Northern Soul

Authors & Reviews

The Disappeared

Book Review: The Disappeared by Amy Lord

June 8, 2019 Comments Off on Book Review: The Disappeared by Amy Lord

As the dominoes continue their haphazard topple in the wake of the EU Referendum, as a blowhard struts vaingloriously in the Oval Office, and as right-wing populism slithers out of its bunker and back into the daylight, it’s difficult to discount the disquieting suspicion that these are dystopian times.

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Animals Eat Each Other

Book Review: Animals Eat Each Other by Elle Nash

May 21, 2019 Comments Off on Book Review: Animals Eat Each Other by Elle Nash

This might sound weird but I love reading books where I spend time with objectionable fictional people.

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Seaside Special Postcards From The Edge

Book Review – Seaside Special: Postcards from The Edge, edited by Jenn Ashworth

May 9, 2019 Comments Off on Book Review – Seaside Special: Postcards from The Edge, edited by Jenn Ashworth

Last night my wife couldn’t sleep so I read her a story. Then I had to read her another one because the first one wasn’t conducive to restful dreams.

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Don't Hold My Head Down

Book Review: Don’t Hold My Head Down by Lucy-Anne Holmes

May 4, 2019 Comments Off on Book Review: Don’t Hold My Head Down by Lucy-Anne Holmes

Sex sells. But if you expect Don’t Hold My Head Down to be a titillating read full of soft-core anecdotes, then you’ll be (somewhat) disappointed.

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Paul Mason

“Progress will win.” Journalist and author Paul Mason talks to Northern Soul

April 29, 2019 Comments Off on “Progress will win.” Journalist and author Paul Mason talks to Northern Soul

Paul Mason’s latest book, Clear Bright Future: A Radical Defence of the Human Being, comes in at 300 pages followed by 20 pages of notes then a delicious 36-page index (Marx and Marxism fills a page).

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Water Shall Refuse Them

Book Review: Water Shall Refuse Them by Lucie McKnight Hardy

April 17, 2019 Comments Off on Book Review: Water Shall Refuse Them by Lucie McKnight Hardy
I’m a wimp. As the first to dive behind a cushion when a scary bit comes on the telly (I’ve been an embarrassment to my family ever since the Jurassic Park incident of 1993), I point-blank refuse to watch anything that can be filed under ‘horror’. But, strangely, I love me a spooky read. From Daphne du Maurier’s Don’t Look Now and Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle to Han Kang’s The Vegetarian and Jenn Ashworth’s Cold Light, I’m drawn to frightening tales penned by women and often with female characters at their core.
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Book Review: Alan Turing’s Manchester by Jonathan Swinton

April 4, 2019 Comments Off on Book Review: Alan Turing’s Manchester by Jonathan Swinton

On the face of it, Manchester’s claims to Alan Turing are slender.

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“Good story, good rhymes, bit scary, great pictures.” Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler talk to Northern Soul

March 27, 2019 Comments Off on “Good story, good rhymes, bit scary, great pictures.” Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler talk to Northern Soul

Axel Scheffler, one might argue, is getting desperate.

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On The Come Up, Angie Thomas

Book Review: On The Come Up by Angie Thomas

March 23, 2019 Comments Off on Book Review: On The Come Up by Angie Thomas

When I first saw Young Adult author Angie Thomas at Waterstones, I cried.

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Book Review: An Otley Run – A Verse Novella by Joe Williams

March 15, 2019 Comments Off on Book Review: An Otley Run – A Verse Novella by Joe Williams

There are a number of (in)famous pub crawls to be enjoyed around our beautiful island.

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