Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel

Rating: ★★★☆☆

As an autobiographical sequel to Fun Home, Bechdel’s approach to analysing her relationship with her mother couldn’t be more different to how she examined the one with her father. If you have a problem with dry psychoanalysis, then you may struggle with Are You My Mother?

The Stars Never Rise by Rachel Vincent

Rating: ★★★☆☆

This is not The Hunger Games. I feel that distinction has to be made early on because I was very close to dismissing The Stars Never Rise as such and putting it down because the beginning is the same, albeit more brutally realistic. A neglectful mother who is rarely seen or heard, a big sister who has to do everything she can to put food on the table and clothes on their backs while also taking care of her younger sister. The Hunger Games was “just” a dystopia, this is also urban fantasy. Demons are walking the streets wearing humans like clothes while quietly consuming their souls.

1,227 QI Facts to Blow Your Socks Off by John Lloyd, John Mitchinson & James Harkin

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I used to be a boghandler, that’s ‘bookseller’ in Danish. If there are enough diamonds in the world to give everyone a cupful, why are they so expensive? Did you know Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, married Oscar Wilde’s first girlfriend? There’s a joke in there somewhere, I know it.

The Innovative Admin by Julie Perrine

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Stuck in a rut? If your personal or professional life isn’t everything you want it to be, then read The Innovative Admin. The fact that Perrine’s book is aimed at secretaries and administrators doesn’t matter. Her advice is applicable to everyone, even if you’re unemployed. Ways to increase your productivity are included as well as a list of suggested websites and recommended reading is given for further inspiration to fuel your creativity, change your mindset and identify your strengths and weaknesses. A FREE action plan from the accompanying website summarizes the activities you can do to improve your life.

Robot Girl by Malorie Blackman

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Robot Girl is an Afrofuturistic version of Bernard Beckett’s Genesis for children, populated with a black cast of characters. Genesis is one of my all-time favourite books. It inverts expectations and examines what it means to be human and the value of emotions.

The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers

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Oliver’s illustrations are lovely, except for the ginger-haired child with what I can only describe as a pink phallic object on his forehead which appears in every depiction of him. What the hell is it? Perhaps I should just say what we’re all thinking – dickhead. It’s a perfect representation, no? Did the editor not notice this . . . appendage before printing? I mean, it’s kind of obvious. Is it some sort of unique Australian thing of which I’m unaware?

Memento Mori by Jonathan Nolan

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Memento Mori is the free short story that inspired Nolan’s brother, Christopher Nolan (Inception, Interstellar) to make mind-bending film Memento starring Guy Pearce.

Earl is a permanent patient at a hospital since he was injured in the attack which saw Earl’s wife raped and killed. His injury has caused permanent brain damage meaning he’s unable to convert short-term into long-term memories. Earl remembers everything before the damage, but nothing after, so his memory is only ten minutes long.

The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman

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For the first time ever I like a Neil Gaiman novel. I am shocked. Shocked, I tell you.

It wasn’t until I came across a Guardian article with the below image that I decided to give Gaiman a another chance. I mean, how bad could a feminist retelling of Sleeping Beauty be? Besides, the library had a copy so only an investment of time would be required.

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam by Omar Khayyam

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The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

Khayyam struck me as a man with a love-hate relationship with the old vino, which sort of implies that perhaps he wasn’t the strictest Muslim. I wonder if that was a such terrible thing 900 years ago when he was alive.

Selkie Stories Are for Losers by Sofia Samatar

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I hate selkie stories. They’re always about how you went up to the attic to look for a book, and you found a disgusting old coat and brought it downstairs between finger and thumb and said “What’s this?”, and you never saw your mom again.

If you know of selkie mythology, you’ll understand this opening quote, and if you don’t it’s explained within this short story (which can be read for free HERE).