Nosh Brothers

Advantages: Everything
Disadvantages: Slang will make many put this book down immediately.

...A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess is probably my favorite novel of all time, yet I rarely find myself recommending this book to my friends. With other favorite books of mine, like Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five and King's Misery, I found myself recommending them to everyone. Why won't I recommend A Clockwork Orange to everyone? Well, it takes dedication to read. The book is only about 200 pages yet it will probably take you about as much time as a 400 page book. Why is it such a challenging book to read? Well here is an average outtake from the book: But then I counted odin dva tree and went ak ak ak with the britva, though not at litso or glazzies but at Georgie's nosh-holding rooker and, my little brothers, he dropped. He did. He dropped his nosh with a tinkle tankle on the hard winter sidewalk. I had just ticklewickled his... Read review

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Advantages: Precise instructions for producing stupendous food.
Disadvantages: Pernickety.

...Back in the late 1980s one of the highlights of Sunday afternoons was a television programme called “At Home with the Roux Brothers”. Both brothers had three Michelin stars (the highest accolade which a restaurant can earn), Albert at Le Gavroche in central London and Michel at The Waterside Inn at Bray. The food they produced was superb – in a completely different class to the usual food that you see on television cookery programmes. Some years later we had the opportunity to have a meal at The Waterside and to spend the night there. Even after seven years that dinner still stands out as the most exceptional meal that I’ve ever eaten: for the first time I understood what made a Michelin 3* restaurant so special. Every detail of the five course meal was perfect, with the finale being a raspberry soufflé. This came, perfectly risen... Read review

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Advantages: heart warming story, powerful social commentary, sympathetic characters, engaging storyline
Disadvantages: tragic ending

...Blood Brothers by Willy Russell is a heart-warming musical about twins separated at birth. If it sounds like a cliche, this may be because it it is one of the most famous examples of twins separated only to meet by chance and become best friends, 'blood brothers' in more ways than one. Of course it is not the only case of twin separation - but this is obviously less cheesy than The Parent Trap! I have taken part in Blood Brothers, and we performed extracts using role play and ensemble physical theatre and poetry. A performance I saw of the play was more traditional and they sang all the songs with dance routines. This makes the play extremely versatile for a range of actors and audiences and even just to be read for your own enjoyment. Sadly, Blood Brothers has a tragic end but is also a powerful social commentary on the problems... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful