Blame My Shelf

Lullaby, also known as The Perfect Nanny, is another novel that has been particularly lauded this year. The short narrative centres around aspirational lawyer Myriam on her return to work, where she and her husband Paul thrust their two small children Mila and Adam into the care of Louise. Louise, as titles may suggest, seems to be the perfect nanny. She is motherly and cares for them as if they were her own, and to Myriam and Paul’s surprise and embarrassment, and later, reliance, cooks their meals and cleans their tiny “stifling” Paris apartment before Louise creeps back to her own, cold and decrepit apartment to savour limited hours of sleep before she starts the cycle again. Inevitably, Louise and the families’ lives become entwined, working hours become blurred and job description thrown aside to help them out in any way she can. The crux, as we find in the first sentences of the book, is that Louise has killed the two children in her care. The writing style is simple – ...

Celeste Ng – Little Fires Everywhere Be wary of a narrative that switches perspectives between numerous characters, for sometimes, it is darting wildly trying to conjure an interesting story because the writer is unable to do so with limited characters. Frustratingly, Little Fires Everywhere is not one of those. Whilst the narrative focuses on several characters and darts between their perspectives, the characterisation is unrivalled in anything else I have read this year. Central to the story is Shaker Heights, a middle to upper class development and community of perfectly designed houses and roads that were designed so children didn’t have to cross them on their way to their over-performing schools – “the underlying philosophy being that everything could – and should – be planned out.” Our focus is on the Richardsons, a family who seemingly embodies the Shaker spirit and values. Trip, the athletic older son, Lexie, the lithe and attractive girl to be feared, arty outsid...

Feminists Don’t Wear Pink and Other Lies – Scarlett Curtis Scarlett Curtis has curated the voices of many different women, all of whom are feminists into one thought provoking book in the Instagram magnet shade of Baker Miller Pink. The voices featured are varied in background and age and profession, and this will contribute to its success. The medium of the book is further varied – ranging from short poetry, a letter on how to raise boys as feminists, mission statements and simple to do lists. We hear from accomplished actresses alongside women’s rights activists and schoolgirls, but what they all have in common is their unashamed, unabashed feminism. Predictably, I did not enjoy every section of this book – at times I found the point of view put across a little simplistic, or lazy, or written in a way as to avoid the real subject. However to contrast that, there were writers contained that I did not expect to enjoy, who put a message across in a way I had not considered b...

Prescribing a morning-after pill in A&E. The patient says, "I slept with three guys last night. Will one pill be enough?" I can’t have been the only person to assume that when you are waiting 5 hours in A&E, it is undoubtedly due to one of the doctors polishing his solid gold bust and deciding which shade of suede he is going to order his Ferrari in. Whilst this is of course, an exaggeration, as we are all aware of the enormous pressures that the NHS is under, but there is that niggling sentiment lying dormant. Adam Kay opens the door to the surgical ward, specifically the gynaecology ward where he delivered thousands of babies and worked for inhumanly long stretches – I’m not sure I’ve ever been awake for 24 hours, let alone worked that many in a row. Tales of working the morning of your wedding because you can’t get the time off, and weekly working hours clocking in the region of three numbers, inevitable relationship breakdown and hardship beyond what I h...

Perhaps I have not been around long enough to know that this genre of book has always been written, or perhaps I am right and the memoirs with scatterings of collected pieces of writing, whether that be recipes or poetry or lists, have become increasingly popular recently. However I feel that Everything I Know About Love, is a really good example of one, the best I have read. It does not have the political awareness and social comment that Lena Dunham and Caitlin Moran’s counterparts do, and it is not as self-absorbed or career orientated as “celebrity” books of this genre can be. Thereby making it an easy read, easily engorged in a day or two. Dolly Alderton, a journalist and previous Made in Chelsea producer chronicles the disaster that is most people’s twenties. There is plenty here to relate to, especially if you are of a certain age, such as heart-break, soul crushing and cringe inducing first dates, MSN messenger, and general drunken debauchery. It is true to the time-...