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{{Frontpage|classauthor=Claire Dederer|title=Monsters: What Do We Do with Great Art by Bad People?|rating=3|genre=Politics and Society|summary=Dederer sets out to unveil what she calls a ''biography of the audience'' in a deconstructed, thoroughly nitpicked, exploration of the old aphorism of separating the art from the artist in the context of contemporary ''cancel culture''. Dederer's work is original and expressive. The reader gets the impression that the thoughts simply sprang and leapt from her brilliant mind and onto the page. In particular, the prologue packs a punch: she simultaneously condemns and exalts the director Roman Polanski, an artist she personally admires for his art, and yet despises for his actions. This model of ''monstrous men'' as she calls them, is consistent for the first few chapters, interrogating the likes of Woody Allen, Michael Jackson and Pablo Picasso. Her critical voice is acutely present throughout, never slipping into anonymity and maintaining her own subjectivity, as she holds it so dearly, and a personal, rather than collective voice.|isbn=1399715070}}{{Frontpage|author=Virginie Despentes|title=King Kong Theory|rating=4|genre=Autobiography |summary=''King Kong Theory'' is a hard-hitting memoir and feminist manifesto, which can be seen as a call to arms for women in a phallocentric society broken at its core. Originally written in French, the book is a collection of essays in which Virginie Despentes explores her experiences as a woman through the complex prism of her varied life: from rape to sex work and pornography. Though these discussions are intertwined, their placement within the book can feel somewhat disjointed, a reflection of their original form as independent essays.|isbn=191309734X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1009473085|title=The Conservative Effect 2010 - 2024|author=Anthony Seldon and Tom Egerton (Editors)|rating=5|genre=Politics and Society|summary=Sometimes it's simpler to explain a book by describing what it ''isn't'' and that applies to ''The Conservative Effect: 2010-"wikitable" cellpadding2024 - 14 Wasted Years?''. If you're looking for an easy read which will deliver the inside story about what ''really'' happened on certain occasions, then this isn't the book for you. If that's what you're looking for, I don't think Anthony Seldon's book, {{amazonurl|isbn=B0BH7SKG2S|title="15" <Johnson at 10}}, can be bettered for those tumultuous years. It's a compelling read and should be compulsory for anyone who thinks Johnson should return to politics. ''The Conservative Effect'' is an entirely different beast. It's the seventh book in a series which looks at the impact a government has made and co-editor Sir Anthony Seldon regards this as the most important. This book follows the well-established format: a series of experts from various fields review the state of the nation when the coalition took over in 2010, the changes that occurred and the situation in 2024.}}{{Frontpage|author=Alastair Humphreys|title=Local|rating=5|genre=Travel |summary= Alastair Humphreys has walked and cycled all over the world. And then written about it. For this book he walked and cycled very close to home and then wrote about it. As he says in his introduction, the book is an attempt ''to share what I have learnt about some big issues from a year exploring a small map. Nature loss, pollution, land use and access, agriculture, the food system, rewilding…'' One of the joys of the book for me was that the biggest thing he learned about all of these things was that there are no easy answers, no single 'right or wrong', that every upside is likely to have a downside for somebody and that there are some hard choices ahead.|isbn=1785633678}}{{Frontpage|author=Edel Rodriguez|title=Worm: A Cuban American Odyssey|rating=4|genre=Graphic Novels|summary=We're in childhood, and we're in Cuba. The revolution has happened, and Castro, first thought of as a saviour of the country, has proven himself a Communist, and not done nearly enough to create a level playing field for all. Well, those hours-long speeches of his were kind of taking his time away. Our narrator's family weren't in the happiest of places here, an uncle refusing to be the good soldier the country demanded (especially as he would probably be shipped off to some minor pro-Communism skirmish, such as Angola) and the father being watched and watched, and not liked for his successful photography business, success being frowned upon. The mother gets the couple jobs with the party to ease some of the heat, but in this sultry island country, it remains the kind of heat forcing you out of the kitchen…|isbn=1474616720}}{{Frontpage|author=Sarah Wilson|title=This One Wild and Precious Life: the path back to connection in a fractured world|rating=3.5|genre= Lifestyle|summary= My favourite Mary Oliver line is the one in which she asks ''What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?'' I get to love that line so much because my answer is ''This! Precisely this.'' I'm lucky enough to be living my one wild and precious life the way I want to. Sarah Wilson is equally lucky. In her book that takes Oliver's words as her title (though I can't see that she acknowledges the source) she pushes us to think about whether we really ''are'' living the life we want – the best life that we could be living. Her answer is an unequivocal ''no, we are not''. Don't care what you're doing, she thinks you (we, I) could be doing more…And she's effing furious about the fact that we are not.