Enjoy Life

Book reviews

Looking for more? Here are some other reviews from books that were also published.  

In I Can Hear The Cuckoo (Gaia, £16.99), Kiran Sidhu writes movingly of how she came to terms with grief and learned to see life anew thanks to her move out of London and immersion in a small community in the Welsh Valleys, and, similarly bereaved, Hollie Starling explores the healing power of nature, ritual and folklore in The Bleeding Tree (Rider, £18.99)…

Martin Brunt looks back over his life as a crime reporter in No One Got Cracked Over The Head for No Reason (Biteback, £20), recalling the most shocking stories he has been involved in as well as reflecting on the sometimes uncomfortable relationship between press and police, and Writers and Their Teachers, edited by Dale Salwak (Bloomsbury, £20), celebrates how some of the leading writers of our time have been shaped by inspirational teachers. Contributors include Andrew Motion, Margaret Drabble and Paul Theroux…

Crossing The Park, by Peter Kenny Jones (Pitch Publishing, £18.99), profiles that rare breed of men who dared to play for both Merseyside rivals Everton and Liverpool, and Fear and Loathing at Goodison Park, by Louis Foster (Pitch Publishing, £16.99), reveals how, in the early 2000s, high hopes of an Everton revival under manager David Moyes ended up in bitterness and recrimination…

With the cricket season under way once more, an extraordinary summer of test cricket, including, naturally the ‘Bazball’ revolution, is examined in the latest edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack (Wisden, £57), along with the usual stats and analysis. Expertly edited by Lawrence Booth, it’s also available, in a shortened version, as an ebook priced at £17.99…

Singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams reveals all about her traumatic childhood in the Deep South, the years of struggling for recognition and the stories behind some of her most enduring songs in Don’t Tell Anybody The Secrets I Told You (Simon and Schuster, £20), and Same Old Girl (Fleet, £20), is the second memoir from influential music writer Sylvia Patterson, detailing her diagnosis with a life-threatening illness and the multiple challenges of the pandemic…

Former RAF pilot and Iraq captive John Nichol tells the story of the ejector seat in Eject! Eject! (Simon & Schuster, £20), farmer John Lewis-Stempel discovers the good life in La Vie: A Year in Rural France (Doubleday, £16.99), and in Nadia Comaneci and the Secret Police (Bloomsbury Academic,  £24.79) Stejarel Olaru draws on secret police records and wiretap recordings to tell the dark story of the young Romanian gymnast who, as a child prodigy, charmed the world by winning gold at the 1976 Olympics before defecting to the West in mysterious circumstances 13 years later…

The Grove, by Ben Dark (Mitchell Beazley, £9.99), explores the hidden stories to be found in our front gardens, with each tree or flower having a tale to tell, and James Macdonald Lockhart writes about the songs of eight different birds, from habitats as far-ranging as lowland heath, forests and the coast, in Wild Air (William Collins, £18.99)…

Leaving a poor review for a gruesome horror novel has frightening consequences in Taylor Adams’ compelling The Last Word (Hodder, £20), a lottery winning couple’s dream move turns into a nightmare when one of them dies in mysterious circumstances, in Gilly Macmillan’s The Fall (Century, £16.99), and  Seahurst, by SA Harris (Salt, £10.99) is a creepy modern ghost story set on the Suffolk coast…

And The Orphanage Girls Come Home (Pan, £7.99) is the heart-breaking conclusion to Mary Wood’s Orphanage Girls saga, as Amy, separated from her friends, wonders if she will ever see them again.

Other stories in Enjoy Life

April's book reviews
April's CD reviews
March's DVD review
March book reviews
March's CD reviews
February's DVDs
February's books
Winter books
January's DVD releases
Christmas book reviews
November DVD reviews
November's Music Reviews
November book reviews
October's DVD reviews
October's New CD releases
October's book reviews
September's DVD Reviews
DVD selection for August 2023
September's book reviews
Latest music reviews August 2023
August Round up
August Paperback Reviews
August hardback book reviews
July 2023 Roundup
Pick of the paperbacks July 2023
July 23 Hardback book reviews
July 2023 DVD releases
July 2023 CD reviews
Pick of the paperbacks June 2023
June DVDs
Hardback book reviews - June 2023
Simon Evans CD Reviews for June 2023
Tesco Summer indoors and out
May 2023 paperback book reviews
May 2023 Hardback book reviews
May's DVD Selection
May's CD selection
Round up of April 2023's book reviews
April 2023 paperback reviews
April 2023 Hardback book reviews
More March 2023 must-reads
March - Pick of the paperbacks
March hardback recommendations
Afternoon Tea
March 2023 - DVD releases
March 2023 Music
February 2023 Books Round up
Pick of the paperbacks - February 2023
Book reviews February 2023
DVD recommendations
February's music reviews
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Make do and mend
Foray into the Fens
Christmas reads
Tasty, healthy recipes by Joanne Wood
Keeping fit and healthy with the Green goddess Part 2
Keeping fit and healthy with the Green goddess Part 1
Finger-licking Good! Tasty Chicken recipes
Beauty: Say 'Allo 'Allo to an alluring look
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Look good and feel great with CBD
Interior design: Inspiration for outdoor spaces
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Finding Fitness Starts With Fashion
‘In Vogue’ Veg – Cavolo Nero Sales Grow by 14%
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Get Sewing: Floral bespoke notebook cover
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Beauty: Get set for spring...
Spanish Recipes: Small is beautiful
The Vegan Revolution
Interior Design: Maximise your living space
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Visit Family Tree Live
MasterChef: Classic with a Twist
Get Sewing: Quilted pot-holder
Bob Dylan "Rock and Roll music wasn’t enough for me”
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Interior Design: Less is more in minimalist home
A second chance at love
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Baking With Veg
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Grand Treats for Grandchildren
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Dr Norman Croucher: The toughest summit of them all
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Interior Design: Moroccan inspired drawers
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A gentleman's guide to spring fashion
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What we really look for in retirement living
Interior Design: Wedding bells on a budget
Counter culture: The revival of the board game
Jodie Whittaker: "Doctor Who is all about change"
85 year old Grandmother gains a PhD
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Writing the story of you life
Why winter shouldn't stop you: don't wait until New Year
World' first 'wellness shed' stirs up mindfulness
Growing old is amazing
Don't miss out on the internet age
Prepare to feel ancient...
Hawks: Up close and personal
Studious retiree heads back to school
Garden Expert: Soaking up the sun
Emily Watson "I'ts such a gypsy life"
Here's to you Mrs Robinson
Brits Embracing 'Urban Birding'
Volunteering for Nature
The Secret to Younger Looking Eyes
Anti-ageing Options Part 2
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End of the road for a pop icon
Reaching out to Dementia Sufferers: Sporting Memories Network
Are you ready for retirement?
Afternoon Tea Recipes
Surprisingly Good Wholegrain Recipes: Savoury
Staying safe in the Summer heat: Drowning prevention
Stardust Memories
Baking made easy
Cooking for one
The real cost of your wine