Becky's Book Reviews

Sometimes the answers we’re looking for and that which we hope for lies in the very thing we fear the most. Disclaimer: A shortened version of this review also appears on Women24.com , a South African women's lifestyle website where I manage, amongst other things, an online books section. The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey (Orbit) M.R. Carey’s Girl with All the Gifts is one of the most thought-provoking and gut-wrenching dystopian thrillers I’ve read this year so far. It’s a novel that explores the heart of a rag-tag group of people and their will to survive in a world shot to hell and it’s a book that pushes boundaries in terms of the ethics versus science debate. It’s literature that is at once filled with beauty, while at the same time highlights the shabby condition of humanity - both physically and emotionally. Mostly though, it’s a book that at its core is filled with so much heart and is so beautifully written, that you’ll be haunted by its contents for years to com...

In which my boss and erstwhile boss team up to review the latest book from Caitlin Moran (They’re both huge fans. Ahem, Sam, Lili? While you’re at it, can one of you please return the book so that I can read it?). Disclaimer: Please note that this review first appeared on Women24.com .   If you haven’t read Caitlin Moran yet, brace yourself, because it’s time. And if you already love Caitlin Moran, you’ll love How to Build a Girl.   How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran (Ebury) If you love Caitlin Moran you'll love How to Build a Girl. I do, and I did. The problem is – as is often the problem with columnists turned novelists – it’s a stretch to call it a novel. A chubby girl growing up on a British housing estate, in a huge, funny family prone to drink and dependant on social benefits? A girl who, donning a ridiculous top hat, then breaks into the London music reviewing scene? The similarities to Moran’s own life are impossible to miss and in some areas it feels as if Caitlin j...

To us bibliophiles, books are the thing that make us happiest. For a few hours, the world we become immersed in, takes us away from the everyday stresses of life. We become the characters in the book. We live the lives they live and we experience the world through their eyes. And then real people intervene. But not only do they interrupt our actual reading , (which in itself is very annoying to readers), they interrupt in ways that can be even more infuriating. It’s time for them to stop. So I did the only thing a kind book lover can do. I made a list of the things you need to stop telling (or asking) us, along with answers to your burning questions. In no particular order, here they are: 1. Why do you read so much?   Because reading fuels the imagination, is the best form of escapism and provides us with the cheapest means of travel. It’s also our way of switching off from the world when our grasp on reality is on the verge of disintegrating altogether. And tell me you don’t...