Open main menu

Changes

no edit summary
|summary=A slim, slither of a book with a big title. ''Green'' is the mantra on most pages, as well as tips on how to waste less - whether it's food, clothes or water from the tap. This book has a universal message. How to waste less. There is a nice introduction by seventysomething Barbara Walmsley, aka the charity [http://www.oxfam.org.uk/ Oxfam's] ''Green Granny.'' Certainly catchy but will it catch on? When I was delving inside the first couple of pages looking for the writer's name (it's not on the front cover) I discovered the phrase ''Printed And Bound In China.'' Defeating the message?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846013674</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|author=Patricia Nicol
|title=Sucking Eggs: What Your Wartime Granny Could Teach You About Diet, Thrift and Going Green
|rating=2.5
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=In the current economy, lots of people are trying to make ends meet in their own ways. Not since the days of Brownie badges has the word ''thrift'' been bandied around so much, but now it's not so much about saving money as it is about surviving. Actually, maybe it always was, but the Guiding Association thought a jolly piggy bank was a more appropriate badge emblem than a depressed family collapsed in front of their Sky TV with their supermarket-own curry struggling to fill the void left by a regular take away. What we all need is a return to the good old days, when life was simpler and people happier, the days when you didn't need to clear half an hour in your diary to navigate the olive aisle of the supermarket, and when you ate what was fresh and local, not because it was cheap or you were in the mood, but because it was all they had.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099521121</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|author=Natasha McElhone
|title=After You: Letters of Love, and Loss, to a Husband and Father
|rating=3.5
|genre=Biography
|summary=What would you do if, without warning, your brilliant, loving, superman partner died from a catastrophic heart event at the untimely age of 43, leaving you with two young boys and a third on the way? Most of us would probably reach for the Valium and book a very long course of counseling. But Natascha McElhone couldn't because she was already stretched, juggling a busy transatlantic career as an actress as well as caring for her sparky young family. Coping as a single parent left no spare time for self-indulgence; within months she had a new baby as well. So she found her own way, grabbing instead at odd moments to write in her well-established diary. These short entries … e-mails, almost … to her dead husband form the basis of 'After You'.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0670919098</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|author=Joanna Simmons and Jay Curtis
|title=The Aargh to Zzzz of Parenting: An Alternative Guide
|rating=4.5
|genre=Home and Family
|summary='All in all, having kids is an intense rollercoaster ride. It plunges up and down, and there’s lots of screaming and vomiting involved.' So that pretty much sums it up. Advertised as: 'a comprehensively unhelpful, advice-free look at life', the authors talk about Antecedents and Behaviour, without (fortunately) going too deeply into the Consequences of several dozen baby-related topics. But this definitely isn’t the rocket science of a parenting manual, or the touchy-feely of a misery memoir, rather a blackly comic gallop round pragmatic parenthood, instantly recognizable by anyone who’s been through the mill themselves.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>022408626X</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|author=Chris Barnardo
|title=Dadcando: Build, Make, Do ... the Best Way to Spend Quality Time with Your Kids
|rating=4
|genre=Crafts
|summary=The ideas in this book originated as a [http://www.dadcando.co.uk/ website] that Chris Barnardo set up for divorced and separated fathers to help them spend quality time with their children Now he's written a book that although aimed at single fathers is equally as useful for married dads, and mums too or grandparents or carers to inspire crafty ideas of things to make with kids.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0852652011</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|author=Tess Daly
|title=The Baby Diaries: Memories, Milestones and Misadventures
|rating=3.5
|genre=Home and Family
|summary=One of the many side effects of pregnancy seems to be the need to read everything you can get your hands on about pregnancy and babies. I know that when pregnant with my daughter I trawled the library for any baby books they had, scoured the internet nightly for due date calendars, week by week guides and baby name dictionaries. I also became an obsessive baby-watcher, interested in any celebrity baby news and willing to speak to anyone 'normal' that I met who was pregnant too or who already had children. This book is aiming to be a sort of catch-all for pregnancy obsessives I think, as it's a mix of pregnancy and birth advice and information alongside of Tess Daly's memories from her pregnancies with her two daughters.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091935164</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|author=Evany Thomas
|title=The Secret Language of Sleep: A Couple's Guide to the Thirty-nine Positions
|rating=3
|genre=Home and Family
|summary=This volume takes the premise that the positions in which couples sleep together are an insight into their private mind. Therefore, with the help of the line drawings of 39 (apparently all of THE 39) positions, one might see where one is going wrong. It’s a chicken and egg situation where you might learn you’re with the wrong bed partner, and change either them or your nocturnal habits, or in order to change yourself alter things having reflected on the contents here – with the help as they suggest of a ceiling-mounted camcorder.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1932416471</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|author=Fraser's Autographs
|title=Collect Autographs: An Illustrated Guide to Collecting and Investing in Autographs
|rating=4.5
|genre=Business and Finance
|summary=There must be many of us who have at one time had an autograph book or something of the kind as children and asked friends, relations or even celebrities to 'do something', written to celebrities in the hope of obtaining a personally signed picture, or even waited patiently at a stage door after a play or concert eagerly clutching a theatre programme, record or CD sleeve and pen in hand.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0852597525</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|author=Sonali Fernando
|title=Soul Mates: True Stories From The World of Online Dating
|rating=2.5
|genre=Home and Family
|summary=Internet dating is no longer the new taboo it once was. These days, whatever type of person you are, and whatever type of person you're looking to meet, you can take your pick from any number of sites. Yes, even 'Guardian' readers can log on and look for love specifically with, erm, other 'Guardian' readers. To do so, they just have to click through to 'Guardian Soulmates', which is probably no different from 'Match.com' or 'Datingdirect', though might count a larger proportion of sandal wearing hippies among its members.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>085265202X</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|author=Jethro Adlington
|title=Online Therapy: Reading Between the Lines
|rating=4
|genre=Home and Family
|summary=You can get most things online these days and even therapy is becoming more widely available on the internet. It might seem like a simple step to take but many of the signals beyond the spoken word are not available to the online therapist. In a face-to-face situation body language is an added form of communication and even small changes in skin tone can give clues as to state of mind. In a situation where these clues are not available it's essential to make the most of ''all'' the clues offered by the written word.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904312748</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|author=Keith Hern
|title=Bangers and Mash
|rating=4.5
|genre=Home and Family
|summary=Keith Hern found a small lump in his neck and when the results of the tests came through he tried to put the appointment off as he had something more pressing to do, but the doctor was insistent. He knew then that he had cancer. The lump in his neck was, in fact, a secondary tumour with the primary being in the back of his tongue. But for the secondary tumour the discovery of the primary might have been too late for successful treatment. Keith takes us through the discovery of his cancer, his reactions to the diagnosis, his treatment and the titular meal of bangers and mash – the first solid food which he had attempted for some time.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904312772</amazonuk>
}}