|isbn=1785633848}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1785633457|title=Charging Around: Exploring the Edges of England by Electric Car|author=Clive Wilkinson|rating=5|genre=Travel|summary=Clive Wilkinson has a history of travelling by unconventional means with a preference for slow travel. As he neared his eightieth birthday the idea of exploring the edges of England in an electric car was not totally outrageous. In fact, it should be a pleasant holiday for Clive and his wife, Joan, shouldn't it?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529153050|title=Britain's Best Political Cartoons 2022|author=Tim Benson|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=Seeking some light relief from the current political turmoil which is coming to seem more and more like an adrenaline sport, I was nudged towards ''Britain's Best Political Cartoons of 2022''. Sharp eyes will have noted that we're not yet through the year: the cartoons run from 4 September 2021 to 31 August 2022. Who can imagine what there will be to come in the 2023 edition?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=B0B7289HKQ|title=Conversations Across America: A Father and Son, Alzheimer's, and 300 Conversations Along the TransAmerica Bike Trail that Capture the Soul of America|author=Kari Loya|rating=4|genre=Travel|summary=Kari (that rhymes with ‘sorry’, by the way) wanted to spend some time with his father and the period between two jobs seemed like a good time to do it. The decision was made to ride the Trans America Bike Trail from Yorktown, Virginia to Astoria, Oregon - all 4250 miles of it - in 2015. They had 73 days to do it -slightly less than the recommended time - INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HEREbut there were factors which pointed this up as more of a challenge that it would be for most people who considered taking it on. Merv Loya was 75 years old and he was suffering from early-stage Alzheimer's.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1739593901|title=22 Ideas About The Future|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary=''Our future will be more complex than we expected. Instead of flying cars, we got night->vision killer drones and automated elderly care with geolocation surveillance bracelets to track grandma.''

<!I've got a couple of confessions to make. I'm not keen on short stories as I find it easy to read a few stories and then forget to return to the book. There's got to be a very compelling hook to keep me engaged. Then there's science fiction: far too often it's the technology which takes centre stage along with the world-building. It's human beings who fascinate me: the technology and the world scape are purely incidental. So, what did I think of a book of twenty- Bremner two science fiction short stories? Well, I loved it. }}{{Frontpage|author=Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams |title=The Book of Hope |rating=5|genre=Politics and Society |summary= The done thing is to read a book all the way through before you sit down to review it. I’m making an exception here, because I don’t want to lose any of the experience of reading this amazing book, I want to capture it as it hits me. And it is hitting me. This beautiful book has me in tears. |isbn=024147857X}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1788360737|title= Artivism: The Battle for Museums in the Era of Postmodernism|author=Alexander Adams|rating=2|genre= Politics and Society|summary= Can art ever be apolitical? All art is political because art is not made in a vacuum. It is made by people. Antonio Gramsci stated that ‘’Every man… contributes to modifying the social environment in which he develops’’. Therefore, all art must be political, even implicitly. Alexander Adams in his new book ‘Artivism: The Battle for Museum in the Era of Postmodernism’ is adamant that art is freer when it is art for art’s sake. The recent trend of so-called artivism has caused artists to become more overtly political (read: left wing). Their seemingly grass roots movements have been astroturfed by large “left->wing” donors and media elites hoping to create a more globalist and progressive regime. Or at least that’s what Alexander Adams believes.