Book of the Month

‘They say: Are you a termite? Cos you’re about to get a mouthful of wood. You say: Are you a wild pig? Cos you boar me to tears.’ TITLE: Girl up AUTHOR: Laura Bates GENRE: Feminist manifesto meets self-help PUBLISHER: Simon and Schuster PUBLISHED: 2016 PAGES: 314 WARNING: FEMINISM....

‘I ate the end of my piece of cheese and took a swallow of wine. Through the other noise I heard a cough, then came the chuh-chuh-chuh-chuh – then there was a flash, as when a blast-furnace door is swung open, and a roar that started white and went...

‘‘If I could take what I’ve learned and make one menial job easier for you, or prevent you from having the kind of sex where you feel you must keep your sneakers on in case you want to run away during the act, then every misstep of mine was...

‘What was ugly can become beautiful in an instant. Peace is all around us. The slogan says:                Birdseye-in-Furness: The Promise of a Brighter Barrow. There’s a problem with Barrow, but it can be fixed. You just need to change the name to Birdseye. Everyone applauds once the credits...

‘I’m fine. I just…’ I could see his pale collar, his dark suit jacket a contrast against it. ‘I don’t want to go in just yet. I just want to sit and not have to think about…’ He swallowed. Even in the half-dark it seemed effortful. ‘I just… want...

‘Mother says that people like me just become intellectual old maids,’ I told him. ‘I don’t see why,’ he protested. ‘Oh, well, it’s probably true!’ I said, rather sharply, for misery had as usual made me irritable. ‘After the War there’ll be no one for me to marry.’ ‘Not...

‘Because survival is insufficient’ ~ p 58 TITLE: Station Eleven AUTHOR: Emily St. John Mandel GENRE: Literary Fiction PUBLISHER: Picador PUBLISHED: September 2014 PAGES: 333 Station Eleven is a post-apocalyptic novel with a definite twist – it’s not a post-apocalyptic novel. Emily St. John Mandel uses the idea of...