Friendaholic: Confessions of a Friendship Addict

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Because friends from later in the book pop up before their chapter I found the need for a cast list at the start of the book, like a Shakespearean play. Here she confesses to be a friendship addict - something I am ruthlessly not - but it was interesting to see how others go about their needs and desires in a friend relationship.

There are sprinklings of unconnected “Friendship Tapes” from individuals about what friendship means to them that break up each chapter beautifully.And, all snarking aside, many will find comfort in the honest description of her fertility struggles, for which she has rightly been praised. In reality, it reads like a 400-page transcript of her therapy sessions – a form which recently reached its apotheosis in Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare.

I really enjoyed reading this, but I found the point or anecdote was often lost in a seemingly pointless side story or fact or lengthy metaphor. If you are visiting the Hayward Gallery, just take your badge and car park ticket to the Ticket Desk in the gallery foyer for validation before you leave. Photograph: Sophia Spring/The Observer ‘There is simply no predicting when you might meet a kindred spirit’: Elizabeth Day.This means it's also uniquely difficult to manage the development of a friendship in a careful and caring fashion. Over a 150-year period, they independently fought to establish the regulatory tools still used to preserve England’s green spaces. Alternative parking is available nearby at the APCOA Cornwall Road Car Park (490 metres), subject to charges.

I was really excited to read this as I thought it would help me be a better friend and strengthen friendships.A generous, companionable guide to a part of life every bit as crucial - and as fraught - as romance or family. I went into this really sceptical, but TBF to the author I don't know who else is discussing friendship in as nuanced a way as her. Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. My preference is for once-a-month meet-ups with an option to consider a mini-break in Prague if things go well.

It is often said that what passes as left-wing politics these days is just red-washed liberalism, so absolutely has the critique of mass production and mass consumption been abandoned. Unfortunately, for me, the book is most interesting where it is least like a confessional and most like a scientific exploration of friendship. So I said I wouldn't criticise the book for not being what I wanted it to be but then I went and did that anyway. Love every word in this book and really feel like I learnt things about myself and what makes friendships my most favourite thing. On this document (you could have it laminated) you would list what you can and can’t offer a new person in your life.Given that science is used as seasoning it shouldn't be surprising that there is little rigor cast over the facts chosen to support or prompt Day's positions. This book absolutely hit the spot for me, and it’s been a long time since a book has got me this good. A childhood in Northern Ireland, where she was an outsider, had a dearth of friends and suffered bullying, left her with an insatiable need to be liked. Therapy-speak, then, is the language of the consumer, and consumers do not make for independent thinkers, let alone free ones. ELIZABETH DAY is the author of five novels and three works of non-fiction, including her Sunday Times bestselling novel Magpie, and memoir How to Fail.