A Life Discarded - Alexander Masters

148 diaries found in a skip. The author is unknown and a stranger starts to read them, and then write this book about them.

It's years since I read a biography (and I don't think I've ever done it just for fun). Invariably, they're all about celebrities of some sort (generalisation, I know, but still....) but this one! The social researcher inside me was alerted and my brain chemistry was already smouldering.

A Life Discarded is a wonderful interweaving of the biographer's inner thoughts with those of the unknown diarist. Who were they and, perhaps more intriguingly, why were these diaries dumped (died alone was probably my foremost presumption)?

The diarist doesn't name themselves, and there doesn't seem to be a clear chronology. This makes for lots of narrative twists and turns, which A Life Discarded uses to good effect. The biography is deliberately written and structured to heighten this sense of intrigue and ever-deepening mystery. Alexander Masters alludes to this intention by offering up, early on, mistakes that he discovers in his assumptions about the diarist's life. Of course, these add an extra element of humour and poignancy to the narrative.

And, of course, there is the whole question of ethics: entering into the private space of a person's life - these are a lot of diaries; does them being in a skip mean you have been invited or not? And history; again 'of course', how do we make it and record it? How reliable is it, and at what and whose expense? Masters doesn't ignore these issues that are potentially big ethical problems, and includes conversations he's had with his history and philosophy academic friends. Throughout the novel, Masters talks his way through his ever-changing methodology. It feels a bit like the Famous Five Does a PhD, and I was charmed on both counts.

A Life Discarded brings the diarist's recordings (otherwise discarded both on paper and in their own mind) alive, and also plays a wonderful tribute to important people in Alexander Masters' life, most notably Dido Davies who gave him the diaries and was living with terminal cancer throughout the development of the autobiography.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's probably one of those where little things about it will stick with me and I'll bring them up in conversation at some point in the future.

Read further if you want to find out a bit about the diarist. It's a little bit spoilers but not too much. You decide.


Publication details: 2017 (paperback edition), 4th Estate, London
This copy: received for possible review from the publisher




Spoiler Alert! 

Spoiler ahead!


Alexander Masters talks about the diarist as a 'he'. And then he discovers that he is a 'she'. This brings another ethical dimension to the biography, which Masters does not shy away from: a man reading a woman's intimate thoughts and descriptions about her personal life. Oh boy! Frankly, this could have gone so wrong. But, it doesn't.

How to Write Your Best Story Ever! - Christopher Edge

I am a browser and sometimes I find something that takes me by surprise. And so I happened upon Oxford University Press's How To Write Your Best Story Ever, which was published earlier this month. When I was a child, there was never as much guidance on developing your talents like there is today, and so I'm quite unfamiliar with fiction writing guides for 7-13 year olds. So I took a close look.

How To Write Your Best Story ever is not an activity journal, which is what I was expecting. There is no place intended for you to start scribbling down ideas. No. In keeping with OUP's dictionaries, How To Write Your Best Story Ever is definitely a reference book to prompt you, inspire you and help you along the way in, well, writing your best story ever with whatever writing instruments you choose.

It's a busy book (perhaps a bit busy for my eye, but I was 7-13 a long time ago!) full of colour, illustrations and chunked tips and guidance. Succinctly, it uses double spreads to tell you about the intricacies of the elements that make up a good story - and how you can get there. One of the things I liked most (there were a few), was that it devotes a few pages to writing all the different genres including Scripts and Mash-ups. It offers vocabulary to inspire you - and to challenge you - in crafting these different types of stories.

A couple of the other things that I really liked: quotes from a variety of different novels and authors (as well as Christopher Edge, who authored this book and some jolly good novels) are included as real examples of how to apply the suggestions so that you can see what the language looks like in a real live (and published) setting; and, all the way through it gives friendly reminders about the basic elements of the English language and how to identify and use them to improve your writing.

Really nice.


Publication details: January 2017, Oxford University Press, Oxford, paperback
This copy: received from the publisher for possible review

The True Face Revolution: Dream Boldy

True Face is a new non-fiction book from author, Siobhan Curham. It's an interactive self-help and exploratory guide that will get teens thinking (so says Little M (15) who has been reading an advance copy ). It's all about how you think and feel about, and see, yourself in today's social media frenzy world and in the future. It's full of advice and 'quizzes' (a bit like the ones a life coach might get you to do). It publishes in the UK today and I'd keep a look out for it if I was you.

One of the things Siobhan talks widely about is the importance, the freedom and even the courage to dream boldly.  Here, Siobhan shares an exercise that gives you a taste of what True Face offers. And there's a website too - Siobhan is building up an ambassadorial revolution!

Over to Siobhan.

*******

In True Face I talk a lot about the importance of dreaming boldly. But how can we make our dreams a reality? 

The following exercise is taken from True Face and it’s one I did way back when I was still dreaming of becoming a writer. I’d like to point out that at the time I had no contacts in the publishing world, I’d dropped out of uni, I’d never attended a writing class and I was a young mum. So if it worked for me, it can definitely work for you!

