It’s not that unusual to pick up a book, read the back and buy it just based on that alone, but it’s not something I do all that often. I made an exception here though. Backpack’s blurb begins “On the day she buries her mother, Tansy wakes up in hospital having poisoned herself with drugs and alcohol”. I read this in a bookshop somewhere down south, less than 2 hours after my father’s funeral, and I just knew I had to have it. It was the 1st book I’d picked up in the shop too – spooky. Over the last few years there’s been an influx of books set around gap year trips to Asia and the like but only some of them ...  Read the complete review

"Back-pack" by Emily Barr ISBN: 9780755339235 I have read a few of Emily Barr's books and found them to be an easy read, basically chicklit but with a different setting so a bit of a travel writing/chick lit genre if there is such a thing. I bought this one as part of a 3 for £5 deal from somewhere so good value for a holiday read I thought. I had not read the blurb on the back or looked at te book until I started reading it. Strangely the journey the lead character takes includes Laos where we went on this holiday and Vietnam the country visited a few years before so it was interesting to see what she made of places we had ...  Read the complete review

When people talk about yahooing the New Year in with a BANG..well we get the pre-conceived idea that is was a memorable one! However for poor Tansy Harris, her New Year has begun with a blurry journey into hell followed by a snap, crackle, pop, a gaping hospital gown and paper knickers. Its New Years Day and Tansy has woken in hospital (funnily enough the book concludes with her in the same place) after surviving a lethal cocktail of cocaine and vodka, and with the vivid memory of her mother's death just days earlier hanging around like wet washing in her subconscious mind. Tansy’s life has simply been far from Disneyland. Her whole existence ...  Read the complete review

Oh to be in a land where re writes are not needed. I hate doing em. But, to be done they must. If only to rid the hallowed pages of dooyoo of the dregs of op's clogging up otherwise needed space, to make room for other worthier ops! Read on my friends ... another re write awaits ... So, beginning of the year, and idodoyou has an idea. She's gonna take 6 months off and travel a bit. See a little piece of the world that we dwell. Plans are being made. And idodoyou has itchy feet. When she sees this book upon the shelves, 'ah ha', she thinks, 'I'll start my journey now, for I will travel within the pages of this book'! ...  Read the complete review

Funnily enough I bought this book at the airport as I was about to fly long-haul (although not go back-packing this time). Probably a strange choice to read when you're going to a foreign country but I like scaring myself (ha! ha!). Having back-packed through several countries myself I thought I would be able to relate to the characters and situations in this novel. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The book is full of the old cliches about back-packers and there is the old rating-puller twist to the story (which was evident from the start). The book is also full of inaccuracies, which makes me wonder if the author really did travel to the places she ...  Read the complete review