Carol Naylor's REVIEW it...

                      A Bike Ride Through My Life. Frank Clements. Frank Clements admits that there were " so many ups and downs" in his life, personally and professionally but his positive attitude of: "always look on the bright side of life" became his saving grace. He was ambitious and that is clearly evident when reading his autbiography. In his early days as an amateur cyclist, before becoming a semi-pro then a pro he wanted to be "the best cyclist in the world." A wonderful dream. Later he lamented:" I should have won a gold medal"in the 1956 games in Melbourne, Australia. He just missed being a member of the team. " I was a likely contender." "It was 50/50 between Harry and me." Harry Reynolds. As it turned out, ironically, the French won the gold and England the silver. The book is a comprehensive account of cycling during the 50s and 60s and the development of...

Did you know that 1 million Biafrans died during the 3 year civil war in the late 60s? Adichie grew up in the shadow of Biafra and dedicated the book to her grandfathers in particular who died as refugees and to honour the collective memory of an entire nation. "If you want to understand a country's soul read its fiction." ( Emily Carter Roiphe) This is precisely what Adichie does and I agree wholeheartedly with her. In Adichie's second novel what she describes as "emotional truth" an empathetic human quality, hopefully a recognisable trait, is portrayed through harrowing images of torture, mutilation and explicitly graphical images of massacres and human carnage. It is a story but shockingly real and historically accurate and is regarded as one of the most painful episodes in Nigerian history. Half of a yellow sun was an emblem worn by the Biafrans who were hopeful for independence from Nigeria. The turmoil within African politics was seen as a "br...

" You are never too old" to start your first novel. Ask Torday, he was 59 when he wrote this novel and he has produced a new novel each year. A film was made recently with Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt and Kristin Scott Thomas. Read the book first: Lassie Hallfrom the director has made some significant changes from Beaufoy's screenplay.The book works for me. It wasn't the most dynamic, thrilling or exciting of novels I have had the pleasure to read and review recently but I did enjoy it. I enjoyed the brief glimpses of romance, a vision of the impossible and the bungling bureaucracy satirised politically. I was told there was a "feelgood comedy" element which I failed to discover. Perhaps someone can enlighten me? I certainly liked the ending, failure of a different kind, the least expected and sadness. Torday isn't in to happy endings I am delighted to say. Dr Alfred (Fred) Jones is educated, straight forward, humble and a lovely person who has had som...