My book reviews in Print

So proud of my first book reviews in print. Find them in the January issue of Fleet Life. The books I reviewed were; Contented Dementia by Oliver James, The Spook’s Apprentice by Joseph Delaney, Thrift by Phil Church, Tender Flames by Stephanie Hurt and Theodore Boone by John Grisham

Bananagrams

Read a great article in the Daily Telegraph Weekend section. Harry Wallop reviewed the game Bananagram which sounded intriguing. The game has even been proclaimed the “Official word game to the London 2012 Olympics” although I’m not sure when the athletes would have had time to play it! The game is similar to Scrabble but without a board and players each take tiles and make up their own free-form Scrabble boards around the table using 15-20 tiles. The first person to use up all their tiles shouts “Peel” and everyone has to grab another tile. This may help out another player. At any stage during the game a player can rearrange letters to form new words. The winner is the first to use up all his tiles. There is no scoring, speed and accuracy beat large difficult words. The game is available in Argos, WHSmith, John Lewis and Tesco. It costs £11.70 in John Lewis. 

Read “Thrift” by Phil Church yesturday. A funny tale set in a term at an English secondary school. Failing kids and teachers, will they survive an OFSTED inspection and pull through for the end of term play? A good book.

Get Ahead

Parents in touch have their latest newsletter out full of tips to help your child get started in the new school year. It’s a great site with lots of downloads, exam papers and information for parents.

The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book is a classic. It is a fairy tale with a moral. A bit like eating cardboard at times. Full of remarks related to the political and social scene of the times, so was sometimes hard to follow.

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Have now moved on to the very funny “Thrift” By Phil Church. Will let you know when I’ve finished it.
Thrift by Phil Church

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Very funny romp through a term at an English Secondary school. All the horrors of a group of unruly kids lead by a team of failing teachers, whose own lives are failing at the same time.

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