helendipietro's reviews
243 reviews

Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Stunning writing which explores Adichie’s extremely personal and powerful account of loss and grief. I can only imagine the pain that comes when you lose a parent and through this writing, I was able to stand in the shoes of a grieving person - what an important gift for a writer to give! Adichie writes tenderly about the layers of losing a parent and it just really hits you and it hurts!! Yet she manages to display hope through all the pain. This writing will stay with me and I can imagine that it will help a lot of people. 

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

My favourite fiction book this year - what a page turner! I laughed and almost cried through this rollercoaster of a book which seems to be more about sociology than chemistry: integrity, community, found family and determination. Elizabeth Zott is a fabulous, fearless and feminist icon who I was really rooting for but also inspired by! This is truly an incredible novel with rich characters and humour but also some darker elements that add such depth to the story.

Re read this for a book club and it’s just so good! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: Misogyny

The Comfort Book by Matt Haig

hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

3.0

Good little pick me up to have on my shelf. I enjoyed reading it but found some of it repetitive. 

What a Time to Be Alone: The Slumflower's Guide to Why You Are Already Enough by Chidera Eggerue

hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

3.0

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is such a memorable and clever book! I read it on my holiday in Spain which was perfect. The characters are all really well developed; I loved the constant switching- interview style and their differing perspectives on the same events. When people said this book would make you check if it was fiction, they weren’t kidding! I’m sad that they’re not a real band. There’s a twist which caught me off guard too! What a great reading experience 👌

I’ve read two of Jenkins Read’s books now and I LOVED both! 

The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Outraged: Why Everyone is Shouting and No One is Talking by Ashley 'Dotty' Charles

hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

This is a fast-paced, smart and informative book about the ‘outrage industry’. It’s split into 8 small chapters that lead onto each other well. I was nodding throughout reading and found the interviews to be very interesting. After reading this, I’m even more grateful that I don’t have Twitter. I’m not someone who posts a lot of ‘outraged’ content but it did make me reflect on petitions I’ve signed and then not followed up on! The book is a necessary reminder for us all to focus on what’s actually important and what will actually accomplish positive change in real life!

Heartstopper Volume 1 by Alice Oseman

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I can see why so many are falling in love with this series - both graphic novels and on Netflix! I am yet to watch it on Netflix yet so wanted to read at least the first book. It's such a sweet story with loveable characters, good humour and relatable content from within a school. The portrayal of sexuality and of finding yourself when you're young is truly beautiful. It ended on a cliff hanger so I'll be going straight to Volume 2!

The Whispers in the Walls by Sophie Cleverly

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The Joy of Being Selfish: Why you need boundaries and how to set them by Michelle Elman

hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book is truly brilliant; I got a lot from reading Elman’s take on boundaries and have integrated her advice into my life already - a strong sign of a great self-help book! You will come away feeling very reflective about your own boundaries and how they’ve influenced past events in your life. Plus the book is filled with conversation tips and actionable steps to help you along the way.

Michelle Elman has written a practical and inspiring guide that will force you to see the importance of setting good boundaries, how there is huge joy in looking after yourself and how being selfish with your time and energy brings huge benefits. Her advice was similar to Johann Hari’s writing in  ‘Stolen Focus’ - our society glorifies being busy, being connected, never stopping. Our productivity is heavily connected to our own self-worth that when we eventually stop we have to process feelings of guilt and shame not helped by our technological devices.

Elman says that boundaries are a vital way of protecting ourselves from manipulation, gaslighting, disrespect and abuse so it seems crucial for us to learn how to set good boundaries with the people around us. She shines a light on the importance of childhood highlighting how we are told from a very young age (from the messages around us) that our needs come second - particularly women and the message that we should be selfless in all that we do. Give give give.

I also loved her words on emotions: “All emotions are natural, human and healthy. It’s the way that we are taught to handle them that makes them unhealthy.” (pg.57) which made me reflect on my teaching practice because in schools today they still use the wording positive and negative emotions.

Anyway off to plan my dates with myself x