23/12/2024tagged:Richard Powers, ★★★★-Read The Overstory by Richard Powers ★★★★☆ 📚Several different stories & ideas around the importance of trees to the world weave together. Some resonated with me more than others.Many of the ideas are better known now than when the book was published. The best arguments in the world won’t change a person’s mind. The only… …
08/12/2024tagged:Benjamin Wood, ★★★-Read The Bellwether Revivals by Benjamin Wood ★★★☆☆ 📚 My theory is that hope is a form of madness. A benevolent one, sure, but madness all the same. Like an irrational superstition—broken mirrors and so forth—hope’s not based on any kind of logic, it’s just unfettered optimism, grounded in nothing but faith in things beyond… …
01/12/2024tagged:Samantha Harvey, ★★★★-Read: The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey ★★★★☆ 📚 Set in the 15th century, a priest tries to solve a "murder". More about the priest than the murder. Told in reverse it revels his character & the story in an interesting way. Hypocrisy, superstition & morality. …
22/11/2024tagged:Emily St. John Mandel, ★★★★-Read: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel ★★★★☆ 📚Gentle SciFi. Some of the characters from The Glass Hotel appear. When have we ever believed that the world wasn’t ending? And What if it always is the end of the world? …
10/11/2024tagged:John Banville, ★★★★-Read: The Drowned by John Banville ★★★★☆ 📚A who done it, that doesn't focus of the crime or solution. Follows on from the previous one in a series, nothing is really clear, characters uncertain about most things. Lots of moral ambiguity. …
10/11/2024tagged:Chantal Lyons, ★★★★-Read: Groundbreakers- The Return of Britain’s Wild Boar by Chantal Lyons ★★★★☆ 📚The author's fascination with boar & belief in the good they could do to the environment doesn't stop her reporting on both points of view. The difference between European acceptance & Uk fears is telling. …
02/11/2024tagged:Ann Patchett, ★★★★★-Read: Tom Lake by Ann Patchett ★★★★★ 📚A book around a famous (in the USA?) play I've never heard of. Compelling & mostly comfortable. Laugh out loud sometimes too. …
19/10/2024tagged:Yangsze Choo, ★★★★-Read: The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo ★★★★☆ 📚 I exist as either a small canid with thick fur, pointed ears, and neat to black feet, or a young woman. Neither are safe forms in a world run by men Had be believing in a main character that was a fox god. Told from 2… …
12/10/2024tagged:Samantha Harvey, ★★★★-Read Orbital By Samantha Harvey ★★★★☆ 📚 Six astronauts and cosmonauts watch the earth roll 16 times in 24 hours. Plotless, thoughts ,observations & meditations. yet hard to believe in anything but that blackness, which is alive, and breathing and beckoning. If Nell had ever been afraid of nothingness, once she was in it she… …
12/10/2024tagged:Yasmin Cordery Khan, ★★★★-Read: Overland by Yasmin Cordery Khan ★★★★☆ 📚Unlikely, slightly unlikeable & possibly unreliable narrator Joyce tags along with two posh boys on the hippy trail. It feels like disaster is on the way. …
11/09/2024tagged:Kathleen Jamie, ★★★★★-Read: Cairn by Kathleen Jamie ★★★★★ 📚 The common curlew, as the old books have it, Fragments, essays, poems & notes, following the natural world, and the mess we have made of it. Beautiful. …
08/09/2024tagged:Carys Davies, ★★★★★-Read: West by Carys Davies ★★★★★ 📚 There is something endlessly pleasant about the quick flurries of bats in the trees at this time of day, and the soft crepitation of insects all around: a steady in-out susurration as if the earth itself is breathing. Lovely book so brief & clear. A handful of characters,… …
01/09/2024tagged:Paul Murray, ★★★★-Read: Skippy Dies by Paul Murray ★★★★☆ 📚 Irish private boy's school. Some laugh out loud teenage dialogue, some horrible teenage drama. Multiple voices & pov weave towards a messy ending that didn't quite pay off for me, although that might be the point. Still kept me reading for nearly 700 pages. …
11/08/2024tagged:Mick Herron, ★★★-Read: The Last Voice You Hear by Mick Heron ★★★ 📚 Effective Detective as you would expect. Maybe a bit too much physical action for me. Nice twist to end setting up further stories. …
