DEADLINE 27TH of June Theme Dystopia / ACCEPTS short stories, comment pieces and reviews
Analogies & Allegories Lit Mag
DEADLINE 30th of June Theme Transformation / ACCEPTS art, photography, poetry and prose
DEADLINE 6th of July Theme Road Trip / ACCEPTS poetry, prose
DEADLINE 7th of July PAYING / ACCEPTS Poetry
OPENS July 8th Theme Beginnings / ACCEPTS poetry, prose, flash fiction, creative non-fic
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Rating: 4 out of 5.A romp, I think is fair, to describe the Lady Hardcastle mysteries. Aside from liking the setting, the era it is in, the characters, and the plots of the books, it is the dialogue which delights me. When I used to write my own stories, I was often praised by the people who read it how authentic my dialogue was (not that I am bragging) Couple that with my love of television sitcoms and film, I appreciate good dialogue. T. E. Kinsey’s dialogue, particularly between Florence Armstrong and Lady Hardcastle, is a joy because it has wit and speed.
Are these books going to be everyone’s cup of tea/coffee/squash etc? No. If you like a fast-paced book, this isn’t for you. But give it a go. I’m sure I said in *an other review, but that the protagonists are female in this series. That’s everything. I want to see Florence as a character on my TV screen.
*thought this sentence was broke until I realised that should be another
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No sleep for twenty hours. No food for ten.
And a ward full of soon-to-be mothers…
Midwives are there for us at some of the most challenging, empowering and defining moments of our lives. From heart-wrenching grief to the pure joy of a new-born baby, midwife Leah Hazard has seen it all.
But life on the NHS front line, working within a system at breaking point, is more extreme than you could ever imagine.
Moving and compassionate, funny and unexpected, Leah shares her experiences in this extraordinary love letter to new mothers and fellow midwives everywhere.
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Rating: 4 out of 5.Hard Pushed: A Midwife’s Story by Leah Hazard.
Apparently, I read this book. I have no recollection of it.
Get one pound off of this book at Waterstones.
Welcome to 97-hour weeks. Welcome to life and death decisions. Welcome to a constant tsunami of bodily fluids. Welcome to earning less than the hospital parking meter. Wave goodbye to your friends and relationships… Welcome to the life of a junior doctor. Hilarious, horrifying and heartbreaking by turns, these diaries are everything you wanted to know – and more than a few things you didn’t – about life on and off the hospital ward. And yes, it may leave a scar.
Scribbled in secret after endless days, sleepless nights and missed weekends, comedian and former junior doctor Adam Kay’s This is Going to Hurt provides an essential, brutally frank account of what life is like for the beleaguered vanguard of the NHS. Now providing the groundwork for a sell-out stand-up tour, This is Going to Hurt is an unmissable window into Britain’s ailing health system and the lives of the people who are its lifeblood. Simply essential reading.
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Rating: 2 out of 5.This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay.
Why does everyone rave about this book? I did not like it. I’m so confused.
I didn’t find this book funny. It didn’t read funny. The narrator came across as arrogant and parts of the book were immature. I understand that if those parts of the book were from when he was younger. He made jokes at the expensive of his patients. I don’t have medical knowledge, not all of us do and that is why we take trips to the doctor and the hospital. We don’t have the medical knowledge, we didn’t go to university for that like you did?! Why are you expecting your patients to be on the same wavelength as you? I do get that doctors and nurses are not angels and they are human, with a responsible and stressful job. I at least thought they gave their patients respect.
I appreciated where Adam Kay wrote about long hours and low pay. That I do agree with.
I may have to revisit this book. I haven’t seen a bad review for it. Maybe I wasn’t in the mood when I read it.
Have you read This is Going to Hurt? Did you enjoy reading it?
*This book is currently £5.00 at Book Depository and that’s with free shipping.
Horrifying, heartbreaking and eye-opening, these are the stories, the patients and the cases that have characterised a career spent being a doctor behind bars.
Violence. Drugs. Suicide. Welcome to the world of a Prison Doctor.
Dr Amanda Brown has treated inmates in the UK’s most infamous prisons – first in young offenders’ institutions, then at the notorious Wormwood Scrubs and finally at Europe’s largest women-only prison in Europe, Bronzefield.
From miraculous pregnancies to dirty protests, and from violent attacks on prisoners to heartbreaking acts of self-harm, she has witnessed it all.
In this eye-opening, inspirational memoir, Amanda reveals the stories, the patients and the cases that have shaped a career helping those most of us would rather forget.
Despite their crimes, she is still their doctor.
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Rating: 3 out of 5.The Prison Doctor Dr. Amanda Brown.
Liked. The stories did not all feel fully fleshed out and read short. It is good.
This book is only £3.36 at the moment on Book Depository and that is with free shipping.
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Great Expectations by Charles Dickens – I thought this book was longer than it is. It’s actually a reasonable length. I’ve always struggled with Charles Dickens. I know his books are supposed to be humorous? I have never been able to recognise that, trying to get past some of the language and obviously society was different then. I did read Oliver Twist and I liked that one. I will give this a go. I’m sure I have already read some of it.
Howard’s End by E. M. Forster– I read a few pages and I had to put it back down. I find with some classics the way women are spoken of and to is too much. I like to chill with a book sometimes, not only for education and getting angry. I did read A Passage to India by this author, it was recommended by my English teacher at the time and that one I did enjoy. I will have to re-read that.
The Waves by Virginia Woolf – I love the way this woman writes, but. But this didn’t grab me. I put it down and haven’t gotten around to picking it up again yet. I read some of her books and I think I was too young to fully appreciate them. Like Orlando, didn’t get it. I read a lot of classics around the age of 11/12 and while I enjoyed them, I don’t think I fully appreciated when, why etc. they were written and about the writer. I think I just absorbed them.
I love the cover of this book, only cost 80 pence in the 70’s. If only books cost that now. I mean, postage costs a couple of quid.
Far from the Madding Crowd – I read Jude the Obscure when I was 16? Love the name Jude. That’s all it took for me to read it, the name Jude. And that was me done with Thomas Hardy. Done. Too much. Bit like poking a bruise, curiosity made me buy this one, I bought Jude the Obscure too, and perhaps I will read it. Will I re-read Jude the Obscure though? I’m not sure.
Harry Potter makes the acquaintance of a house elf
which gets him into some bother
with his carers the Dursleys
when the house elf smashes a pudding
over the head of Vernon Dursley’s work colleague’s wife’s head
when not at Hogwarts, a school for young witches and wizards
locked in his room his best friend Ron
and his twin brothers come to his rescue
in a car that happens to be floating outside of his barred bedroom window
worried, they have arrived to take Harry to their home
the Burrow.
Not sure whether i was attempting to write a review, summary or poem for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ first few chapters, but it’s not very good. Far too many words beginning with w. Back to the drawing board.
