Photo by Jens Schott Knudsen via Flickr

Two writers, Harrie Wood and Lydia Rugg, give us an update on the books that they’ve been reading over the past few weeks.

Harrie Wood is currently reading Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig…

 
Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig is a title that has been floating around the internet quite a lot recently. If you’ve never heard of the book then it probably sounds a bit odd from the title. Haig suffered from a lot of mental health problems in his twenties and this is his first hand account of what he went through. Only being half way through so far, the start of the book is quite hard to read in certain places as Haig describes what he felt like in such detail, that even someone who has never experienced mental illness can start to imagine how it feels.

The book wasn’t written solely to give an insight into depression and anxiety, but also to encourage the reader to think about their own life. It seems like the latter half will be about how Haig started to deal with his demons and will show the reader the things that Haig found to make life worth living. From all the reviews, it looks like it is a book that will make you appreciate what you have, even if it seems like you don’t have much at the moment.

Lydia Rugg has been reading It’s Only a Movie by Mark Kermode and Girls to the Front by Sarah Marcus…

In light of Mark Kermode’s recent visit to the University of Kent, I decided to get some reading material of his, as I enjoy his and Simon Mayo’s Radio 5 live show. I purchased It’s Only a Movie, which was published back in 2010. The book is an autobiographical account, or as Kermode states in the prologue, a ‘version of my life which has been written and directed by me’. The lines blur between events worthy of cinematic placement to down to earth, every guy happenings. Having read three chapters of the book, it’s an easy read and of high interest to me as a film student to learn about another’s passionate relationship with film and how it began.

As a feminist and a lover of punk music, I think it’s important to appreciate and be knowledgeable about the origins of a movement that revolutionised how women are seen in the music industry. I’ve been reading about Sarah Marcus’ personal experience with the radical feminist movement, Riot Grrrl, that infiltrated the punk scene in the 1990’s in her book: Girls To The Front. I would recommend the book to any girl who has experienced being an outcast, targeted or ridiculed for personal beliefs and generally anyone with a keen interest in pursuing the on-going feminist cause.