08/08/2024tagged:Susanna Moore, ★★★★-Read: The Lost Wife by Susanna Moore ★★★★☆ 📚 Short but engaging fiction based on a real life memoir. Settlers & Sioux clash in 1855. The narrator, Sarah, has no self pity despite a troubled life. Felt like a realistic picture of the times both filthy & surprising. Characters are complex. …
03/08/2024tagged:Ian Rankin, ★★★-Read: Hide and Seek by Ian Rankin ★★★☆☆ 📚 I am reading more Rankin, not necessarily in the right order. This early Rebus is a wee bit different than the later versions. A nicely tangled plot woven across Edinburgh society from junkies to the higher reaches. Corruption all the way. …
29/07/2024tagged:Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, ★★★-Read: Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah ★★★☆☆ 📚 Dystopia, prisoners fight to the death. Illuminating prisons & racism. Parallels with sport, advertising & reality TV. Quite a page turner, too much on weapons, technical details etc. great footnotes mix fact & fiction. …
27/07/2024tagged:Mick Herron, ★★★★-Read: The Secret Hours by Mick Herron ★★★★☆ 📚 I actually think I enjoyed this more than the Slow Horses books. There was some amusing civil service & government committee scenes, less over the top characters. Nice unobtrusive links to Slow Horses too. …
24/07/2024tagged:Fiona Mcfarlane, ★★★★★-Read: The Sun Walks Down by Fiona Mcfarlane ★★★★★ 📚 A lost boy in the Australian outback at the end of the 19th century. The many searchers & their tangled involvement with each other, the land & the landscape weave in & out of the story. Great detail about each without losing momentum. This was… …
18/07/2024tagged:Michelle Gallen, ★★★★-Read: Big Girl, Small Town by Michelle Gallen ★★★★☆ 📚 Majella is autistic but might not know it. Her mum is a hopeless alcoholic, her dad one of Northern Ireland's disappeared. Her uncle had blown himself up & her grannie has just been murdered. Her house mostly filthy, her town pretty horrible too. This account… …
15/07/2024tagged:Colm Tóibín, ★★★★★-Read: Long Island by Colm Tóibín ★★★★★ 📚 Quiet, subtle and thrilling. Characters fail to communicate, wait too long for the right moment and miss and hit opportunities. …
07/07/2024tagged:Ross Macdonald, ★★★★-Read: The Drowning Pool by Ross MacDonald ★★★★☆ 📚 There the kelp-beds stopped me, a tangled barrier of brown and yellow tubes and bulbs floating low in the water. I hated the touch of underwater life. The best Chandler substitute I've found. …
06/07/2024tagged:Colm Tóibín, ★★★★★-Read: Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín ★★★★★ 📚A re-read in prep for Long Island. This is a beautiful quiet read that lingers a long time. Really enjoyed reading it again. …
03/07/2024tagged:Michael Longley, ★★★★-Read: The Slain Birds by Michael Longley ★★★★ 📚 The ravens in conversation overhead might be Discussing us or that sheep dead in a hollow With its yellow ear-tag and delicate black feet. …
02/07/2024tagged:Louise Welsh, ★★★★-Read: To the Dogs by Louise Welsh ★★★★☆ 📚Glasgow crime, university prof, nearly brought low by his criminal son & family history. Twists, turns & some familiar locations. …
30/06/2024tagged:Carys Davies, ★★★★★-Read: Clear by Carys Davies ★★★★★ 📚 I loved this short tale, 1840, 3 characters, the split in the Kirk & the clearances. There was a word in Ivar's language for the moment before something happens; for the state of being on the brink of something. …
30/06/2024tagged:Mick Herron, ★★★★-Read: Bad Actors by Mick Herron ★★★★☆ 📚Plenty of fun poked at our political leaders. Usual spy fun & shenanigans. …
26/06/2024tagged:Paul Murray, ★★★★★-Read: The Bee Sting by Paul Murray ★★★★★ 📚 A great read, multiple pov, full of surprises. Inside each character's head indecision jerks chains. The stories shift between characters, each enough for a novel of its own. At first I felt some were left hanging, but it all weaves together. …
15/06/2024tagged:Mick Herron, ★★★★-Read: Slough House by Mick Herron ★★★★☆ 📚 Best one in the last few I've read. Although the back & forth between different fields of action at a cliff hanger is predictably it works. Politically incorrect attitudes from Jackson still funny. More emotion & connection to the characters. …
10/06/2024tagged:Yiyun Li, ★★★★-Read: The Vagrants by Yiyun Li ★★★★☆ delicately written, horrifying account of lives in post Mao (just) China. There are very few moments of hope but my sympathy for the characters ran deep. …
