WILL STONE fact-checks the colourful life of Ozzy Osbourne
I Belong Here
Outstanding travelogue addresses state of nation during tramp along Pennine Way
BRITAIN'S BACKBONE: Wessenden Valley on the Pennine Way
[G-Man/Creative Commons] 
JAMES CROSSLEY applauds a lucid biography of the German radical preacher who reemerged as a hero in the GDR
Prizes all round: the Bard hands plaudits to the Miners Gala, OT&JC, Joe Solo, Black Sabbath’s frontman and the Lionesses
Star cartoonist JAMIE BRITTON is in awe of a graphic novel of epic proportions that explores class, religion and globalisation via the strange cultivation of Ginseng in the US Midwest
GUILLERMO THOMAS is intrigued by a history of the Middle East that demonstrates how promising post colonial beginnings were snuffed out by Western imperialist interests
MARIA DUARTE recommends the intricate study of a high-performance and highly dysfuntional German family
I BELONG HERE is an accomplished and emotionally comprehensive extended metaphor, adroitly used by an author seeking the positive repudiation of a hate crime and all that lies behind it.
Anita Sethi’s journey along the Pennine Way, Britain’s “backbone,” was ignited by a vile verbal racist assault — a variation of the “go back to where you came from” trope — on a train as she travelled to a literary festival in Newcastle. Still in long-term trauma, she then suffered the devastation of the death of a much-loved friend.
Her journey serves as a meditation both on her recollection of these specific events but also on the bigger issues faced by a society that diminishes and denudes the opportunities for, and contributions of, its non-white and non-male citizens.
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An absorbing metaphor for contemporary Western societies is recommended by PAUL SIMON
PAUL SIMON falls under the spell of little known authors from an island at the edge of the world