}}{{Frontpage|-isbn=1398508632|title=The Wilderness Cure|author=Mo Wilde|rating=5|genre=Lifestyle| stylesummary="width: 10%; verticalIt had been on the cards for a while but it was the week-alignlong consumer binge which pushed Mo Wilde into beginning her year of eating only wild food. The end of November, particularly in Central Scotland was perhaps not the best time to start, in a world where the normal sores had been exacerbated by climate change, Brexit and a pandemic. Wilde had a few advantages: top; textthe area around her was a known habitat with a variety of terrains. She had electricity which allowed her to run a fridge, freezer and dehydrator. She had a car -alignand fuel. Most importantly, she had shelter: center;"this was not a plan to ''live'' wild just to live off its produce.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529149800[[image|title=Things You Can Do:Bremner_Us.jpgHow to Fight Climate Change and Reduce Waste|author=Eduardo Garcia and Sara Boccaccini Meadows|rating=4|genre=Home and Family|linksummary=httpWe begin with a telling story. All the birds and animals fled when the forest fire took hold and most of them stood and watched, unable to think of anything they could do. The tiny hummingbird flew to the river and began taking tiny amounts of water and flying back to drop them into the fire. The animals laughed://wwwwhat good was that doing.amazon ''I'm doing the best I can'', said the hummingbird.co And that, really, is the only way that we will solve the problem of climate change – by each of us doing what we can, however small that might be.uk/dp/0525533184/ref}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1638485216|title=nosim?tagBlack, White, and Gray All Over: A Black Man's Odyssey in Life and Law Enforcement|author=Frederick Reynolds|rating=5|genre=Autobiography|summary=thebookbag-21]]''Corruption is not department, gender or race specific. It has everything to do with character. Period.''

The murder of George Floyd, a forty-six-year-old black man, on 25 May 2020 by Derek Chauvin, a forty-four-year-old police officer, in the US city of Minneapolis sent shock waves around the world. We rarely see pictures of a murder taking place but Floyd's death was an exception. The image of Chauvin kneeling on George's neck is not one which I'll ever forget and the protests which followed cannot have been unexpected. There was a backlash against the police - and not just in Minneapolis: whatever their colour or creed they were ''all'' tarred by the Chauvin brush.}}{{Frontpage|author=Matthieu Aikins| styletitle="verticalThe Naked Don't Fear the Water|rating=4.5|genre=Politics and Society|summary=It's easy to forget at times that The Naked Don't Fear the Water isn't actually fiction, because it reads very much like a well-align: top; textpaced thriller at times. This is not by any means a criticism, but rather a testament to how well Matthieu Aikins – a Canadian citizen who decided to accompany his friend as a refugee from Afghanistan through Europe – recounts a vast and at times painful journey. There are tense moments and gripping accounts of border crossings which had me on edge the whole way through. But it's written with a haunting and almost lyrical quality that allows the reader to perfectly envisage the environments and people described.|isbn= B09N9157T6}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1785633074|title=Staggering Hubris|author=Josh Berry|rating=4.5|genre=Humour|summary=Members of Parliament like us to believe that the country is run by politicians, headed by the Prime minister - the ''primus inter pares'' (that's for those of you who are Eton and Oxbridge educated) but the reality is that the ''prime'' movers are the special advisers - the SPADS -alignwho are the driving force behind the government. We are in the privileged position of having access to the memoirs of Rafe Hubris, the man who was behind the skilful control of the Covid crisis which was completely contained by the end of 2020. You might not know the name now but he will certainly be the man to watch.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1846276772|title=The End of Bias: left;"How We Change Our Minds|author=Jessica Nordell|rating=4.5|genre=Politics and Society|summary=[[Us vs ThemAnyone who is not an able, white man understands bias in that they may no longer even recognise the extent to which they suffer from it: it's simply a part of everyday life. White men will always come first. The Failure able will come before the disabled. Jobs, promotions, higher salaries are the preserve of the white man. Even when those who wouldn't pass the medical become a part of an organisation it's rare that their views are heard, that their concerns are acknowledged. It's personally appalling and degrading for the individuals on the receiving end of Globalism by Ian Bremmer]]the bias but it's not just the individuals who are negatively impacted.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529148251|title=Misfits: A Personal Manifesto|author=Michaela Coel|rating=5|genre=Politics and Society|summary=''How am I able to be so transparent on paper about rape, malpractice and poverty, yet still compartmentalise? It's as though I were telling the truth whilst simultaneously running away from it.''