19/05/2024tagged:S.J. Parris, ★★★-Read: Prophecy by S.J. Parris ★★★ 📚 Good fun trip to Elizabethan London. …
08/05/2024tagged:Mick Herron, ★★★★-Read: Joe Country by Mick Herron ★★★★☆ 📚Still amusing and engaging, but maybe lacking the surprise of earlier ones in the series. …
06/05/2024tagged:Barbara Kingsolver, ★★★★-Read: Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver ★★★★☆ 📚Maybe too many important issues for the one book & some "too good to be true" characters but I was thoroughly engaged. …
24/04/2024tagged:Octavia E. Butler, ★★★-Read: Kindred by Octavia E. Butler ★★★☆☆ 📚 Another Octavia E. Butler and again I felt it might be a young adult book. The slavery was a lot less horrific than say The Book of Night Women. The time travelling characters didn't seem too put out by suddenly being pulled into the past. Still story… …
13/04/2024tagged:Kate Atkinson, ★★★★-Read: Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson ★★★★☆ 📚 Lots of fun, I chuckled my way through. Somewhat confused by the time travel, alternative paths and possible hallucinations. Isobel is 16 in the 60s. Her mum and dad disappear mysteriously. All the characters are strange. …
01/04/2024tagged:Percival Everett, ★★★★-Read: The Trees by Percival Everett ★★★★☆📚 Racism, lynching, half detective, half horror. Also laugh out loud funny. What a strange book. Raced through it. The conclusion was a bit abrupt, but I am not sure how it could be finished with complete satisfaction. …
28/03/2024tagged:Mick Herron, ★★★-Read: London Rules by Mick Herron ★★★☆☆ 📚 Enjoyable, more of the same from the series. Laughing out loud. …
18/03/2024tagged:Moses McKenzie, ★★★★-Read: An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses McKenzie ★★★★☆ 📚 Sort of Top Boy in Bristol. Once you adjust to the patois, it is an engrossing & exciting read. I felt quite conflicted by the resolution. …
13/03/2024tagged:Parini Shroff, ★★★★-Read: The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff ★★★★☆ 📚 A nice trip to a distant part of the world, funny too. The dramatic climax a bit too unlikely. …
25/02/2024tagged:Paul Lynch, ★★★★★-Read : Prophet Song by Paul Lynch ★★★★★ 📚 The epigram - “In the dark times will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times. Bertolt Brecht” In the head of Eilish, mother of four, as she walks into hell, a small step at a time. Had me completely… …
18/02/2024tagged:John Banville, ★★★★-Read: The Lock-Up by John Banville ★★★★☆ 📚 Despite the fact I don't really like either of the main characters, and the crime solves itself, I enjoyed this. must be the writing. …
11/02/2024tagged:Sarah Moss, ★★★★-Read The Tidal Zone by Sarah Moss ★★★★☆ 📚 Family life ruptured by child's illness. Touching quietly on lots of issues. Has not diminished my love for reading Sara Moss. …
29/01/2024tagged:Naomi Klein, ★★★★-Read: Doppelgänger by Naomi Klein ★★★★☆ 📚 Joining the dots around conspiracy, climate, indigenous rights and more. Occasionally strains the metaphor. …
14/01/2024tagged:Mick Herron-Read: Spook Street by Mick Herron ★★★★☆ 📚 Getting to be a comfort zone. …
2023
30/12/2023tagged:Barbara Kingsolver, ★★★★★-Read Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver ★★★★★ 📚 David Copperfield about the opioid problem in Appalachia. I was sucked in by Demon's voice. Glad I knew a happy ending for at least some characters was expected. I"ll wait a bit but rereading Dickens is on my list for 2024. …
17/12/2023tagged:Ross Macdonald, ★★★★-Read: The Underground Man by Ross Macdonald ★★★★☆ 📚 Two deer–a doe and a fawn–came down the slope in a dry creek channel, heading for the grove. They saw me and rocking-horsed over a fallen log into the trees. …
15/12/2023tagged:Holly Williams, ★★★-Read: What time is love by Holly Williams ★★★☆☆ 📚 Quite an interesting time travel remix, I did want to find out what happened to the first couple. The second incarnation less compelling. …
26/11/2023tagged:Ian Rankin, ★★★-Read: Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin ★★★☆☆ 📚 First Rebus, a darker character than the later series (which I've read quite a few in random order). I got the first 3 in a kindle 99p bundle so will read the next couple too, not just yet. …
