Author Archives: Deborah Siddoway

Multiple Pictures of Single Women

This morning I scrolled through Twitter as I drank my tea, despairing over Putin’s war games, and the bravery of the men and women of Ukraine as they stand against it, but as I looked for something lighter this Tweet caught my eye: And I began to contemplate the paintings that adorn the walls ofContinue reading “Multiple Pictures of Single Women”

Catherine Cookson’s Plainer Still

Plainer Still: A New Personal Anthology by Catherine Cookson My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is an interesting addition to the vast body of work produced by a prolific writer, but very different to her usual story-telling novelistic form. Comprised of a series of poems, essays, recollections, and snapshots of her life, the bookContinue reading “Catherine Cookson’s Plainer Still”

Review of The Unmapped Country by Ann Quin

The Unmapped Country: Stories and Fragments by Ann Quin My rating: 4 of 5 stars As ever, I find it difficult to review a book of short stories, because each story is unique, different, and says something distinct. They are each their own entity, yet grouped together, to make a kind of whole – aContinue reading “Review of The Unmapped Country by Ann Quin”

Review of Feminism for Women by Julie Bindel

Feminism for Women: The Real Route to Liberation by Julie Bindel My rating: 4 of 5 stars What follows is not an academic review, but the review of an ordinary (middle class, middle-aged, white, so therefore boring) woman, fairly new to feminist activism, wanting to explore different feminist view points and learn. And Julie Bindel’sContinue reading “Review of Feminism for Women by Julie Bindel”

Being the Year I Turn 50

Only nine hours or so into the new year and I have already seen two posts on Twitter from people who recently, or are about to turn, 50, bemoaning the fact that they have reached this milestone, seeing the best years of their life behind them. In the face of such negativity, given that IContinue reading “Being the Year I Turn 50”

A Wasted Opportunity: This is How Not to Write A Book About Coming Back Stronger

This Is How We Come Back Stronger: Feminist Writers on Turning Crisis into Change by Feminist Book Society My rating: 2 of 5 stars This will be a long review. But the upshot, is that this book is nothing more than an opportunity wasted. I began trying to curate my thoughts about this book whenContinue reading “A Wasted Opportunity: This is How Not to Write A Book About Coming Back Stronger”

Review of Trans by Helen Joyce

Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality by Helen Joyce My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is not an academic review. I read this book because the issues are important to me, and I prefer to have an informed, considered, opinion, rather than one incubated on the toxic platform of Twitter. The opinions I express hereContinue reading “Review of Trans by Helen Joyce”

A Book Title to Irritate: A Review of Girls in the Attic

The Girls in the Attic by Marius Gabriel My rating: 4 of 5 stars First of all, and I need to get this issue out of the way from the outset, I wish that publishers would not persist in coming up with titles that effectively infantilise women. This is not a story about girls inContinue reading “A Book Title to Irritate: A Review of Girls in the Attic”

Things are Against Us: Lucy Ellmann nails it… again

Things Are Against Us by Lucy Ellmann My rating: 5 of 5 stars What an absolute diamond of a book. This is a book to take your time over, to savour, to let the outrage, the wit, the carefully crafted criticism of our collective way of life sink into you, speak to you, and let’sContinue reading “Things are Against Us: Lucy Ellmann nails it… again”