Wow. An incredible play, and essays around it. Kind of winded by it, both in my gut and my brain. Need to sleep on and think about these powerful words and their raw, unnerving (triggering so be warned) emotive effect as Scottee discusses growing up gay in working class London and his relationships to working class men and vice versa. Not for the faint hearted but worth the experience and the thinking afterwards, which I still need to do more of.

I read this in two sittings, loved the prose and structure and feel like I lived within this town. The ending has me pondering. But I think in a good way. I just need a bit of time mulling it over before I review it...

Not long finished Everything I Never Told You which I‘ve devoured in 2 sittings. We follow the Lee family initially after eldest daughter Lydia disappears before alternating between the past, the now and future following her body being found. It looks at the inheritance of hopes, dreams and things not accomplished. It looks at how history and society mouldy family‘s. It‘s about race, culture and class. All with the pulse of a thriller. Brilliant.

‪I‘ve so many thoughts I can‘t quite sum up the brilliance of Ali Smith‘s Winter other than by saying it‘s blown me away. It‘s like a great conversation that makes you think all the thoughts. I‘ve loved it. ‬I‘ll review properly when my brain stops fizzing from the immediacy of reading it.

‪Just finished this little dark gem of a novella about forbidden love and suppressed sexuality. Starts slowly (and a bit wordy) but builds into a moving tale of torturous emotions. After a gently paced beginning, which took a little while to get into, it really grips you and forms one of the most vivid depictions of a mans struggle with his sexuality I‘ve read.

Hard to review this and not feel like you‘re reviewing a woman‘s life, talent and legacy as she was dying when she write these. So I won‘t here but will on my blog in due course. Suffice to say it‘s not what I was expecting/sold but it did move me in parts nonetheless.

This actually very short book has taken me weeks to read because it‘s made me so cross each time I‘ve picked it up again yet somehow I hoped it would pick up. Nope. This is a tale of a man who after his sons suicide decides to loose half his 400 pound weight to make a statement and amends. Many people will love it. I found it moralistic and manipulative.

Discussing and dissecting race, sexuality, America, HIV, gun crime, sex, police brutality, life and death... this is some of the most incredible and vital poetry I‘ve ever read. A must read for all of us.

Sadly a DNF for me. I got about 100 pages in over a week or so (slow for me) and then the next 50 pages were like wading through thick sludge. I think the construct of the novel is what got me. As our protagonist Tessa looks back on her childhood she‘s blocking events out, as you might if you were left for dead by a murderer, but sadly Heaberlin keeps us at such a distance we don‘t connect and I sadly stopped caring and just got a bit bored. Oops.

Weathering is a beautifully written quiet, quirky magical tale of three generations of women. Two alive, one somewhere in between. Her ashes may be in the river but Pearl hasn‘t quite left it or her home & as Ada tries to put her mothers house to rights but keep her past, before the birth of her daughter Pepper, in her hometown behind her she finds that some places, people and memories haunt you and drive you back more than you could bargain for.

Anyone who knows me will know how much I loved Joanna‘s debut, I loved this even more. It‘s about getting old, it‘s about being young, it‘s about the ripples our lives leave, the stories we tell ourselves and each other. It‘s also about finding those long seconds that make a difference and all through the eyes of Florence and those around her living in sheltered accommodation. Broke my heart a bit and I loved it all the more for doing so.

I didn‘t live this. I actually should have given it up when was considering DNFing as I think the more I read the more disappointed I was. Premise is great, evolution is going backwards. The delivery and characters though are dull and a little tired. I just couldn‘t connect. Shame as I‘ve heard Erdrich is meant to be amazing and was looking forward to it.

Finished Her Body and Other Parties tonight. Been savouring this crazy, creepy, queer, quirky, fantastical, fabulist, sinister and sexual collection over a month. Please read it.

What a brilliant thriller. I devoured this in two sittings. I was slightly dubious/cynical about a celebrity writing a book, well shame on me as this had me hooked. It‘s a mix of Erin Brockovich, meets Mean Girls meets dark twisty mystery which enthralled me throughout as lawyer Abigail goes back to home after a decade to take on a huge corporation possibly poisoning her hometown where some demons from the past lie in wait too. Utterly gripping.

1918 WWI is a mere backdrop trouble to the people of Iceland as the Spanish Flu arrives out of nowhere killing thousands. We see this period through the eyes of 16 year old Mani, a hustler; whose mainly sleeps with men for money/pleasure, or goes to the cinema for escapism. Big world dramas & small life dramas have equal importance in a novella that takes you through 3 of the most pivotal months in both Iceland and Mani's histories. I loved it.

A book of interesting ideas and a dark little heart, yet also problematic in its execution. It either needs to be a shorter story just based around our odd (which I liked) narrator and a small boy she befriends and his parents. Or about our odd narrator and her small obsession with another student and their teacher. Together with odd snippets of her life post school (of which many didn‘t make sense) this didn‘t quite work. But it‘s not awful.

