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Sunsets and Fireworks

English literature, mostly

The Flatshare: Inhabiting Tiffy’s Bubble

The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary has been widely praised by seemingly anyone who has ever read it. If you want…

beth o'leary, book, book reviews, popular fiction, reviews, the flat share

Valley of the Dolls – A depressive backdrop to love

Jacqueline Susann’s The Valley of the Dolls, is widely considered a thinly veiled fiction, a roman a cléf. A reputation…

analysis, book review, books, feminism, jacqueline susann, novels, reviews, valley of the dolls

At the woman’s hands: Empire Falls

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2001, Richard Russo’s Empire Falls narrates life in the small town, Empire Falls, which…

book review, contemporary, empire falls, fiction, reviews, richard russo

‘The Taming of the Shrew’: 400 years later, wishing the misogyny away

It’s often hard to see why or how a Shakespeare play can be classed as a ‘comedy’, and ‘The Taming…

book review, elizabethan, jacobean, play, renaissance, review, the taming of the shrew, william shakespeare

The Atrocity Exhibition: JG Ballard’s experimental dream sequence

JG Ballard described the make-up of The Atrocity Exhibition as ‘condensed novels’. And it is so well-written, albeit somewhat deliberately…

atrocity exhibition, book review, books, jg ballard, reviews, writing

Imitation

Busy. Head is so busy. If it isn’t out there, it’s in here, it’s all just so loud. Brain busy…

experiment, fiction, personal, writing

The Way We Live Now: A Victorian Expose

Published in 1875, Trollope’s The Way We Live Now was one of the last significant Victorian novels to be published in monthly…

anthony trollope, book review, books, literature., reviews, the way we live now, victorian literature, writing

‘I see her back, and reflect it faithfully’: Murdoch and Wilde’s ‘terrible fish’

Published almost 100 years apart, The Black Prince and The Portrait of Dorian Gray in many ways hold a mirror up…

book reviews, books, iris murdoch, mirror poem, oscar wilde, review, the black prince, the portrait of dorian gray, victorian

Ahearn’s Roar: Saccharine and Simplistic

Cecelia Ahearn’s Roar: A Story for Every Woman is a collection of thirty short-stories which read like fairy tales, with each…

book review, books, cecelia ahern, reviews, roar

The Beauty Myth: Capitalism’s Ugly Byproduct

The Beauty Myth published in 1990, belongs very much to the second-wave of feminism. Wolf examines the notion that women must…

book review, books, feminism, naomi wolf, our shared shelf, reviews, second wave feminism, the beauty myth, writing

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About

25 year old, living in the UK. Mostly post book reviews, usually through a feminist lens. Studied English Literature, passionate about good prose. Pisces.

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