Seven Billionth of the World's Opinion

An emotionally charged novel, we learn of Klaudia’s shame over her German father, Otto, causes her to shirk from him as a child and to change her identity as an adult. This because she suspects he had committed atrocities during the Holocaust. Buy from Amazon And so the story is told from three (or rather two) viewpoints: Klaudia, her new identity, Eliza and Otto’s brother, Ernst. Shame over Nazi Heritage Klaudia is brought up in 80’s Wales in a small community where news travels fast and secrets are hard to keep. The result? Bullying at school, involving the Third Reich. This sets the catalyst for Klaudia’s new identity in the form of Eliza later in life. But her decision has consequences when she falls for Cosmo, who she hides the truth from. Poor Cosmo has the patience of a saint with Klaudia, who gives him confused messages, which gets a little irritating after a while. Her shame is tinged with self-centredness. We also live through the eyes of Ernst, Otto’s ...

The story is set in a horrific girl’s finishing school, where protagonist, freida is born to be brainwashed into being the ‘perfect’ eve. In other words, to be as close to a showroom dummy as possible: impassive, slim and obedient. Not even their names deserve to be capitalized. Buy from Amazon Novel about and Anorexia and Dysmorphia This novel is making an important point about society’s pressures on women to be perfect in looks and behaviour. And so we are showered with descriptions of what the eves are wearing, their bitching and competitiveness as they dine at the low-carb table. At times, these descriptions repeat somewhat and I found myself gleaning, getting the point. But soon, the eves are to graduate via a ‘ceremony’ where ‘inheritants’, (young boys) will pick the best of the eves to become their companions. The leftovers will be scrapped to become concubines or chastities or worse, cast to the Underground. Freida is not too bright, allowing herself to beco...

A compelling account on how Jimmy Savile fixed it for the British nation to be hoodwinked. This indepth book opens with the chapter entitled  Apocalypse Now Then . The distinction between the defacing of a tombstone on a Scarborough hillside and the glitzy life of Jimmy Savile could not be more extreme. I grew up with Savile on TV. He always grated on me for no definable reason. I felt obliged to ‘like’ him because he was the oldest teenager on  Top of the Pops , did lots for charity and was one of England’s great eccentrics. Even as a young child, I just couldn’t like him. But what a shocking story Davies tells. Savile's Interviews with Dan Davies Buy from Amazon Few can be more qualified to write about Savile’s life than Davies, who first met Savile during a  Clunk Click  episode, where he got spooked into a lifelong obsession on the man behind the cigar smoke. Davies met Savile numerous time throughout his journalistic life, stopping in the ‘Duches...

According to the government’s obesity and healthy eating policy, most people in Britain are overweight or obese. This means that the risk of developing heart disease, cancer and diabetes are rife. But I find it no surprise when I see the dire state of our supermarkets. The food they stock is a disgrace. Why the Government Action to Tackle Obesity in Britain will Not Work I took this pic in the Coop Superstore Their strategy might sound good on paper, but will not work in practice, and I’ll tell you why in a moment. For now, government’s strategy informs on: Having a healthy diet and getting exercise. This includes getting people to eat their 5 a day, reducing fat and salt, reducing portion sizes as well as alcohol intake. Better labeling on food and drink to help consumers make healthier choices Include healthy menus in restaurants. Local councils to provide health services for obese people. Their ‘call to action’ makes the statement that it is everybody’...

I was sold by the blurb and the opening of this thriller. A priest is murdered via overdose during shenanigans and then is thrown out of the window, mantel and all to plummet deathwards .Well, what isn’t there to hook the reader? We don’t know who the killer is, there are some colourful characters and the writing was fine. But I didn’t anticipate the next reading. In fact, I got distracted by another book halfway through and that is never a good sign. Thriller with Colorful Characters When I returned to the Violet Hour, I found I didn’t care much about what happened. There was a fair amount of aimless bantering between characters, it seemed, to illustrate the nature of cousins Nicky and Joe’s relationship, as well as the mete of the other hustlers in the neighbourhood. Nicky is a regular good guy with a lot of weird associations, only I didn’t care. Thriller about Halloween Past Halloween 1988 has significance to the killer and he is out for revenge for a traumatic even...

This book seemed to be written with Matt Damon in mind, although I haven’t seen the film. Most of the story is told through abandoned astronaut, Watney’s log, which is tinged with tongue-in-cheek comments such as, ‘I’m off to play with drugs and radiation’ and ‘yay, I’m pretty much f..cked.’ Buy from Amazon Science Fiction with Realism But this irony is what really defines this book as well as an entertaining lesson on physics and chemistry. Stuck with seventies TV and disco as entertainment provides contrast against the harsh realities of Mars. So, Watney is stranded on Mars after his team, believing him dead, cut their mission short. Knowing what we now know about Mars, the book asks ‘what if...?’ There are no little green men, only dust storms, low gravity, extreme cold and the sterile environment. In Bond fashion, Watney has to find creative solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems. And the answers lie in a combination of potatoes, duct tape and sending Morse ...

This mystery thriller has a strong beginning, drawing the reader in with a multitude of questions. A wife living a blissful domestic life is interrupted by news that her pilot husband has been killed in an air crash off the cost of Ireland. But the nightmare is just beginning when Kathryn soon realises her husband was not the man she thought he was. Buy from Amazon Thriller of a Double Life Shreve’s strength lies in her compelling narrative of the protagonist’s inner thoughts and resultant difficult emotions when investigator, Roger keeps coming back with questions about the cause of the crash. Had it been suicide? Political? An accident? Nothing seems to fit. This thriller demonstrates how a woman living in domestic blissful life can be blind to her husband’s indiscretions. Her belief their marriage had been watertight falls apart, as well as her former identity which she questions. What had her role been in this long-standing marriage? Revealing a Murky Past Aft...