial killer who kills her boyfriends.  It is written as a comedy but of course, serial killing is not funny. The saving grace for me and the reason why I read it all was the fact that for once, here was a book about two ethnic girls who were not described as being subservient women bowing to what a man wanted them to do for him.  They were thoroughly modern girls who were sassy and bitchy and like normal, every day girls. I found it weird but am not sorry I read it.  It was a quick, perky read.

Reading date - October 2020 This may be the longest review I have written on here..this is definitely the longest book I have read in a long time, coming in at over 700 pages.  The last book I read that was this size was Shantaram and that was years ago.  Non-fiction wise, it was The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan and I read that last year but it seems like it was many years ago now. I originally bought this on kindle but I fell in love with the writing style so had to and buy a physical copy.  This is the kind of book I wish I had the ability to write myself.  The author is amazing with the way she writes, this is how all authors should write. Let me start by saying that no description I ever write of this book will do justice to the masterpiece that it is.  This is simultaneously the most depressing and uplifting book I have ever read.  If you are of a nervous disposition or are triggered easily then do not read this as it will destroy you.  I am a st...

Reading date - October 2020 I went back to this review loads of times to make it a bit tamer because even though I am free to criticise books, I haven't written one myself so I can't really be too critical.  This is the toned down version.. Shite. Utter shite. This was hyped up so much and I cannot see why.  Dire.  Probably the worst book I've read in a long, long time. The main "story" is that the protagonist commits suicide.  You are told this in the first chapter and within the first few pages so it's not a spoiler.  What follows is a totally pointless car-crash of so many different topics, told by so many people, over so many different time frames that it makes it difficult to put it together as one coherent story.     This could have been great story if it didn't sweep up every single issue possible.  It may work as a film but only if certain aspects are left out.  It covers childhood abandonment, the miners strikes, undercover poli...

Reading date - September 2020 This book took me ages to read (a week) because I kept researching as I was reading it.  It is set around the area I worked in last year, St James Square at the cross of Piccadilly and Green Park.  I kept stopping to Google distances covered in the book to see if it was realistic as I think if you're going to that much effort to be realistic then it should hold up to scrutiny, otherwise you should just totally make places up.  I'm glad to report back that everything in this respect is spot on.  Not only are the areas in the correct places (ooh err missus) but even bus routes are correct.  For example, they get the number 7 bus (I got it all the time before Covid) and little comments here and there show that they have followed the route as the actual bus goes..e.g. it cruises past Ladbroke Grove like a four wheel drive and that and also past Paddington, both which are noted as throwaway comments to those who know no better. I am fore...

Reading date - September 2020 I found this book in Poundland and how it managed to fly under my radar is beyond me. I snapped it up going on the name of the author alone.  I love reading stuff by Punjabi authors as they are few and far between.  I was hoping this would be about my culture and thankfully it was..sadly, it's about something that is very common within the Punjabi community. The book is about three immigrants (two illegal, one on a visa) who find themselves in the UK for various reasons.  There is a fourth protagonist, a girl who is born and bred in the UK and is a baptised Sikh. The book covers the back stories for all three men very well, the character development is written in a way which is not only truthful but also heartbreaking.  The story of what happens when they get to the UK is a no punches pulled account of what happens.  I know all about how bad life is in the UK for people who come from India to work.  I am talking about those who...