Take some time when you know you won’t be interrupted. Sit or lie somewhere comfortable, with a notebook and pen handy, then close your eyes and relax. 

Picture yourself in five years’ time. 

• How old will you be?
• Where would you like to be?
• What would you like to be doing?
• Who would you like to be with?

In this dream world anything is possible, so if your inner voice starts saying things like: ‘you could never achieve that’, please just ignore it. For the purposes of this exercise, anything is possible.

Once you’ve got a basic idea of how you’d like your life to be let’s get a bit more detailed.

Picture yourself waking up in your dream life five years from now and slowly take yourself through your dream day.

• Where are you living?
• Who are you living with?
• Where do you work?
• What do you do for fun?

Dream boldly, remembering that anything’s possible.

How do you feel, living this dream life?

Really enjoy getting into these feelings.

Imagine the places you go to and all the different things you do throughout your day.

Then, when you’re ready, open your eyes and jot down everything you can remember.

When I first did this exercise I was living in a flat above a chip shop in London with a new baby. I’d never had a word published and I was on maternity leave. As the youngest of my friends to become a mum, I was feeling slightly down and isolated.

My five-year goal was to be living in the countryside with a book deal.

When I got more detailed about it, I added in a lunch with a big group of friend, a dance class and an evening stroll somewhere scenic.

It seemed so far from where I was to where I wanted to be, the enormity of my dream was daunting to say the least.

But the joy of this exercise is that it breaks things right down.

So, if your five year dream seems impossible to get to from where you are right now, don’t panic.

In your notebook, write a new title: ONE YEAR DREAM

What could you realistically achieve in the next year towards your overall goal?

When I did this I realised that I could realistically try to get an article and short story published so I made that my goal.

Once you’re clear on your one year goal, break it down even further.

What could you realistically achieve towards that one year goal in the next month?

I made my one month goal to write the first draft of a short story.

And, if you like, you can break it down even further than that, asking yourself what you could achieve in the next week and the next day.

By breaking our dreams down like this, we create manageable stepping stones. And with each stepping stone we cross, we become more confident and our five year dream looks more possible.

This is exactly what happened to me.

Within a year, I’d had a handful of articles and short stories published.

And within two years, I’d got my first book deal.

I’m writing this blog post from my home in the Hertfordshire countryside (nowhere near a chippy!), earlier today I went dancing and had lunch with friends and True Face is my tenth book to be published, with another couple to follow soon. This is what happens when we dream boldly; our reality can exceed even our wildest dreams!

To find out more about True Face please visit: www.TrueFaceRevolution.com 

Let's Bake - Cathryn Dresser

Let’s Bake by Cathryn Dresser

Review by Little M (+ thoughts from M)

Baking is a fantastic thing to do. There are those down times and those joyful, ecstatic moments – especially when you finally bring the fresh smelling bread out of the oven, the scent drifting through the house.

Cathryn Dresser’s Let’s Bake recipe book has wonderful looking sweet and savoury bakes. Of course, when deciding to review this recipe book, we’d agreed to make some, though that might seem quite obvious. Let’s Bake is a colourful, well-presented and easy to read book. The recipes are straight forward and, if in doubt of a technique, there is a helpful guide on how to do it.

Each individual recipe is spread out over four pages. On the first two pages there are the ingredients lists, the equipment needed, the prep and bake times, and a little anecdote from the author. There is also a finished product picture too. For the other two pages there is normally a ‘how to do it’ page in text and pictures to illustrate.

Whilst flicking through the book, we came across three recipes which we decided to make. We made this amazing butter from double cream, a delicious chocolate cake loaf and also some easy white bread. All these recipes were a success.

I truly recommend this recipe book by Cathryn Dresser. It is brilliant for your first time baking or for those who just love to do it. It is suited to young children as it talks about sharp knives and ovens. However, it would be brilliant for the whole family.

Making bread

And some further thoughts from M:

Making butter! My teacher did this at school when I was about seven and it fascinated me. One of those rare moments where I still remember some fine detail about the ‘lesson’. I’ve always wanted to do it myself but…haven’t. And then, there it was! How to do it in a baking book. We did this one together and it was huge, huge fun (and a wee bit messy too).

I also made the dippy baked eggs for breakfast and although it tasted delicious, the yoke went hard (eggs!). Of course, the book points out that practice (and changes) make perfect so we tried a little alternative and it worked. I like the way the book encourages experimentation – and that it’s notion of ‘baking’ is broad (there’re recipes for accompaniments to baked goods, like easy jam, houmous and, of course, butter).

Little M is the baker in our house. But I was also hugely impressed with this as a baking book, whether for an older child, an adult or a family. Thick and chunky, some unusual and nostalgic recipes, uncoated paper (great for ‘showing’ that you used the recipe), and not patronising in any way. Big thumbs up.

Homemade Bread & Butter

PS. No pictures of the chocolate cake loaf - we were too busy oohing & aahing, sniffing and eating.

