ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – Menopause: A Hot Topic by Sam Bunch

I read Sam Bunch’s excellent book, Collecting Conversations, last year and so I was really pleased when she asked if she could send me her latest book, Menopause: A Hot Topic. Thank you, Sam, for a witty and informative little read.

Menopause – A Hot Topic is a humourous account of Sam sharing her own confusion and angst about the mystifying subject. She’s very honest in telling you that you wont be dymystified but you will at least think, ‘Thank God I’m not alone’. Sam has asked over 50 women to join in the conversation. They too give you their real, honest accounts of the madness that is the menopause. It’s the perfect gift for the menopausal women in your life.

“OMG I am laughing out loud with tears pouring down my face”. Sally – a menopausal woman from Lancashire.

You can get your own copy from Sam’s website.

Menopause – A Hot Topic is a fabulous little book. I’m not entirely sure whether I’m heading towards the dreaded menopause at the moment or not but what I can be sure of is that I will get there eventually and it’s good to read something relatively lighthearted, yet also informative, about it.

It’s broken up into sections entitled: Introduction, The Start, The Middle, The End, Pearls of Wisdom, Helping Hands, My Space and Thank You. The first four document Sam Bunch’s own experiences using her trademark dry humour. Despite the humour though, it’s clear that it has not been a walk in the park for her. She talks about her own varying symptoms and along the bottom of each page a symptom is printed. It really brings it home that anything and everything can happen to a woman during the menopause.

Pearls of Wisdom contains comments from over 50 women that Sam has spoken to about their own experiences of the menopause. This is something that Sam did to great effect in her first book, Collecting Conversations, in which she spoke to 100 women from their 20s to their 90s about their lives in a series of fascinating interviews (give me these over any celebrity interview any day). Here we have smaller soundbites but each is worthy of note and I think it’s always helpful to gain insights in this way, particularly as so much of what happens seems to be kept quiet and not talked about.

Helping Hands lists information and resources in the form of books, social media and professional help and My Space is a space for the reader to write in their own thoughts and feelings.

It’s a great read and at under 100 pages it’s also a quick one. I found it useful and interesting and it’s one I will come back to over the years to come.

Hi, my name is Sam Bunch. I grew up in the North of England in a village called Read, part of the Ribble Valley, under the watchful eye of Pendle Hill. After failing my A’ levels I got the opportunity to be an au pair in Zurich, Switzerlnd. Without much of thought I jumped on the next plane, little did I know this was me leaving home for good.

After a year in Switzerland I did a few months back packing through Europe. Eventually hitching from Southern Italy to London. I took up residence and I’ve been here ever since.

I live with my husband and 3 children in Clapham, South London. For many years I worked as a Naturopath and Reflexologist. When my third child came along the work/life balanced tipped in favour of domesticity. Unsuprisingly I became a little restless and that’s when I started Collecting Conversations.

In 2018 I self published Collecting Conversations – 100 women sharing everydy thoughts. I have also just published Menopause – A Hot Topic. Currently I am interviewing 100 men for the sequel: Collecting Conversations – Men Talk.

When not listening to peoples life stories; I paint, practise meditation and yoga. Read excessively and spend as much time as I can in my garden.

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