[[image:4Before you start reading ''Misfits'' you need to be in a certain frame of mind.5starYou're not going to read a book of essays or a self-help book.jpg You're going to read writing which was inspired by Michaela Coel's 2018 MacTaggart Lecture to professionals within the television industry at the Edinburgh TV Festival. You might be ''reading'' the book but you need to ''listen'' to the words as though you're in the lecture theatre. The disjointedness will fade away and you'll be carried on a cloud of exquisite writing.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0008350388|linktitle=Category:{{{We Need to Talk About Money|author=Otegha Uwagba|rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:=5|genre=Politics and Society|Politics summary=''To be a dark-skinned Black woman is to be seen as less desirable, less hireable, less intelligent and Society]]ultimately less valuable than my light-skinned counterparts...'' ''We Need to Talk About Money'' by Otegha Uwagba

It wasn't supposed to be like this, was it? Every day seems to bring yet more news of doom and gloom'0. The spectre 7% of terrorism hangs over most of the world, fuelling refugee crises and worries about national security. People keep saying that robots are coming to take all our jobs. Anti-establishment political parties are making huge gains English Literature GCSE students in countries all around the world. And inequality is as much England study a book by a writer of colour while only 7% study a book by a problem as it ever was – if not more sowoman. [[Us vs Them: '' ''The Failure of Globalism by Ian Bremmer|Full Review]]Bookseller'' 29 June 2021

<!-- Wolff -->|-| style="width: 10%; verticalOtegha Uwagba came to the UK from Kenya when she was five years old. Her sisters were seven and nine. It was her mother who came first, with her father joining them later. The family was hard-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Wolff Trumpworking, principled and determined that their children would have the best education possible.jpg|left|link=https There was always a painful awareness of money although this did not translate into a shortage of anything://wwwit was simply carefully harvested.amazon When Otegha was ten the family acquired a car.co For Otegha, education meant a scholarship to a private school in London and then a place at New College, Oxford.uk/gp/product/1408711400?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1408711400]]}}

I was going to argue. I mean, cows are for cheese (I couldn't consider eating red meat...) and I much prefer my elephants in the wild but then I realised that I was quibbling for the sake of it. Essentially that quote sums up my attitude to animals - and I consider myself an animal lover. If I had to choose between the company of humans and the company of animals, I would probably choose the animals. I insisted that I read this book: no one was trying to stop me but I was initially reluctant. I eat cheese, eggs, chicken and fish and I needed to either do so without guilt or change my choices. I suspected that making the decision would not be comfortable.}}{{Frontpage| styleisbn="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"1523092734|title=A Women's Guide to Claiming Space|author=Eliza Van Cort|rating=5|genre=[[Fire Politics and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff]]==Society|summary=''She brings a hug-kick-thunderclap that every woman needs in her life. Again and again and again.'' (Alma Derricks, former CMO, Cirque du Soleil RSD)

[[image:4''To claim space is to live the life of choosing unapologetically and bravely.5star It is to live the life you've always wanted.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]]''

As I began listening Sometimes the reviewing gods are generous: at a time when violence against women is much in the news, ''A Women's Guide to Claiming Space'' by Eliza Van Cort dropped onto my desk. Now - to be clear - this book is not a 'how to disable your attacker with two simple jabs'Fire and Furymanual: Inside it's something far more effective, but discussion at the Trump White Housemoment seems to be about how women can be ''protected' '. I've always thought that women need to rise above this, to be people who don't need protection, people who claim their own space. If all women did this, those few men who are violent to women would realise that we were treated are not just an easy target to be used to prove that they are big men.}}{{Frontpage|author=Polly Barton|title=Fifty Sounds|rating=4.5|genre=Politics and Society|summary= Where do I start? I could start with where Barton herself starts, with the unedifying spectacle of question ''Why Japan?'' Japan has been on my radar for a while and if the President of world hadn't gone into melt-down I would have visited by now. I may get there later this year, but I am not hopeful. And like Barton, I don't know the United States taking answer to Twitter to establish that he was the question ''a stable geniuswhy Japan?''She explains her feelings in respect of the question in the first essay, which is on the sound ''giro' '' – which she describes as opposedbeing, among other things, we must conclude the sound of ''every party where you have to being an unstableintroduce yourself''.