Publication details: Orion Children’s, May 2014, London, hardback

This copy: for review from the publisher

Being a Boy - James Dawson

Being a Boy by James Dawson

 

Non-fiction review by M

Being A Boy is a non-fiction guide to ‘being a teenage boy’ written by a former PSHCE teacher (that’s someone who teaches you about puberty, sex and stuff in school). It is written with humour and illustrations, is full of surprises and guidance, and probably breaks with most taboos. It covers many things that go hand in hand with puberty and secondary school: feeling good about yourself, how you look and what to wear, how your body changes, being a ‘man’ and being a boyfriend. There is a lot about sex too.

The book’s emphasis is on feeling good about yourself and treating other people with respect and care. The guide breaks with traditionally heteronormative texts and takes the view that multiple sexualities and genders are possible and to be embraced. Each to their own – just do it with care, is one of the book’s many mottos.

Surprisingly, this is also a guide to ‘doing it’ in real life with real people. At one point in the book, Dawson warns that the squeamish should not continue reading (while I don’t agree with all of Dawson’s advice, follow him on this!).  Again, any which way goes as long as ‘it’ is done with care and respect. Another motto: Use A Condom. And, of course, No Means No even if it’s said with a giggle, or in slightly different words.

I’ve never read a guide to being a teen boy (there must be one somewhere!) and I haven’t read a guide to being a teenage girl since I was a teenager myself. What surprised me was an emphasis on getting a sexual partner. While Dawson points out that it is okay not to want this, I think the book overstates the need ‘to pull’.

 

Overall, I see Being A Boy as predominantly a teen boy’s guide to healthy sexual relationships. This book will certainly get you talking. If it does that, James Dawson will smile and say ‘job done’.

The book's motto round-up (as I see it):

• Respect yourself
• Respect others
• Take care
• Use a condom
• No Means No
• The internet sometimes tells you lies
• Have fun

Publication details: Red Lemon Press, London, September 2013, paperback

This copy: uncorrected proof received for review from the publisher

 

 

Blame My Brain - M's review

Blame My Brain: The Amazing Teenage Brain Revealed by Nicola Morgan

 

Review by M

Blame My Brain: The Amazing Teenage Brain Revealed is a popular science book written specifically for teenagers and this edition has been updated to include new scientific developments. However, the author, Nicola Morgan, is not a scientist and this is perhaps both the book’s main strength and its weakness. If you’re the curious sort, who’d like a bit of a laugh and an easy introduction to a very big subject, this is not a bad place to start.

As a parent, one of the things that often makes me laugh is when people say ‘I sound like my mother’ or ‘I’m turning into my parents’. That downcast utterance usually follows a spate of exasperated hand-gesturing about why our once very lovely teenagers are now the untidiest, rudest, deafest people we’ve met in a long time (of course, Little M is perfect). Blame My Brain attempts to cast some light (and a lot of thought) on how the growing teenage brain affects this behaviour.

The book puts the science into easy to read, follow and understand language. It’s quite chatty and funny – a bit like a popular magazine. Each chapter presents an everyday scenario highlighting a particular kind of teen behaviour – e.g untidiness, sleeping late, taking risks, studying, sticking with the girls or boys, drinking alcohol, smoking. Morgan then attempts to explain this behaviour by discussing what science thinks is going on in the brain. At the end of each chapter, she presents a number of alternate (and sometimes conflicting) theories from different areas of science. There is also usually some kind of test-yourself quiz so you can find out how good you are at reading people’s faces or how you understand risk.

By including the different theories and the soft quizzes, I think Morgan reminds readers that knowledge is created by us – humans - and it changes. Individual scientists and disciplines can differ in both their approach which affects their findings and explanations. She also attempts to show that what science often presents is a specific kind of average and that there isn’t just one type or explanation for behaviour. She shows how everyday people can use this science to draw their own conclusions by offering up her own opinion which often draws in her everyday observations or experiences.

Morgan goes to great lengths to emphasise that individual teenagers do behave very differently – and in one chapter about dopamine she emphasises that statistics show that the majority of teenagers do not drink alcohol excessively or have underage sex. She also reminds us that adults can display some of the behaviour that is frequently attributed to teenagers. Similarly, in the chapter on sex differences, she emphasises that there are spectrums (although I don’t think she does this strongly enough and this was my least favourite chapter – I’d be interested to see what teens thinks themselves).

Sometimes, I was unclear about which bits were Morgan’s interpretations and what came direct from research. Even though there are endnotes for the research that she has included, I would have liked more detailed citations. What she also omits to do is to make it clear that in popularising and condensing the science, she is eliminating a lot of detail that makes a big difference in how we should understand and interpret science. I sometimes felt like the science faded into the background.

Overall, this book provides an introduction to the topic of being a teenager, brains, behaviour, causality and science methodologies. One of the book’s strengths is that it encourages and shows you how to care and develop your own brain. While providing some explanations for brains and behaviour, what I think it could also do is get readers asking questions.

 

Publication details: Walker, May 2013 (updated edition), London, paperback

This copy: received for review from the publisher