Just finished Sara Baume‘s incredible A Line Made By Walking. A novel that tells of a woman‘s delayed reaction/resistance to adulthood and the time when everything changes after the death of her grandmother, with art, death and nature guiding her way sometimes obviously sometimes subconsciously. Quirky. Brilliant. I am pretty sure will be one of my books of the year.

As someone who loves a big old creepy building this tale of two young girls, one in 1982 one in 2017, one in a care home for children the other living in a house that backs on to its now abandoned self, is properly chilling especially with its twist at the end. I really enjoyed it. So will many people of all ages. Spook-tacular. Sorry couldn't help it.

What a dark creepy little f**ked up twisty tale. I was definitely unsettled and unnerved by it and often chilled too. I didn't always get it though. Definitely one for the darker colder nights if you want an odd scary tale. Maybe a library book though as it's so short (c8 seems a tad steep - if I'm allowed to say that.

Last nights bedtime story was an autumnal delight. Beware some mild peril and an occasional sense of dread. Mainly be prepared to be stunned by its beauty.

What a wonderful wonderful wonderful collection of twisted fairytales from Jen. These have been the perfect short stories to completely escape into over the last few days. Get your hands on them come November.

Finished this last night. Once again Jane Harris has created an unforgettable narrator with Lucien, a young man sent with his brother on a mission to Grenada the land they both came on. This is a mission with a twist as Lucien and his brother are slaves and their master has given them the mission to smuggle back the slaves claimed by English invaders. What starts as an adventure soon takes a much darker and disturbing turn. Incredible.

Is there a difference between the truths we tell ourselves and the lies we tell others? E Lockhart once again gives us a marvellously twisty tale with Genuine Fraud which will lead you into the life of Jule, or lives of Jule depending on which story she's telling to you. With shades of Highsmith this is a gripping tale of what makes someone do very bad things and if in doing so they become a bad person? I lived We Were Liars, I loved this too.

Rio Silvestri is a wife, mother and nurse. She lives in America and has what she thinks, and more importantly others think, is a typical life. When her father dies She returns to Japan the country where she was infamous as Chizuru, a girl who murdered another student. Great premise, really interesting read. Lots of themes about identity, what we tell ourselves vs other people. A gripping dark literary novel of unravelling & rebuilding ourselves.

This is a tricky book to review as it's one which has a big twist and is also one of two halves. The pre-twist part of the book I have to admit I didn't love. Rich girl in a school for artistic kids has amnesia after an incident. The section after the incident though is gripping, thought provoking and well written. So if you like slow burners where you know theirs a pay off it could be for you. I'd have liked a punchier first half.

Love, love, loved this. Franklin's Flying Bookshop tells of a dragon (Franklin) who loves books and reading to people but sadly people don't often love him. That is until he meets a young girl called Luna and the best bookish friendship begins... Adorable story from Jen Campbell stunningly illustrated by Katie Harnett. I've already re-read it twice, once to my beloved who also loved it.

Absolutely loved this book. Slightly bereft it's over, what a reading experience. Feel like I lived Flannery and Anne's love affair with them, the highs and the lows. I didn't want it or the book to ever end.

Forgot to share the penultimate book I finished in May (as the last one was so bad) so here it is. Maggie Nelson's bloody marvellous #Bluets I adored. A book all about blue that made me feel anything but. I am in love with her brain.

Great premise. What do you do if a neighbour becomes a slanderous stalker who intimidates you and your family. That makes up approximately 20% of this book. Themes and discussion in class, marriage, abuse, violence, law, politics, family, marriage are all here but sadly due to the narrator they're monosyllabic lectures of a privileged white middle class man with daddy issues. I wanted it to be brilliant. It just made me very cross.

Part memoir and part social study/commentary. This is a fantastic, engaging and thought inducing look at gender, sex, sexuality and all the things in between that cause so much kerfuffle. I found it brilliantly direct, it made me understand something's I'd been puzzled about and left me feeling empowered as a person. I want it to do that for anyone who reads it. And you should read it, whatever you gender, sex or sexuality.

On the day I film a video saying I'm in a slump I read this entire collection in two short sharp sittings. What started off as a titilating tale or two, that I thought were just going for a sexy shock and might get tired, I found a moving and varied collection of quirky queer tales that look at all walks of LGBTQ life in South America. I loved it. Funny, haunting, sexy and spell binding. I would like more from this author. Much more.

At the forefront this is a novel about the refugee crisis, and worlds turmoil, right now (when you read it you'll notice where the books different settings are) yet set in an alternate near now where people can escape through random doors which take them to other countries. It is also a stunning tale of a relationship between Nadia and Saeed who meet in a land on the brink of war in their younger years. I'll say no more other than read it.

After his wife Leda is killed by a swan, Seb heads to Latvia to find out about his wife's past before her knew her after discovering a bundle of letters. With a slight take on the myth of Leda and the Swan, Goldstone creates a haunting tale of grief with tiny sprinklings of myths and folklore. I loved it.

