Author Archives: Shanutopia

Book List: 50 Nonfiction Books + Some Additions

Lists of books are tricky for all the reasons one might expect: subjectivity, taste, culture, etc. The most common influence I see is time, as in ‘this year’, ‘the 21st century’, ‘the last 10 years’, and so on and so … Continue reading

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Review: The Witchfinder’s Sister by Beth Underdown

This could have been so much more than it was. I love the genre of books where the main characters are notorious or famous people, and the narrator of the book is close to them (think Amadeus the play/film for … Continue reading

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Books I’m Reading

Amazon knows how to hook you and keep you hooked. One day I noticed that it charged my credit card for Kindle Unlimited. I must have signed up for a trial or something, but I didn’t remember doing that as I’d not … Continue reading

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Things No One Wants to Hear Me Go On About Any More

Religion, atheism, how I can’t stand religion, we should end religion, tax the churches, religious people are hypocrites, there is no god, everything that is bad is religion Kids are not my thing, I don’t like kids, can you please … Continue reading

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Review: Into the Void by Joe Simpson

Ah, the joy of finishing a book after a streak of not finishing anything! It’s been January since I finished a book, and I was getting very discouraged and feeling like reading was a burden instead of a pleasure. Thankfully … Continue reading

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Confession: I read more than one book at a time

I am not always good at focusing. I do best when I have a deadline, preferably one where someone is waiting for me to do something for them. I’ve always loved reading and although its a solitary pastime it’s something … Continue reading

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Review: My Struggle Book 1 by Karl Ove Knausgard

I don’t remember why I bought this book and left it on my kindle for six months. I think it was listed in several different reviews saying it was brilliant and it was an unusually candid memoir, so maybe that’s why … Continue reading

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Novels in the Time of Dystopia

There are some news stories circulating that say Orwell’s 1984 is trending on Amazon and that publishers are having to print more books to keep up with demand (one story is here). Whilst 1984 is one of my favourite books, I view … Continue reading

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The 100 Page Rule

In book club we are often faced with reading books we would not normally choose to read as they are not our normal taste in books. We do vote for book choices, but sometimes your choice isn’t the winner (even … Continue reading

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The Polarising Power of Poetry

The name of this article struck me and forced me to read it: Why Do Some People Hate Poetry? Why the hatred of poetry? What has it done to you? Ok, maybe it tortured you in your early school years with … Continue reading

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