I Read, Therefore I Blog

The Blurb On The Back:

This is Michael’s story.

Join him as he enters the world with tiny feather eyelashes. Travel from school to college, where he discovers his flock, and comes to terms with his identity as a mixed-race gay teen. At university, take a seat in the audience and watch him find his wings as a drag artist, The Black Flamingo.

A bold story about discovering that only YOU get the privilege of choosing who you are. There is power in embracing your uniqueness. What’s your story?

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Dean Atta’s contemporary LGBTQ+ YA novel (sensitively illustrated by Anshika Khullar) is a sympathetic coming of age tale that’s beautifully told in verse and which is a moving reflection of the intersectionality issues of being bi-racial and gay in modern Britain and trying to find your own place and identity. It’s a beautifully written book that I found very touching and I can well understand why it’s on so many YA prize shortlists.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

Go deeper, they said. Look closer.

Pleo Tanza is a survivor. Her father was broken by tragedy, her twin sister is dead - chewed up and spat out by the corruption and injustice of Chatoyance - but she’s going to make it, whatever it takes. She’s going to get off this rock.

But escape is for the rich or lucky. Pleo’s framed for the murder of a rival student - the daughter of one of the colony’s wealthy, squabbling clans - and goes on the run, setting off a chain of events that could destroy the fragile balance of the old colony forever …

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Eeleen Lee’s debut SF thriller (the first in duology) successfully creates a future that feels very alien while also facing similar issues of unaccountable corporations, unchecked oligarchies and systemic corruption. However the thriller part didn’t work as there’s so much world building that the pacing falls away while the mystery is a little obvious but there’s a lot of interesting ideas here such that I’d definitely read the sequel.

LIQUID CRYSTAL NIGHTINGALE was released in the United Kingdom on 19th March 2020. Thanks to Abaddon Books for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

A century ago the idea of ‘the economy’ didn’t exist. Now economics is the supreme ideology of our time, with its own rules and language. The trouble is, most of us can’t speak it. This galvanising book shows us why this is damaging democracy, and what we can do about it.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Joe Earle, Cahal Moran and Zach Ward-Perkins were founding members of the Post-Crash Economics Society at Manchester University. This sobering book highlights how university economics courses almost exclusively focus on neoclassical economics and modelling, to the detriment of other branches, which means that when a crisis hits, economists are poorly placed to explain why or to realise the impact their policies really have on ordinary people.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, central banks created trillions of dollars of new money, and poured it into financial markets. ‘Quantitative Easing’ (QE) was supposed to prevent deflation and restore economic growth.

But the money didn’t go to ordinary people: it went to the rich, who didn’t need it. It went to big corporations and banks - the same banks whose reckless lending caused the crash. This led to a decade of stagnation, not recovery. QE failed.

In this book, Frances Coppola makes the case for a ‘people’s QE’, in which the money goes directly to ordinary people and small businesses. She argues that it is the fairest and most effective way of restoring crisis-hit economies and helping to solve the long-term challenges of ageing populations, automation and climate change.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Frances Coppola is a financial writer and blogger whose book takes the reader through the post 2008 financial crash quantitative easing (QE) programme and why it failed. Using Milton Friedman’s ‘helicopter drop’ proposal, she then sets out the arguments for QE aimed directly at the population. While I’m not convinced by the mechanics and the benefits seem overstated, it sets out some interesting arguments that I’d like to read more about.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

The old way of treating employees at work has failed. Only 30% of employees are engaged in their jobs and, in this fast-paced world, that’s just not enough.

The world’s most successful companies have been quietly doing things differently for nearly two decades. Over that time, they’ve generated stock market returns of twice the norm and the’ve had half the employee turnover of their peers. Their staff innovate more, deliver better customer service and beat the competition. These companies outperform and disrupt their markets.

They break the rules of traditional HR. They rebel against the status quo. Build It has found the rebels and the rulebreakers, and shares their best secrets for engaging their people.

A decade in the making, the Engagement Bridge is approved model for building an engaged company culture.

Developed from working with almost 2,000 organisations worldwide - big to small, public to private - the model is a lens that will help you examine the places in your business where engagement is made, or broken.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Glenn Elliott is a writer and founder of Reward Gateway (a company dedicated to improving employee engagement). Debra Corey is a HR director with 30 years of experience, including Gap and Honeywell. This book is a thought provoking, high level look at how companies can build and change their culture to improve employee engagement and productivity featuring plenty of real life case studies but be aware it’s light on potential negatives.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

Stay The Course is the gripping story of the creation of what would become the largest mutual fund organisation in the world, as told by its founder, John C. Boyle. Readers will come to appreciate Bogle as a unique innovator in the world of mutual funds - an investor who used his market wisdom and business savvy to bring mutual fund investors their fair share of stock and bond market returns. This book will delight anyone who enjoys a good story with a happy ending.

In 1974, when the story of The Vanguard Group began, the idea of a mutual fund that was truly mutual - owned by the fund shareholders themselves and operating on an “at cost” basis with no profits to outside shareholders - was viewed as anathema by many seasoned investors. Not deterred by his colleagues’ caution and, sometimes, outright hostility, John Bogle persevered, building what would become a $5 trillion mutual fund complex.

Vanguard’s remarkable success is inextricably intertwined with the index revolution that has changed the way we think about professional money management. Buying and holding the market portfolio turns out to be the simplest and soundest path to investment success. Bogle’s creation - the S&P 500 Index fund - is the spark that ignited the flame of the index revolution.

