Category: Hollie McNish

Book reviews – Catching up or three for the price of one!

Since contracting Covid last month I have been struggling to keep up with life. Reading, working, parenting, blogging, writing – just generally living(!) seem to have taken up more time than usual!

However, I have been reading and some of the words have encountered have been nothing short of amazing!!

So in a bid to catch up on this blogging life I am hoping you will forgive me this 3 for 1 post. And indulge me in this celebration of three cracking titles that have kept me company on these dark Autumn days.

First up is one of my favourite all time poets who I have been reading in a very different form. Huge thanks to Clara Diaz from Fleet for sending this bang up to date adaption of Antigone by Hollie McNish my way.

Anyone who has encounters Hollie’s poetry will know that she isn’t a woman to mince her words and that her finger is firmly on the pulse of women’s rights. And Antigone continues in the same inspired vein. This reimagined Greek tale is littered with references and parallels to modern society and politics. It is witty, accessible and sometimes downright shocking. Having been performed at Storyhouse Chester in late October, I can only hope there will be another chance to catch this one soon.

Amazing read number two is the latest collection of flash fiction by Laura Besley. Published by Irish Indie publisher Beir Bua Press (Un) Natural Elements is ready and waiting to blow your literary socks off!

Each of these stories has it’s origins in the daily Twitter writing prompt #vss365 – Very Short Stories 365. Having followed and interacted with Laura on Twitter for a while now I can tell you she is the absolute master of these tiny tales!

In this latest collection Laura brings together her work and divides them into their written themes. Each is unique and each has the Besley sting in it’s tale. Humour, grief and wry aside wait around every corner; these stories might be short but man! Can they pack a punch!

And last but by no means least is the wonderful collection of short stories Safely Gathered In by Sarah Schofield. Published by Comma Press this is a collection of stories that will haunt you in all the right ways.

Each tale probes at the heart of what it is to be human and examines the things that make it’s protagonist tick. Sometimes heart breaking and sometimes surreal, each is a story that will stop you in your tracks and make you think.

As an added bonus I was lucky enough to chat to Sarah about her work as part of The Northern Connection Podcast’s Northember series. This episode is coming soon and is one not to be missed!

So thank you fellow bookworms for allowing me this catch up and for forgiving a girl when life gets in the way!!!

Until the next time …

Rachel x

Book Review : Slug by Hollie McNish

I bloody love Hollie McNish! I was going to try and be all grown up and scholarly and serious in this review. I had decided I was going to style it out and not gush and fangirl my way through the whole review.

But then I thought, ‘Sod it, what’s the point?’ So be prepared for unbridled enthusiasm!

I will start by saying that I honestly couldn’t believe my luck when Clara Diaz at Little Brown emailed me and asked if I would be interested in receiving and reviewing a finished copy of Slug and other things I have been told to hate. I don’t think I have every replied so quickly to an email.

And the magic Google Lens Thing that happens when you hover your phone over the book is bloody amazing!!

But what is inside just this book genuinely blew me away.

Firstly let me say that I read this book cover to cover, word to a word in 3 days. A rainy bank holiday weekend was my friend as I lost myself in the wisdom and hilarity that is Hollie McNish’s trademark.

You see Hollie writes about life. About the things we all know but no one likes to talk about. About the things that keep you awake at night and the things that keep you sane. She will write about something that is closer to your heart than you ever knew. It will be her words that will make things suddenly click into place. This collection is a celebration of the things in life that have always been considered taboo, not for polite conversation. But they are actually the things that make the world go around.

This book is bursting, literally bursting at the seams with poetry, prose and stories that are run through with honesty and naked truth. Sometimes it will make you shout out loud in recognition and sometimes it will make you uncomfortable. But you will recognise it as the truth just the same.

This is one of the most human collections of work I have had the joy and pleasure of reading in a very long time. It is this kind of brave humanity and humility that I want to gift to my children every single day.

Thank you Hollie for sharing these words. Roll on the tour. Seat already booked x

Rachel x