Alex the Book Reviewer

  This book is so much fun.    Harriet Manners is a geek and not really very happy about it. Her best friend drags her to a Clothes Show where Harriet accidentally gets discovered by a modelling agency. Could this turn Harriet's life round? It sounds sort of twee and cliched, doesn't it? But it's really not. Harriet is a great character, totally likeable and identifiable. Finding herself, finding that she can like herself without being someone she's not, finding that it doesn't matter if some people don't like her. A perfect message for your teen (or nearly teen) girls! The only character that is super cliched is Wilbur the agency scout. Totally camp and over the top. I mean he definitely provide some big laughs with his terms of endearment but it did feel vaguely lazy. It's written in a really enjoyable and engaging way, not at all patronizing or holier than thou. Just enjoyable, funny and a great positive message to boot. I was very excited to find out tha...

  What a bloody stupid book. If you fancy screaming (in your head of course - I'm not completely insane), "wtf are you doing?", and "why tf would you do that?", and "for goodness sake, just tell her/him/them", then this is the book for you. I'm not wasting any more of my time on this book! Sorry Shari Lapena.

  I honestly can't even put into words how much I loved this book! I even went on to buy it for two friends as I wanted so much to spread the joy! It's just utterly charming from beginning to end. Evie is a 16 year old girl, quite naive and innocent but not easily shocked... well, other than by her farmer neighbour's penchant for cows. She's trying to find her place in life, decide her future and deal with the potential new stepmother. It's set in 1962 in sunny Yorkshire in a small village. Her mother died when she was a baby, she grew up with just her dad. She regularly visits her older neighbour, who was good friends with her mother, and loves the stories of the neighbour's mysteriously absent but glamorous and exotic sounding daughter. It's a coming-of-age summer for Evie as she plots to get rid of the entirely unsuitable stepmother whilst decidig what she wants to do with the rest of her life. I could have stayed with the characters forever. It's jus...

 I read this book purely because the cover reminded me of Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch, which I loved. It's not even remotely similar. I'm not really sure why they used this cover. Is it because the bird's body is unremarkable? Because I don't think it is! I think it's sort of lovely. I probably spent way too much time thinking about this than was strictly necessary. Anyway, back to the book. This is the sort of story that reminds me why I'll never be a novelist. It's sort of not really about anything. I mean, it is, of course, and it all leads to one major (if slightly superfluous) plot point at the end. The Unremarkable Body is that of Laura's mother, who Laura finds early on having fallen down the stairs. The Coroners report, interspersed throughout, reduces her mother to an unremarkable body. Essentially the story is about relationships and finding out secrets and coping with grief and life. It just sort of pootles its way along until the finale. ...

   I had this one as an audio book. I actually downloaded it by mistke. I thought I was just clicking on "info". But I'm really, very glad I did. It's starts in Uganda under the rule of Idi Amin. I don't really know a huge amount about that time in Uganda or Idi Amin. I think I remember him dying, or losing power, but I was 6 in 1979 so maybe not! My only other real knowledge is from the film The Last King of Scotland, which is excellent, by the way. Highly recommend. Anyway, the story follows a fairly well-off middle class Asian family after Idi Amin announces that all Asians (non-Ugandans?) were to be expelled.  It starts with their fear, disbelief and uncertainty, only the oldest generations having ever lived anywhere else. Then their struggles as they are forced apart - India won't allow some of them in to India and Britain won't have the others. When Uganda got its independence back from the UK, all Asian people were forced to decide whether to get In...