|isbn=1913097501}}{{Frontpage|author=Stephen Fabes|title=Signs of Life|rating=5|genre=Travel|summary= I was brought up on maps and first-person narratives of tales of far away places.I was birth-righted wanderlust and curiosity. WellUnfortunately, letI didn's not go theret inherit what Dr. It's a little too frightening: this is Stephen Fabes clearly had which was the most powerful man in the worldguts to simply go out and do it. So what made me listen to this book? Well, Donald Trump I also didn't want me inherit the kind of steady nerve, ability to talk to read it: US presidents donstrangers and basic practicality that would have meant that I would have survived if I had been gifted with the requisite 'bottle't often go down that road and rarely to a good destination (. In order words I'm thinking not the sort of Richard Nixon here) person who will get on a bike outside a London hospital and that made me really want to know what was between the coversnot come home for six years. But how Fabes did the book stack up? [[Fire precisely that.|isbn=1788161211}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1504321383|title=Single, Again, and Again, and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael WolffAgain|author=Louisa Pateman|rating=4.5|Full Review]]genre=Autobiography<br>|summary=''You can't be happy and fulfilled on your own. You are not complete until you find a man''.

<!-- Anderson -->|-| style="widthThis was what Louisa Pateman was brought up to believe. It wasn't unkind: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Anderson_Fantasylandit was simply the adults in her life advising her as to what they thought would be best for her.jpg|left|link=https://www It was reinforced by all those fairy tales where the girl (she's usually fairly young) is rescued by the handsome prince who then marries her so that they can live happily ever after.amazon Few girls are lucky enough to be brought up ''without'' the expectation that they will marry and have children.co It was a belief and it would be many years before Louisa would conclude that ''a belief is a choice''.uk/gp/product/1785038656?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1785038656]]}}

 | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Fantasyland by Kurt Andersen]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:History|History]], [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] Fantasyland covers the history of America from 1517 to 2017 in awesome detail. Covering five centuries of tempestuous history, Andersen paints the conjuring of America in vivid relief. Discussing everything from pilgrims to politicians, the exhilarating gold rush to alternative facts, seminal episodes are explored in forensic detail with razor sharp wit. [[Fantasyland by Kurt Andersen|Full Review]] <!-- Connolly -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Connolly_working.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1911585363?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1911585363]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Know Your Place: Essays on the Working Class by the Working Class by Nathan Connolly]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] Simple summary: ''Know Your Place'' is an anthology of essays on the working class by the working class. There are twenty-three disparate pieces talking about everything you can imagine: day trips to the seaside, access to the arts, food poverty, pub culture, glass ceilings, housing estates, vulgarity-as-class-marker, and much more.  And a full disclosure: ''Know Your Place'' was brought to fruition by crowdfunding and I was a contributor. I read the proposed spec and just ''knew'' I would love the book, should it reach its fundraising target, and that's why I stumped up some cash. I think class is both an under- and mis-discussed topic with working class people defined externally and talked about rather than listened to or allowed to define themselves. And I really did love the book just as I thought I would. So you know - there's a possible reviewer bias here that you should know about. I like to think I would have criticised ''Know Your Place'' had it fallen short of my hopes for it but just in case, I'm letting you know. [[Know Your Place: Essays on the Working Class by the Working Class by Nathan Connolly|Full Review]] <!-- Smith -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Smith_Dont.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/147212345X?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=147212345X]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Don't Let My Past Be Your Future: A Call to Arms by Harry Leslie Smith]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]], [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]]  Don't Let My Past Be Your Future: A Call to Arms is part autobiography and part rallying call for society to tackle the systemic, endemic and debilitating inequality faced by the people of the United Kingdom, particularly in the North. Through reflecting on his own experiences during his childhood, Harry Leslie Smith has painted a frank and uncompromising picture of the grim, appallingly miserable childhood he had to endure due to the poverty faced by his family contrasted with the, shamefully still, grim and miserable lives many people endure today in a country ravaged by cuts, austerity and political turmoil. [[Don't Let My Past Be Your Future: A Call to Arms by Harry Leslie Smith|Full Review]]<br> <!-- Bristow -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Bristow China.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1910985902?