This one has been on my virtual bookshelf for quite some time. I even have a physical copy that I bought, as I tend to do with physical books, with the greatest intentions of reading it immediately, but it very quickly gathered dust on my shelf. I’m a big fan of the cover, for its vibrant colours but minimal look. It’s not the best Fahrenheit 451 cover I’ve seen – there’s a fantastic all-black one that reveals the title only when you heat/burn the page – but still, I enjoyed it....

Well, I for one certainly didn’t expect to be writing another review so quickly. But I suppose Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is a novella, sitting pretty at a mere 128 pages, so it did not take long to finish at all. It’s another book that I decided to read because I’ve seen the film loads of times. It’s a fantastic film, and often cited as one of the best films of all time....

Somehow I’ve watched The Green Mile film half a dozen times but never actually sat down to read the book. But that has all changed, and as it turns out I really have missed out on a spectacular story and at least some affirmation that the film adaptation is extremely faithful to the book. I’ve read a handful of Stephen King novels, and whilst I certainly wouldn’t go so far as to call myself an aficionado, I would say that each one has been excellent....

A behemoth if ever there was one.

Writing is hard. Perhaps that’s an oversimplification. The mechanics of writing are easy, especially in a day and age with computers with spelling and grammar checkers. You can even use an app that tells you how good your writing is1. It’ll tell you when you end a sentence on a preposition, or when you’re too passive, or use too many adverbs. None of these tools are perfect, but they do a good job of propping up one side of the process to make life easier for the writer....