Summer 1984 and someone is moving and taking objects from houses in a village, initially just puzzling 'The Fox' soon becomes a much more menacing prospect when a young woman goes missing and everyone's secrets Starr to become everyone else's business. If you love the secrets behind people's twitching curtains then you'll like this lots.

I didn't think a perfect book could exist, I was wrong. As Michael says within 'It was beautiful and, occasionally, it hurt.' Get ready for me to go on and on and on about Sarah Winman's incredible Tin Man, it's stunning. One of the most beautiful portraits of love, friendship and understanding.

Whilst it's definitely readable The Mare bored me & annoyed me overall. Mainly because of the 'white rich couple take in a poor black girl for a while and bond with her and turn her into horse riding star' cliche, then the perfectly happy married couple who actually are happy cliche and also as I felt like it patronised anyone Dominican from whatever walk of life they came from. A well written book, but a slightly tame, easy and lazy one too.

We follow grieving, wronged and vengeful director Felix as he puts on The Tempest in a prison with a plan for revenge. The first two thirds were good, though occasionally feeling like a Shakespeare lecture. The final third though for me got a bit daft and overlong. For me it wasn't a retelling of The Tempest more a book with a production of The Tempest at it's heart whilst being a book about grief. Enjoyable but a bit average for Atwood.

This book will not be for everyone. It's dark, it's gritty, it's disturbing and it's unflinching. It has some trigger subjects. It's also incredible. It's a modern twisted fairytale about what love (and hate) is and what it means. But I'll just say this. I started it at 1pm. I stayed up till 1am to finish it even though I didn't want it to end.

I liked it enough but didn't want to rush back to it when I put it down which is a shame as I thought I'd love it. Two neighbouring women, one white, one black, hate and spy on each other over the dividing walls of their gardens, that is until circumstances lead them to needing each much to both their displeasure. A tale of race, apartheid, the expectations of women and old age; sadly delivered slightly too saccharine and simply for me.

Need to think about this one a bit as my minds a little blown. In a very good way. Alderman creates an empowering (pun not intended) and in turns terrifying* alternate world where power is literally (and electrifyingly) in women's hands and follows how the power effects them. Which is the greater power; love, hate, survival, revenge?

*Not terrifying because women are in charge but because of what some of them do with their power.

I was, because of the horses and the racing, pretty sure I would hate this book. So imagine my surprise when I was gripped in the dynastic tale of the Forge family who are all frankly horrid and bonkers but oh so readable. The book then takes a twist into the life of Allmon and soon starts to look at class and race in America from the 1960's. This book is jam packed. Just a little unsure on the slightly rushed ending.

The Dark Circle takes us into a tuberculosis sanatorium in the Kent countryside 4 years after WWII. We're invited through its doors with Lenny & Millie, twins both recently diagnosed, we meet those already staying there along with their stories & the siblings before they arrived. I won't say more on the plot because I want everyone to read it but I absolutely loved it. I won't forget the Gwendo or the characters who inhabited it for a long time.

Midwinter is one of those stunning books with few characters, sparse words and yet brims with atmosphere, thoughts and packs an emotional punch. The tale of a father and son and the void between them caused by the death of Cecelia, wife and mother. It looks at nature and the nature of loss, grief and things left unspoken.

Now I'm really torn on this because it could a four star and indeed was earlier but I keep changing my mind. Neve is in an unhappy marriage with an older man, she is estranged from her family, how did she get here, through other actions or her own? That's what this book is really about. And it's quirky and clever, yet sometimes vague and that's where it excels but also falls apart a bit. See. Undecided. Definitely worth a read though.

A fictionalisation of the tale of Lizzie Borden who many believe took an axe to her stepmother and father! Twisted and tricksy, darkly delicious read coming in May. Once you've entered 92 Second Street, Fall River you'll be gripped and won't forget it once it's over.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has the most incredible way with words and how to get her points across with humour and hope. This, a letter to her friend who asks her 'how do I raise my daughter feminist?', was brimming with warmth and power whilst asking us all to check ourselves and how feminist we are when we say what we do and act as feminists.

Nothing alleged about it Tiffany D Jackson's debut Allegedly is superb. Gut punching, wry, wise & twisty. Brilliant. Read it in under 24 hours. Hooked by the story of Mary, who killed a baby when she was 9, allegedly. @HarperCollins

Finished yesterday... When Jules sister is found dead in their home town in the place known locally as The Drowning Pool, she is both horrified and yet unsurprised as Nel was always obsessed with it and the tales of witches and suicides around it. However when things start to look like Nel was pushed not only are their families secrets and fractured relationships but those of the whole town. Brilliant.

Perfect read to get me back in the saddle after my op. The tale of a young Muslim girl who when becoming a superhero can't decide if she should fight as herself or as the superhero she imagines she should be. All good positive messages about celebrating difference. Just wish the plot had a little more clout. But a good start. Will read more.

A hard book to review because its subject is so powerful and it's story so important that to criticise it would seem wrong. So I'll simply say I thought this a very powerful book. Occasionally confusing. Occasionally laborious. Yet overall brimming with energy and truth as well as some vivid characters and some uncomfortable visceral moments.