Weeks 21 to 25
This is a loooong one.
I ended May by visiting my sister in London and spending time with my nephew (!). I spent June celebrating a birthday at a luxury spa (!), celebrating Eid with my family, trying new recipes and generally just working my ass off. The month brought more incredible life changes to welcome me into July (!) :)
I’m dedicating this post to the friends that have gently pushed and bullied me into continuing my reviews. I dropped the ball, found it hard to start again and dreaded tackling the looming amount of reviews I had to write.
The Story of a Heart by Rachel Clarke
I read this because it was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Non Fiction 2025. At the time of writing this, it won! I read Rachel Clarke’s first book in 2020, which was about hospice care. I actually remember reading it in early March, having been sent on the first train home a week before the first lockdown. I enjoyed her first book - but I can say with my hand on my heart (forgive the pun) that Clarke’s writing has developed so much.
The Story of a Heart is the true story of Max and Kiera. Max is a young boy whose heart has been slowly deteriorating, his condition getting worse. His will to live is weakening, and his family are worried. His doctors are worried. Kiera is a young girl who has suffered fatal injuries in a car crash that same day; as her sisters and father crowd around her, trying to get their last goodbyes in, brushing her hair and painting her nails, they reaslise she would want her organs to be donated. And so Kiera’s organs are matched with Max’s. So begins the story of Kiera’s family’s selflessness, Max’s family’s gratitude and the crazy hard work of the NHS in transporting Kiera’s heart to Max. This book was well written, tying in the magic of organ donation, its history and the stories of Max and Kiera. It’s simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming, and well-desserving of winning the Women’s Prize.
Rating: ★★★★★
Evenings and Weekends by Oisin McKenna
I wasn’t crazy about this book but it came highly recommended! It’s a book of characters, primarily Ed, Maggie and Phil. They’re older than they want to be, in positions they don’t necessarily want to be in. Set over the course of a weekend in London, we see the different ways they grapple with their lives and maturity. Maggie, desperate to hold onto her youth and romance. Ed, running away from a part of himself he cannot outrun. Phil, trying to shed his sense of shame as he explores the dynamics of a situationship. The other characters exist to provide context to Ed, Maggie and Phil, whilst also adding enormous stress to the weekend.
I think I enjoyed this, but not massively so. The characters felt like they were missing something; some kind of warmth or logic to make them likeable or to make the reader empathetic to their situation. I found myself frustrated, wanting the story to end sooner.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzen
Ageing is so scary to me, and this book felt hard to read at times. Bo, once much stronger and much younger, is now reliant on daily carers and his son. This book details, through snapshots of diary entries, Bo’s loss of autonomy, and perhaps worse, the handing over of that autonomy to his son. The son he raised, now making decisions for him, against his wishes. Always seemingly in his best interests. But you can feel the tension in this book - of Bo wanting to do the things he’s done his entire life, of his heartbreak over his loss of control of his own life, but also of Hans, his son, trying to do the right thing, trying to keep his father safe whilst also having his own life. Difficult to read, watching Bo’s life slowly deplete of the things he enjoys most, but a very good book I don’t regret reading. One that teaches me to be slightly more patient with my own parents.
Rating: ★★★★★
Pathfinding by Kerri Andrews
Oh, I loved this! Kerri Andrews’s specialism is writing about women walking and the history of it all. After she gives birth, she begins to slowly start walking again - always inviting people with her, especially fellow mothers. Interwoven with stories of the history of women walking, particularly linked with motherhood and having a baby strapped to you 24/7, this book felt uplifting in it’s examination of how life changes after motherhood, and finding yourself again. I raced through this, abandoning my other books in favour of travelling through the countryside with Andrews, feeling her sorrow at how difficult some walks felt, her self-doubt and eventually her pride as she realises all that she is (still) capable of. I would read anything she writes again.
Rating: ★★★★★
Logging Off by Adele Zeynep Walton
I think I had a particularly good week of reading here, because I loved this too. I follow Walton on social media, and counted down the days for this books release, reading it in one day on my birthday!