Bogle concludes his book with some personal insights. His memoir-like final chapter gives readers some valuable insights into the thinking of Vanguard’s legendary creator. Bogle’s engaging tale overflows with business insights and inspiration that you won’t want to miss.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

John C Bogle was the founder and former CEO of The Vanguard Group (creator of the world’s first index mutual fund). This book is part corporate history on Vanguard’s origin and development and part life lessons drawn from his considerable experience but despite some interesting nuggets here neither part really satisfies as the corporate history dwells too heavily on fund performance and the life lessons are brief and superficial.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

Over the past century alone, Russia has lived through great achievements and deepest misery; mass heroism and mass crime; over-blown ambition and near-hopeless despair - always emerging with its sovereignty and its fiercely independent spirit intact.

In this book, leading Russia scholar Dmitri Trenin accompanies readers on Russia’s rollercoaster journey from revolution to post-war devastation, perestroika to Putin’s stabilisation of post-Communist Russia. Explaining the causes and the meaning of the numerous twists and turns in contemporary Russian history, he offers a vivid insider’s view of a country through one of its most trying and often tragic periods. Today, he cautions, Russia stands at a turning point - politically, economically, and socially - its situation strikingly reminiscent of the Russian Empire in its final years. For the Russian Federation to avoid a similar demise, it must learn the lessons of its own history.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Former Russian military intelligence officer Dmitri Trenin has a PHD in history and is currently the Director of the Carnegie Moscow Centre. This book offers a broad brush look at Russian history in the 20th and early 21st centuries and serves as a useful primer for key events and helps to explain national attitudes and concerns but it is (perhaps unsurprisingly) largely uncritical of Putin’s regime and the implications for Russia’s future.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

”My daughter learned to walk in a homeless shelter.”

As a struggling single mum, determined to keep a roof over her daughter’s head, Stephanie Land worked for years as a maid, working long hours in order to provide for her small family.

As she worked hard to climb her way out of poverty as a single parent, scrubbing the toilets of the wealthy, navigating domestic labour jobs as a cleaner whilst also juggling higher education, assisted housing, and a tangled web of government assistance, Stephanie wrote. She wrote the true stories that weren’t being told. The stories of the overworked and underpaid.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Stephanie Land is from a working class background who, shortly after the birth of her daughter, found herself as a homeless, single mother. In this ultimately unsatisfying memoir she describes working as a cleaner for a middle class oblivious to her problems and is very good at describing how she had to navigate the byzantine US welfare and food stamps system but I never felt that I knew who she was or why she was in this situation.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

In June 1969, police raided New York gay bar The Stonewall Inn, and the LGBTQ equality movement was born. Pride charts the events of that night in New York, the days and nights of rioting that followed, the ensuing organisation of the LGBTQ community - and the 50 years that followed in which activists and ordinary people have dedicated their lives to reversing the global position.

Pride documents the milestones in the fight for LGBTQ+ equality, from the victories of early activists to the passing of legislation barring discrimination, and the gradual acceptance of the LTBTQ community in politics, spot, culture and the media. Rare images and documents cover the seminal moments, events and breakthroughs of the movement, while personal testimonies share the voices of key figures on a broad range of topics, including Maureen Duffy on the early days of the movement, Asifa Lahore on religion, Jake Shears on music, Will Young on mental health and Paris Lees on trans representation. Pride is a unique celebration of LGBTQ cultures, an account of the ongoing challenges facing the community, and a testament to the equal rights that have been won for many as a result of the passion and determination of this mass movement.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Matthew Todd is a journalist and Editor-at-Large of the UK gay magazine Attitude. This coffee table book charts the milestones reached in LGBTQ+ equality since the Stonewall riots of 1969 and while the layout is confusing at times, there are some odd takes in the text and unfortunate lesbian erasure soon after a section on lesbian erasure, the contributing writers make up for it with moving and fascinating observations and memories.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

It takes courage to love the things of this world when all of them, without fail, are fleeting, fading, no more than a spark against the darkness of deep time. Yet when everything you have been and done and meant to the world is being prised from your grasp, human connections are the vital medicine. It is other people who make the difference.

Rachel Clarke grew up spellbound by her father’s stories of practising medicine. Then, when she became a doctor, one specialising in palliative medicine, she found herself contemplating all her training had taught her in the face of her own father’s mortality.

Dear Life is the inspiring, sometimes heartbreaking and yet deeply uplifting story f the doctor we would all want to have by our side in a crisis. The hospice where Rachel works is, of course, a world haunted by loss and grief, but it is also teeming with life.

If there is a difference between people who know they are dying and the rest of us, it is simply this: that the terminally ill know their time is running out, while we live as though we have all the time in the world. In a hospice, therefore, there is more of what matters in life - more love, more strength, more kindness, more smiles, more dignity, more joy, more tenderness, more grace, more compassion - than you could ever imagine.

Dear Life is a love letter - to a father, to a profession, to life itself.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Rachel Clarke is a TV producer turned doctor who specialises in palliative care. In this deeply moving memoir that at times had me in tears and which made me reconsider my own attitudes towards dying, she talks about her journey towards and experiences in end-of-life care and what it’s taught her about life and living, a journey that’s made more poignant by her experiences caring for her father (a GP) who himself developed terminal cancer.

Thanks to Little Brown for the review copy of this book.