Who knows .... my return may well be imminent. Hope everyone is well. Christina ;-) x
Who knows .... my return may well be imminent. Hope everyone is well. Christina ;-) x
Member since:03.10.2003
Reviews:126
Members who trust:101
Yes, I’ll admit it! I’ve been reading rather a lot of magazines lately. Mainly by virtue of the fact that I went to Scotland for a week in August and travelled by train. It’s a five hour journey and whilst I can quite easily get my head stuck into a good book for such a duration, I do find that the density of the text combined with the motion of the train, makes me feel sick after a while. So, magazines, with their colours and layouts make a good alternative. That’s my excuse anyway.
One of the magazines that I picked up was “best”. Whilst doing a little research for this review, I was surprised to discover that this publication has been around since 1987. Apparently, it is aimed at female readers between the ages of 25-55, but has a median reader age of 40. Heh, that’s me! Certainly, as I flicked through it I was pleasantly surprised to feel that it had definite appeal and relevant information, news and stories for me as an individual. It “feels” to me like a publication that fills a gap somewhere between “Bella” and “Woman’s Own”.
Page
3 provides content information broken down into “On the cover”, “Celebrity insider”, “Real life”, “Health”, “Fashion & Beauty”, “Cookery”, “Every Week” and “Puzzles”.
I have to confess I quite enjoyed this. I found there was a lot of reading in this publication, and that it was relevant and interesting to me. However, what never ceases to amaze me is the sheer number of stories that all of these types of magazines contain about real life tragedy. For example, the issue that I’m reviewing contains stories entitled “How could my daughter have been killed mowing the lawn?” and “A cat fell asleep on my baby - and almost killed her.” What I find interesting about this is what motivates people to share such pain with the public at large? I’m not sure I could do it. However, having said that, I know that I’ve written about things that have been difficult in my own life and shared them with fellow Ciao originators. So, I’m sitting here asking myself if this is different and trying to come up with an answer. Certainly, those kind of writings have been a cathartic experience for me, and so I can only assume that this is the case for these people too?
I’ve decided that my favourite feature in “best” is the “Health” section. Certainly on the cover page, there is a banner headline proclaiming “Reader’s Intimate Health Problems Solved - Too shy to ask your doctor?”. And sure enough, when you reach those pages, there are questions there that would make my hair curl. I was always under the illusion that I was relatively unshockable too! For the more delicate reader’s amongst you, I don’t want to go into too much detail, but there are questions in there about condoms, flatulence, nipples and digestive systems galore. I definitely found it eye opening and informative.
Other content includes all the normal features that one would expect from a woman’s weekly. This issue contains a soap story “War on Corrie St, Leanne & Jamie’s affair is doomed”, there’s a kitchen makeover, dieting advice and stories, money saving tips, best buys on certain products, clothes & hair features as well as fiction, letters, book reviews and puzzles to name but a few.
My conclusion is that I definitely liked this. I felt that it was solid and down to earth and was packed with lots of features, stories and information that made the 70p cover price feel like great value to me. Even better, it looked like it carried a minimal amount of advertising with just 9 full pages of adverts out of a total of 60, which I thought wasn’t too excessive at all.
On the negative side, “best” seems to regularly carry numerous “inserts”. You know, those bits of card and leaflets that certain companies use to advertise or market their products. They are the bane of my life and I hate them with a passion! But perhaps this is why “best” can keep advertising within the magazine itself to a minimum?
So, if you’re looking for a light hearted, down to earth, entertaining read that doesn’t involve the need to analyse what you’re reading, and if you’re around the 40 mark, “best” could be the magazine for you. I don’t intend to be buying it on anything but a casual basis, but it’s certainly not something I wouldn’t read again either.
The magazines strapline is “Britain’s best weekly” and although I thought it was OK, I’m not sure I’d go quite that far, but that’s marketing for you. So, clearly it’s a weekly publication and it’s available in newsagents and other retailers for 70p, which is reasonable value. Subscriptions are also available direct from the publishers “National Magazines” for £44.95 for 51 issues, which means that you’re paying 88p per issue! Well, if I was going to buy this on a regular basis, I think I’ll stick to buying it from the shop, rather than paying 18p per week extra!
I used to read this every week, but now I have the kids, I rarely find the time. All my spare time is spent on Ciao! lol. Great review Christina. Sam xxx
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