Essentially: we’re born, we control a fragile body, we enjoy a small strip of sensory reality, and then we die. This book explains how science may give us the tools to transcend that evolutionary story. Read about hopes to have our brains downloaded and about those who are forking out considerable sums to have their severed heads committed to storage in canisters (that hold up to 5 heads) at -196 centigrade in the rather feint hope that someday the technology will exist to revive them and give them a further and indefinite term of life…presumably stitched back onto available, headless bodies

Donal Ryan’s third book has been criticised as being unrealistic, over-the-top and promoting stereotypes in it’s portrayal of the traveller community, and yes it is all those things, as well as having a singularly unsympathetic main character in Melody Shee, an unhappily married woman who is pregnant by her 17 year old literacy student. But I found it to be one of the most satisfactory reads of last year, the language is forceful, brutal at times, but refreshing, like a splash of cold water in the face. Rather than damn it as not being true to life I would class this novel as other-worldly

This book is based on the Sky1 programme of the same name which sees Karl Pilkington, having recently turned 40, travelling around the world to see how other cultures approach the big issues in life. The only time Karl ever asked himself “Why are we here?” was when his girlfriend booked them a surprise holiday in Lanzarote. This time he’s travelling alone, and without the sniggery, puerile bullying of Gervais & Merchant he is hilarious, self-deprecating, humane and at times pure genius. His unique, mundane way of seeing the world in contrast to the weird and wonderful freak shows he encounters

A strange and beautiful book, glinting with humour, about nothing and everything.

I thought this book was wonderful. It features how to grow vegetables and provides a recipe to cook your freshly grown veg! What a lovely idea to keep children and adults active. Everyone enjoys a home cooked meal (prepared by the children). The book also encourages healthy living and eating and getting back to nature.
Getting muddy, dirty and lots of outdoor adventure what child would resist

A tale of adultery, love, lust, hate, guilt and God, The End of the Affair is obviously based loosely on Greene's own life. It's well known that Greene, a Catholic, had an affair with Lady Catherine Walston, the wife of the Labour peer Harry Walston, and that has heavily influenced the novel's main characters Bendrix and Sarah….. [Spoiler atlerts!] Sarah is married to a civil servant but begins a passionate affair with the writer Bendrix. The affair ends suddenly and Bendrix becomes obsessive, wanting to find out why it came to an end. They meet again some years later but Bendrix is full of