‘Paris Echo’, by Sebastian Faulks. I’m told that the first sentence is key to writing a bestseller. And, on picking up a copy of Seb’s ‘Paris Echo’, I know this to be true. I read the first sentence: ‘I was taking a pee in the bathroom when I caught sight of myself in the mirror.’ (p.1) Recalling my…
Tag: book review
Savvy Book – The Last
Well, I survived! I, Jay Cool, blogger extraordinaire, got to the end of Hanna Jameson’s, dystopian novel, ‘The Last’ (available at Waterstones) and I’m still here! I’m still here, but I’m pretty certain I won’t be the last to survive to tell the tale. This book is an absolute must-read; I was unable to think about anything…
Savvy Book – Fuse
Imagine a post-apocalyptic world in which all the computer game obsessed teenage boys have survived their parents. Hours and hours … days … months and years, as the physically inactive controllers of their own alternative realities, rewarded! Rewarded with survival. Whilst the basement-based boys live on, oblivious to the detonations of nuclear bombs, their above…
Silly Book – The Midnight Gang
Big news! If the discerning reader chooses to take every story that appears in The Mirror at face value, then a hypnotist recently created mass hysteria in a London park by making a gaggle of fully-clothed volunteers believe that they were ‘naked’. Immediately, my worst recurring nightmare comes back to me – the one where, desperate…
Savvy Book – Time to Say Goodbye
Disclaimer: If you purchase a featured book, via the image links below, I will receive a commission from Waterstones at no extra cost to yourself. Sorry Harper Collins, but I refuse to pander to the trend for non-capitalised titles, just as you refuse to pander to me – an old-school child of the seventies. It…
Savvy Book – Look at Zoos
Feeling flat following the grand finale of ‘The Durrells’ TV series? Missing Corfu? Me too! And I’m especially gutted about the end of the romance between Louisa and Spiro. Okay, it was inevitable – of course, he couldn’t leave his children behind on Corfu! And we all knew it would end this way, but that…
Savvy Book – Hinch Yourself Happy
Courtesy of my good friend, Waterstones, I just finished reading Mrs Hinch’s book of cleaning tips, ‘Hinch Yourself Happy’! Not being the tidiest of people (currently surrounded by mountains of dusty books), the last thing I expected was to become a convert. Why then, yesterday, did I find myself googling ‘Deflora’ to find out how to…
The Yellow Male: Silly & Savvy Words
Inspired by a reading of Peter Wohlleben’s book: The Hidden Life of Trees Disclaimer: Should you choose to purchase the featured book, Jay Cool will receive a commission from Amazon at no cost to yourself. Bright yellow. The colour of catkins. And the colour of maleness. Besides their male counterparts, the flowers of femaleness…
Gingerbread: Book Review
Disclaimer: This post contains image links to the associated products on Amazon. Should you choose to purchase, I will receive a commission from Amazon at no extra cost to yourself. Ginger. The best hair colour on this planet. The colour of the sun and the colour that drew me into Dinsdale’s world. But, in…
Today: A Poem Inspired by Matt Haig
Disclaimer: If you choose to purchase, via the link to Amazon, the book associated with this poem, I will receive a commission – at no cost to yourself. Today. Today, as I await my special breakfast, my special for-being-a-mother breakfast, I will read all of the books I bought yesterday – well, perhaps just one…
