Category: Angela Readman

Books I Think You Should Buy + The World Isn’t All That Bad Really

I’ve not read as many books this year as I’d have liked to. My own Not So Perfect got in the way (in a good way).

Here are some favourites. I think any one could have been mybook of the year but the one that’s stayed with me the most, just, is Michael Kimball’s ‘How Much Of Us There Was‘. It is beautiful.

But, I also loved, Very Much:

Transformations, by Anne Sexton.

Like Bees To Honey and In Search of Adam, both by the wondrous Caroline Smailes.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, by the awesome Aimee Bender.

When I Was Five I Killed Myself, by Howard Buten.

Strip, by Angela Readman.

And, a book I only finished last night: It Is Just You, Everything’s Not Shit, by the mysterious Steve Stack. It’s a book that, without doubt, will stay with me for a long time to come. It seems to be a rare thing these days to celebrate the good things in life and that’s exactly what this book does.The world, and the people in it, is more of a joy than I often give credit for. It’s good to be reminded, and moved, by that. Thank you, Steve. I will try to be a little less grumpy in future.

So, in that spirit….

And happy hols, one and all. Be safe and be happy and, if possible, be loved.

Strip

I don’t do book reviews, as regular or long time readers will know. Not because I don’t want to mention good fiction (god know!). It’s simply because I’m not very good at them. But despite that I do, when I read something great, like to give it a mention.

Which is why I’m mentioning Angela Readman’s ‘Strip’.
‘Strip’ is mostly a poetry collection. It’s about sex.It’s about porn (one of the poems is about an actress who performs with animals and there are others about Bettie Page – someone I previously knew very little about). And it’s brilliant. It’s honest. It cuts to the truth of things. It’s about being female and about what’s often expected. It’s raw and it’s beautiful and it’s wonderfully sad. And it’s written beautifully, Angela Steadman is clearly a master (or mistress!) of words and of language.
Perhaps my favourite section was ‘The Porn Star Letters’. They’re written by a young girl, in the midst of her sexual awakening, to Traci, a porn actress (or star). That bit broke my heart a little and reminded me of Caroline Smailes’ Black Boxes in its use of language and the way it was brilliantly affecting.
A brilliant, brilliant collection that I’d say was well worth checking out.