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1910985902]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[China in Drag: Travels with a Cross-dresser by Michael Bristow]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]], [[:Category:Travel|Travel]] Having worked for nine years in Bejing as a journalist for the BBC, author Michael Bristow decided to write about Chinese history. Having been learning the local language for several years, Bristow asked his language teacher for guidance - the language teacher, born in the early fifties, offered Bristow a compelling picture of life in Communist China - but added to that, Bristow was greatly surprised to find that his language teacher also enjoyed spending his spare time in ladies clothing. It soon becomes clear that the tale told here is immensely personal - yet also paints a fascinating portrait of one of the world's most intriguing nations. [[China in Drag: Travels with a Cross-dresser by Michael Bristow|Full Review]] <!-- Landreth -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Landreth_Swell.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1472938941?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1472938941]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Swell by Jenny Landreth]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]], [[:Category:Sport|Sport]], [[:Category:Biography|Biography]] I love Jenny's own description of her book as a waterbiography and I love her encouragement that we should each write our own. This is more than just (I say ''just''!) a recollection of the author's own encounters with water; it's also a history of women's fight for the right to swim. That sounds absurd until you start reading about it, then it becomes serious. Not too serious though – because Jenny Landreth is clearly a lover of the absurd. Not a lover of book blurbs myself, I do always seek to give a shout-out to those who get it dead right: in this case I'm definitely with Alexandra Heminsley's ''giggles-on-the-commute funny''. [[Swell by Jenny Landreth|Full Review]] <!-- Maconie -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:MACONIE_lONG.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1785030531/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Long Road From Jarrow by Stuart Maconie]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Travel|Travel]], [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] I cancelled my ''Country Walking'' magazine subscription about a year ago and the only thing I miss is Stuart Maconie's column. His down-to-earth approach and sharp wit belie an equally sharp intellect and a soul more sensitive than he might be willing to admit. Let's be honest, though, I picked this one up because of someone else's review, in which I spotted names like Ferryhill and Newton Aycliffe. Places I grew up in. Like Maconie I have no connection (that I know of) to the Jarrow Crusade but when he talks about it being ''a whole matrix of events reducible to one word like Aberfan, Hillsborough, or Orgreave'' then somehow it does become part of my history too. Tangentially, at least. [[Long Road From Jarrow by Stuart Maconie|Full Review]] <!-- Grindrod -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Grindrod Outskirts.jpg|left|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1473625025/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Outskirts by John Grindrod]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Animals and Wildlife|Animals and Wildlife]], [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]] ''Outskirts'' is an interesting take on a phenomenon of the modern age: the introduction of the green belt of countryside surrounding inner city housing estates. John Grindrod grew up on the edge of one such estate in the 1960's and '70's, as he puts it, ''I grew up on the last road in London.'' Grindrod explores the introduction of the green belt, and the various fights and developments it has gone through over the subsequent decades, as environmental and political arguments have affected planning decisions. Within this topic, he has somehow managed to wind around his personal memories of childhood, producing a memoir with a lot of heart. [[Outskirts by John Grindrod|Full Review]] <!-- Elkin -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Elkin_Flaneuse.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0099593378?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0099593378]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Flaneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice and London by Lauren Elkin]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:History|History]], [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]] Lauren Elkin is down on suburbs: they're places where you can't or shouldn't be seen walking; places where, in fiction, women who transgress boundaries are punished (thinking of everything from ''Madame Bovary'' to ''Revolutionary Road''). When she imagines to herself what the female version of that well-known historical figure, the carefree ''flâneur'', might be, she thinks about women who freely wandered the world's great cities without having the more insalubrious connotation of the word 'streetwalker' applied to them. [[Flaneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice and London by Lauren Elkin|Full Review]]<br> <!-- Noor -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Noor_Surgery.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1521173192?