I really struggled with this book. It was an easy read and once I was about halfway through I was determined to read through to the end. That said however it wasn't that enjoyable a read for me.

I put off reading any Donna Tartt books for years. Not in a boycotting kind of way but they were extremely hyped among friends, hefty and I wasn’t even sure if they were going to be my kind of thing.

After a couple of hefty reads that explored worlds quite different to mine, I was excited for Emma Gannon’s novel, following the story of Olive, a magazine writer and editor who is grappling with the decision of whether or not to have a baby.

Malcolm Gladwell is one of my favourite 'smart thinkers'. I love the way that he takes a seemingly insurmountably complicated issue and breaks it down into digestible facts and figures without oversimplifying.

I’ve been given this book multiple times. By my friend Becca as a speedy read on the train home from visiting her in Canterbury (I still have your copy by the way Becca).

I haven’t written here for a few days while I try to keep up to speed with this whole new way of living. In the meantime I was craving a bit of escapism through reading and when this one popped up on Netgalley I was immediately keen.

If there’s something I’m wary of it’s a book being built up a lot before I read it because I suffer from this combination of extreme excitement and very high expectations.

Guys this book! Whew. OK so, backstory. I’ve read no Joseph Heller at all before this but my husband has read Good as Gold, Closing Time and Catch-22, all of which he enjoyed. So he bought this during our mega pre-Honeymoon Waterstones shopping trip.

One thing I stockpiled long before we ever thought we’d end up in this situation were books. Still though I’m not immune to the lure of the shiny new title and spend an embarrassingly vast number of hours scrolling through bookstagram gazing at all the new releases.

I’ve long loved Jodi Picoult’s novels. She generally takes a thorny ethical issue, researches it thoroughly and brings it to life with a well defined group of characters.