It’s a heartbreaking story. Walton’s sister commits suicide, in a hotel room with a stranger she met on the internet, after being encouraged to do so on internet forums specifically dedicated to encouraging peopele to commit suicide. I felt the sorrow when Walton described the pain of her sister’s final moments being with a stranger, that she would never know how her sister felt. Was she scared? Was she frightened? Did she regret it? She will never know. I love my sisters, and could not imagine the grief that comes with that lack of closure.
Specifically, though, Logging Off is about Walton’s critique of social media, and the algorithm designed to keep us on our phones. It feels far superior than other tech books, because whilst it exposes the darker side of the internet, social media addiction and how we are all being played by Big Tech into staying on specific apps, it’s deeply personal. It’s also written by someone who has used the internet in the exact same way as I have; hours scrolling through Tumblr late into the night, experiencing the joys and woes of an online community. Because of this, it feels like her methods for reducing screen time and consciously using social media are real and practical, but most importantly, trustworthy. A heavy read, but an excellent and even necessary one.
Rating: ★★★★★
Care and Feeding by Laurie Woolever
It’s no surprise I love memoirs, and after reading Julia Child’s and Stanley Tucci’s memoirs, I love ones about food. The intensity of the kitchen, the pull to be in an environment so hectic, it seems to leave you permanently wired. Laurie began working under Mario Batali, and describes the quirkiness of his kitchen (not in a good way) and being under his wing. After some time, she quits and begins working with Anthony Bourdain.
And when the book actually talked of the moments where Laurie worked with Bourdan and Batali, the book was interesting and fun. But the other side of this book felt dull and made me want stop reading. I’m not particularly interested in the self indulgence that came with writing about addiction and partying, and this book featured a lot of it. It wasn’t what I wanted from a food-memoir.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
I don’t feel like I need to write much here. I love Twilight. I have read through New Moon at least 40 times (usually in one night), and Eclipse probably more than that. There are lines from Twilight seared into my memory, and it felt incredibly fun to dip myself back into being a 12 year old again, reading this book for the first time and finding myself hooked on Bella and Edward’s intensity.
Rating: A nostalgia-filled ★★★★★
Ripeness by Sarah Moss
This is my first novel from Sarah Moss, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I enjoyed what I read. Ripeness is a novel about Edith, telling 2 stories at once. In the present day, Edith lives in Ireland, having moved from England. She enjoys being divorced and retired, and spending her time walking, practising yoga and spending time with her friends. Her best friend, an Irish woman named Maebh, reaches out for her support and help when she finds out she has a random American brother who like to meet her. As Edith supports her, she finds herself thinking about a summer she spent in rural Italy with her sister, uncovering her sister’s secret and trying to support her, as sisters do.
I really enjoyed this. Some of Moss’s observations felt so clever and thoughtful. It’s a novel about family, finding your family, making your home, but also the deeper part of belonging to a place. The parts in rural Italy didn’t stand out to me at first, but after a while they became just as enjoyable as the side set in the present day.
Rating: ★★★★★
I Want To Go Home, But I’m Already There by Roisin Lanigan
I was hesitant to read this at first, because it was described as a sort of ghostly horror. And I don’t enjoy horror, and especially ghosts. My colleagues poke fun at me for refusing to into a certain building after being told it was haunted.
I Want To Go Home, But I’m Already There is about Áine. She moves in with her boyfriend, Elliott, into a flat that marks the beginning of adulthood. They live in a suburb of London, no longer on the tube line. They have a regular pub outside of their home. Most importantly, they’re moving in together for the first time.
But after a while, Áine begins to feel like there’s something wrong with their new home. The furniture becomes terrifying, the flat grows mould that begins to make her feel weaker and weaker. She becomes obsessed and fearful of the upstairs neighbour. She begins to act out of character, much to the frustration of Elliott, who would simply like to come home and find his girlfriend acting normally. As they begin to clash, it becomes all too apparent that their relationship is struggling, and that something will have to give eventually.
I really enjoyed it. I loved the writing - it’s exactly the kind of writing that makes me want to sit and finish a book in one sitting. I loved the setting of London, the commentary on the housing market, the slow descent of Áine into madness.
Rating: ★★★★☆