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1521173192]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Surgery on the Shoulders of Giants: Letters from a doctor abroad by Saqib Noor]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]], [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] The letters begin much in the fashion of any young man away from home, perhaps in a quite exciting country, writing back to family and friends to tell them of his experiences, the sights he's seen and the people he's met. It's just a little different in ''Surgery on the Shoulders of Giants'' though: Saqib Noor is a junior doctor, training to be an orthopaedic surgeon and over a period of ten years he visited six countries, not as a tourist but to give medical assistance. They're countries which Noor describes as ''fourth world'' - third world with added disaster - and their need is desperate. [[Surgery on the Shoulders of Giants: Letters from a doctor abroad by Saqib Noor|Full Review]]<br> <!-- O'Gorman -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Ogorman_Forgetfulness.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1501324691/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Forgetfulness: Making the Modern Culture of Amnesia by Francis O'Gorman]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] After a glut of books about mindfulness it came as something of a relief to encounter ''Forgetfulness'', Francis O'Gorman's thinking on why the twenty-first century is losing touch with the past, on why what is likely - or could be made - to happen is so much more important than what has gone before. The book is supremely intelligent, but with the knowledge worn lightly and it's eminently readable, regardless of how you feel about the conclusions he draws. [[Forgetfulness: Making the Modern Culture of Amnesia by Francis O'Gorman|Full Review]] <!-- Williams -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Williams_Culture.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1784870811/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Culture and Society 1780-1950 by Raymond Williams]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] From the last decades of the eighteenth century to the final words of modernism, this book tracks societal changes through exploring five key words: industry, democracy, class, art and culture. The meanings of such things, their essence, changes as per their use and the era in which their implications were considered. [[Culture and Society 1780-1950 by Raymond Williams|Full Review]] <!-- West -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:West_Get.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1845409337/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Get Over Yourself: Nietzsche for our times by Patrick West]]=== [[image:1star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] ''Get Over Yourself'' considers Nietzsche's imagined perceptions of modern society and uses our society to explain his philosophy. I'm sorry if that sounds vague but it's the best I can do from the blurb on the back. After reading Get Over Yourself from cover to cover, I am still none the wiser about the purpose of this book. It appears to be a series of personal opinions held together with quotes, which don't always appear relevant, from Nietzsche, Chumbawumba and newspaper articles. [[Get Over Yourself: Nietzsche for our times by Patrick West|Full Review]] <!-- Scott-Clark -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Levy_Exile.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1408858762/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[The Exile by Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] An account of the fate of Al Qaeda and the Bin Laden family since the events of 9/11, ''The Exile'' plunges into the murky waters of international terrorism, espionage and politics. Detailed and meticulous, the book tackles the subject from all angles, providing a panoramic view of the subject and acting Move to enlighten and inform the reader. [[The Exile by Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy|Full Review]] <!-- Clarkson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Clarkson_Can.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471156907/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Can I Speak to Someone in Charge? by Emily Clarkson]]=== [[image:4.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Newest Popular Science Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] Can I Speak to Someone in Charge?, blogger Emily Clarkson's debut book, is a fierce, witty and laugh-out-loud funny ode to feminism. In a series of open letters, she addresses the issues faced by every modern woman, discussing everything from dealing with body hair to being made to feel uncomfortable in the gym, as well as more personal issues, like her experiences of being 'catfished' and sent abuse online. This is a vital read for any girl born in the 1990s, tackling some very serious social injustices beneath its fun exterior. [[Can I Speak to Someone in Charge? by Emily Clarkson|Full Review]] <!-- Asher -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Asher_Man.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1471156907/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Man Up by Rebecca Asher]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Politics and Society|Politics and Society]] When a couple of years ago my university introduced compulsory consent workshops along with an option of 'good lad' sessions for boys, all debate broke loose. Shouldn't consent be self-evident for everyone? Would the workshops reinforce the stereotype of 'laddish' boys? Would it all be about pointing fingers at boys and victimizing girls? What about non-binary people? In short, how could these workshops be anything else than a mission doomed to failure? [[Man Up by Rebecca Asher|Full Review]] <!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->|}