The Hate U Give tells the story of Starr as she navigates life after witnessing her friend Khalil being shot by police. Set in Garden Heights, a predominantly black neighbourhood, the book follow Starr's turn to activism. I listened the the audiobook version of The Hate U Give, brilliantly narrated by Bahni Turpin. Turpin really…
Did I draw this? Frame or bed, hole could be window, flesh could be flat, nobody looking, One body prostrate, another attending. Another beautiful poetic prose book by Max Porter, The Death of Francis Bacon is a brief tale of Bacon's final days. In April 1992, Bacon fell ill in Madrid, taken to a convent…
Veronica Roth's latest novel is the start of a contemporary fantasy series set 10 years after the defeat of the 'Dark One'. The story begins with Sloane, one of the five Chosen Ones, struggling to cope with normal life and unfolds to reveal a greater plot at work. I was first drawn to this book…
This is a book I've been eager to read ever since I first heard of it. There is always a slight worry when someone comes to adapting Shakespeare's work or his life for a modern audience. Sometimes it can work brilliantly - see the film Shakespeare in Love is lighthearted, bawdy and completely in tune…
The Winter Ghosts is a mysterious story of Freddie, still grieving the loss of his brother in the Great War, finding himself stranded in a French village. Visiting the village Ostal, he meets Fabrissa. Yet, come morning, it seems as if it might have all been a dream. The story follows Freddie as he fights…
What should have been a moment of triumph for me, standing up for myself and even settling the matter without blows, turned oddly sour as I realised that the kids around me were now afraid of me. By so daringly stepping away from my role as victim, I was to be feared, or at least…
A boy at the beginning of a story has no way of knowing that the story has begun. Erin Morgenstern's long awaited second book explores the very idea of stories. We follow Zachary, a video game player and book nerd, on his journey to get to the Starless Sea and submit to fate. From a…
I first read Malorie Blackman's Noughts and Crosses years and years ago and, of course, was excited to watch the TV show last month. Noughts and Crosses is an alternative reality in which the native African people colonised the Europeans. Set in an alternative 21st century Britain in which the Crosses (darker skinned people) dominate…
Altogether it takes seven billion billion billion atoms to make you. No one can say why those seven billion billion billion atoms have such an urgent desire to be you. Bill Bryson's latest book takes us on a journey through the human body. Starting at the top with the head and the brain right down…
If anyone else, like me, has been stuck in self isolation for a week and only managed to reread Harry Potter and other old favourites, here is a short list of books to try out: Persepolis Satrapi's graphic novel tells the story of her childhood in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution. It is part of…
Conversations with Books 