Mark Bramhill

Delightful guide to a unjustly maligned bird! A fun, easy read with fab illustrations. 

Catte refuses to submit to stereotype, examining the oft-neglected nuances of her home-region.

A fun, easy read. Sloan has a lot of wacky, entertaining ideas and a enjoyable plot that kept me going with this. But the writing is really nothing special — so much ‘meh' description, and so much of it feels like a repeat (I swear, everyone “raises an eyebrow” or “narrows their eyes” as their primary form of emoting, one character always “totters” around, etc). The characters are fine, but not deep — some are quite fun despite this, but are total caricatures. And then the fun ideas I mentioned — about technology, typography, coding, and museum archives — they are so outlandish and absurd that I question if Sloan knew that they had no resemblance to reality or not. Even knowing a good deal about these subjects (why the book was recommended to me), I can get past them to enjoy them for what they are: pure, fantastical fun.

If you truly knew nothing about writing or cinema terminology, this may be a good resource. If not, this book will feel condescending, needlessly lengthy, and meandering. The book deals too much with writing practice in general — I don't need a film writing book to know I should proofread my writing.

Dear Sugar offers us ‘Radical Empathy' at a time when we need it most. This collection of letters and advice will make you laugh and weep and feel more connected to the letter writers and to Strayed and to all of humanity. Perhaps none of the letters will resonate with you, make you stop in your tracks (though I bet at least one of them will). But I guarantee this book will make you more connected to the vast world of messed up humans which we live in. And that's beautiful.