Joseph Smith

Advantages: Fascinating, well-written, broadly drawn
Disadvantages: none

...and their contemporaries, Fanning shows the peculiar character of a mysticism developing within the strongly hierarchical and formal traditions of English culture. Again revisiting William Blake, his shows how visionary and traditional ideals and impulses can rest in the same person, not always happily but in a fascinating and productive mix. The official freedom of America was never thus in actual religious practice. Communities continued to enforce standards regardless of legislative and constitutional practice. However, the official tolerance and continuing expansion of the nation across the continent led to many opportunities for the mystic to take charge at the very least of one’s own life. Individuals such as Nathan Cole, Jonathan Edwards, Joseph Smith, and movements such as the Quietists and the Holiness movement show the complexity, the diversity... Read review

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Advantages: A heartwarming look at old age
Disadvantages: Absolutely none!

...Oh, how I love this poem! When I am old I am going to aspire to its' every detail! Jenny Joseph wrote this poem in 1961 and it was voted Britain's favourite poem in 1996. It is written from the point of view of a middle-aged woman who yearns to throw off the cloak of respectability in her old age. For now, she must live the life of expected sobriety but, when she reaches old age she is determined to let respectability fly to the wind! There is a clear message of defiance and mischief which I feel everybody can relate to, some more than others maybe, but the connection will be there all the same. To quote just a couple of lines to give you the feeling of the theme: ....and gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells and run my stick along the public railings.... The good thing about old age is that nobody... Read review

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Advantages: A fresh and imaginative story
Disadvantages: You can't put it down.

...I was at Heathrow airport and had only 10 minutes to choose a book, everything was blurry and my jet lag had just set in. The only books I could see were those 20 something “London Girl” books all aka Bridget Jones Diary. I can’t stand this kind of books, they irritate me. I see Zadie Smith’s new book The Autograph Man, I only had two minutes left so just grabbed it, “Newsnight” and “The Sunday Telegraph” had recommended it so it couldn’t be that bad. THE WRITER Zadie Smith was born in 1975 and comes from North West London. The Autograph Man is her second book. Her first book White Teeth won the Whitbread First Novel Award. THE IDEA The Autograph Man is the story of young Chinese-Jewish man Alex-Li Tandem. Alex is an autograph dealer in London. His father died while was a teenager. The story revolves around Alex... Read review

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Advantages: "Straight from the heart".
Disadvantages: You might shed a tear or two.

...John Joseph Sparrow is a sweet-natured child. He smiles often and his disposition is always sunny. Animals, even shy, wild animals are drawn to this gentle boy. But John Joseph, known as Spider, because of the strange way he walks, is different in many ways. He speaks poorly, walks with a peculiar gait and it is obvious, even to his loving parents, Kathie and Tom, that he is not "normal". It's a relief really, when the local school refuses to take him. In the farming community in which Spider lives, his difference provokes some unkind reactions: "Betty Ogle, the poultryman's wife, sharp-eyed and blunt-spoken, summed it up one Sunday morning as she came out of church, despite having just listened to the vicar's sermon which took as its text St Matthew's dictum 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself'. 'Tom and Kath Sparrow's baby... Read review

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