This book is a collection of Clarkson's Sunday Times columns. When COVID hit, he was no longer able to review cars so he pivoted his car column to talking about his experiences as a new farmer.

At the beginning, the columns tend to revolve around machinery or his tractor, which is understandable with what his column was meant to be. Later columns are more focused on his socioeconomic views in relation to odd topics to do with his farming. These guyread like he's trying to poke fun at certain groups with the background of his newspaper audience in mind.

As a lover of Top Gear and Clarkson's Farm, I thought I'd love this book. Indeed, his commentary on farming and his inability to do things right on the farm is great education and entertainment. It's just his views on frankly everything else. He takes a crack at all the usual subjects that someone complaining in this manner usually does; the working class, Palestinian refugees, young people, Northerners, vegans... You name it, there's a dodgy comment about it.

Even with the look behind the scenes of the farm, it's the bigoted dribble  which lowers this to ⭐⭐ for me.

A perceptive young adult graphic novel which explores themes like sexuality and gender.

Dylan had great character development and it was lovely to see them grow throughout the story. Leighton on the other hand was a bit off. She was very iffy with Dylan in the present despite being best friends/dating in the past. This had no consequences. It would have been nice to see her take some responsibility for her actions, rather than Dylan taking responsibility for them.

It took me a while to get into it but ultimately it was a quick read. I kept waiting for something worse to come out about the reason they were at the camp so it was both a relief when we found out what happened and a disappointment. The reveal wasn't that great.

Ultimately though, it's one of those books which I'm glad exists for young adults.

A grim graphic novel about a super jail underground. I didn't enjoy it per say but the formosity of the way Gooch tells the story through art is superb.

Moments of hope are fleeting in this story. It's dark and gritty, full of gore. For a 600 odd page graphic novel that wasn't necessarily an enjoyable read because of the subject matter, it still left you wanting more for the characters. The mystery of the outside world is something I would love to see explored in a future story.

Not the book for me but very well done.

Based on interviews with a racehorse trainer, Kick the Latch is an odd little book. It's set out in bursts of moments of her life. Little stories that are anything from a few lines to a few pages long. The prose is blunt, almost bare, and that's what sucks you in and makes it ⭐⭐⭐⭐ for me.

Often the stories are harsh and the treatment of both humans and animal awful. Yet throughout, it's clear that Sonia deeply cares for the animals (and later, people) in her care.

I read this thinking it was non-fiction, not realising it was fiction based on interviews. Perhaps I feel a little cheated by that. It's definitely a tale of American horse racing from a certain period of time. Perhaps it's my second hand knowledge of the industry in the UK but I think a lot of the practices mentioned are no longer in practice. If not, I sure hope they aren't.

There are definitely some triggers thrown in bluntly. Waking up with a gun to her head, sexual violence, animal abuse - those kinds of things. So that's maybe worth a look into before reading. Due to the nature of the way the book's written, none of these things are gone into in any detail.

A short and simple graphic novel. A girl running her family's failing launderette meets a ghost/floating sheet who causes accidental hijinx.

I didn't think much of Sheets if I'm honest. There just wasn't much to it and the ending was very easily predictable. The characters weren't very likeable either. The undercurrent of the story is of grief for a life lost, both your own (the ghost) and a family member (the girl), but it felt a little lost in the book, despite several characters literally being dead.

There are another two graphic novels in the series which, with the quick reading time, I might have a look at but I'm not leaping to pick them up. Only ⭐⭐.

A fantastic collection of all the information we should have been taught in school. I learnt none of this in my history lessons, despite being 'taught' exactly this topic. I'd read around the subject after this so knew a lot of the contents of the books but I'm surprised I hadn't come across some things, and the book itself!

I've recommended 500 Years of Resistance far and wide since starting it but I must admit, it took me a long time to get through for such a short book. There isn't much about the resistance in it. It's more a list of events in a haphazard order. This said, it's definitely a must read for all.

The Spirit Bares It's Teeth is set in an alternate Victorian London where those with purple eyes can open the veil to the spirit world. Women are forbidden from accessing the veil but the society of the Speakers uses them to throw out purple eyed sons by marrying purple eyed girls to their sons. Purple eyed Silas was born in the body of a girl. He'd give anything to be a surgeon but instead, he's sent to a creepy sanitarium/finishing school to become the perfect wife for the head Speakers son. With murderers afoot, hijinks ensue.

This book is heavy - definitely check the content warnings for this one. The supernatural element takes a bit of a backseat with horror being the central element to the story. Whilst there are classic horror aspects throughout the story, it's often the experience of the trans and female characters in a male dominated Victorian world that is scariest. The suspense is immense and coupled with the main character's fixation on describing aspects of life in relation to surgery, the book is visceral.

It's ⭐⭐⭐⭐ from me. Though a great book that kept me hooked, I can't say that I fully enjoyed it. I felt for the characters throughout, their fear and hope, but ultimately the unease was too much for me to rate it five stars. Then again, for a horror story, is there a better compliment than that?

Oh, I loved this! Think Godzilla meets Sweet Home. It has a gorgeous minimal style with a red/blue/black white colour palate that works so well.

This was a very quick read for me, taking only 29 minutes. I've seen a few reviews saying they wanted more going on but with a book that length that's already got so much going on each page, I'm not sure where more could have been fitted in!

Immediately recommended to my partner. I can't wait to look what else I can find from this author!