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Big Little Lies

For the last few weeks I’ve been seeing trailers on TV for a new must-see drama on Sky Atlantic called “Big little lies” starring Reese Witherspoon. Surely, I thought, that’s not based on the book I read a year or so ago by Liane Moriarty, an Australian author who specialises in low-key, domestic “women’s” stories, where the seeming mundanity of the character’s lives hides all sorts of nefarious goings-on. It transpires it is one and the same, transplanted to California from a small beach-side community near Sydney – further confusion is caused by the fact that the book was originally

Vinegar Girl

Previously, I reviewed Eligible, Curtis Sittenfeld’s take on Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, so as a kind of companion piece I’ve decided to do one of the Hogarth Shakespeare series: “The world’s favourite playwright. Today’s best-loved novelists. Timeless stories retold” runs the tag-line. So does this re-write of The Taming of the shrew live up to the hype? 
Well no, not at all, thank God. Good old Willie Shakespeare may have written some excellent plays but this early effort of his, telling as it does the story of a high-spirited, smart-talking woman who is brow-beaten into submission and

The Good Wife

A thoroughly enjoyable and interesting show - great to watch after a lively day.

The Girls

An intense and atmospheric novel about a teenage girl whose life becomes intertwined with that of a sinister cult like group one hot claustrophobic Californian summer.

Patient: The True Story of a Rare Illness

A cathartic read for anyone who has experienced the kind of illness and medical intervention that divides life into Before and After. A forthright reflection of lived authority.

Naming Jack the Ripper

The identity of Jack may never be proven, but this book has a good shot at it. It's the story of the dna study of an item of clothing said to belong to one of the victims. It may not be totally convincing but is a must read for anyone interested in the Ripper murders.

Blackwater Lightship

The book is based on three generations of an Irish family in 1990’s Wexford who gather to support their brother who has AIDS. The subject matter and characters were sensitively drawn and the book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

Chaos, Magic and the Band who burned a million pounds

“With the recent cryptic announcement that the KLF may be returning to the world stage this year there is no better time to read John Higgs' brilliant book on one of the most anarchic and unique British musical groups of the last century. The KLF were composed of artists Bil Drummond and Jimmy Cauty and produced a series of hit singles mixing early hip hop and dance music.
John Higgs’s book is more than a typical rock bio, instead spending a great deal of time discussing the KLF’s philosophical influences in the form of Dadaism, Robert Anton Wilson’s Illuminatus trilogy and the Discordanist’s

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