26/11/2023tagged:Denise Mina, ★★★★-Read: Three Fires by Denise Mina ★★★★☆ 📚Lightly fictionalised account of Girolamo_Savonarola's life in Renaissance Florence. Radical & powerful social reformer, anti-semite & inspirer of bonfires of the vanities. …
14/11/2023tagged:Mick Herron, ★★★★-Read: Real Tigers by Mick Herron ★★★★☆ Third I read in the series, most enjoyable so far, I chuckled out loud a few times. A bit too much shooting. I couldn't read the next one until I read other things, but feel the pull. …
05/11/2023tagged:Gabrielle Zevin, ★★★★-Read: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin ★★★★☆📚 Engrossing, the game programming context kept out of the way & I let the characters shine. …
28/10/2023tagged:Kevin Jared Hosein, ★★★★★-Read: Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein ★★★★★ 📚 Great read, drops you into 1940s Trinidad plantation barracks. Cramp, leaky & claustrophobic. History & the recent past twists Hans, Shweta & Krishna, good people, into knots. Entangling characters, setting & my attention. …
13/10/2023tagged:S.J. Parris, ★★★-Read: Heresy (Giordano Bruno, #1) by S.J. Parris ★★★☆☆ 📚 The rather weird idea of historical characters solving murder is good fun. …
04/10/2023tagged:Denise Mina, ★★★-Read The Second Murderer: A Philip Marlowe Novel by Denise Mina ★★★☆☆ 📚 Pretty good job updating Marlow a little for our more sensitive times. …
23/09/2023tagged:Colson Whitehead, ★★★★-Read: Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead ★★★★☆ 📚 More Harlem corruption, criminality, horror & fun. 3 linked episodes across the 70s. Wanders into back alleys & backstories in an engaging way. …
17/09/2023tagged:Claire Keegan, ★★★★-Read: So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan ★★★★☆ 📚 Very short, disturbing & moving tale. …
16/09/2023tagged:Maxine Hong Kingston, ★★★★-Read: The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston ★★★★☆ 📚 I read this decades ago and was not disappointed by this re-read. …
26/08/2023tagged:Chris Whitaker, ★★★★-Read: We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker ★★★★☆ 📚 Murder mystery with arms & legs. Despite the rather unbelievable teenage, character, the twists and convolutions kept me reading and engaged. A nice distraction. …
24/08/2023tagged:Maggie O’Farrell, ★★★★-Read: The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell ★★★★☆ 📚 Enjoyed the dip into the strange world of the 1500s Italy. Not quite as absorbing as Hamnet but I was engrossed, even though the murder is announced at the start I had my hopes up. …
07/08/2023tagged:Maggie Shipstead, ★★★★★-Read: You Have a Friend in 10A: Stories by Maggie Shipstead ★★★★★ 📚 Loved these absorbing stories. Wide ranging settings & situations. Plenty of surprises. The only disappointment, an expected last story turned into acknowledgments & extract from The Great Circle. …
01/08/2023tagged:Claire Keegan, ★★★★-Read: Antarctica by Claire Keegan ★★★★☆ 📚 After reading Small Things Like These and watching Foster I was surprised at some of the more dramatic turns and unpleasantness in some of these stories. They have a similar quiet, clarity & almost terseness. …
31/07/2023tagged:Rebecca Wait, ★★★★-Read: I’m Sorry You Feel That Way by Rebecca Wait ★★★★☆ 📚 dysfunctional family story, that was in turn rather funny and quite serious. I enjoyed the fun and though the description of psychosis was good. …
23/07/2023tagged:Mick Herron, ★★★-Read: Dead Lions by Mick Herron ★★★☆☆ 📚 The second in the series, grubby comic spies. I think I'll keep reading these now and again. …
21/07/2023tagged:Mona Awad, ★★★★-Read: All's Well by Mona Awad ★★★★☆ 📚 I really disliked, or was made uncomfortable by the narrator. Both when she was describing her illness or in her magically achieved wellness. It was compelling. Never sure if the action was real, unreliably reported or a hallucination. …
18/07/2023tagged:Tana French, ★★★-Read: The Wych Elm by Tana French ★★★☆☆ 📚 Narrator with a bump on the head and confused brain. Murder from the past. The story unwinds & unfolds in a teasing way. …
09/07/2023tagged:Jessie Greengrass, ★★★★-Read: The High House by Jessie Greengrass ★★★★☆ 📚 Compelling climate crisis novel that focuses on relationships between a very small cast. I like the sparseness the of speech & little moments. Good on our sleepwalking too. …
06/07/2023tagged:Natalie Haynes, ★★★★-Read: Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes ★★★★☆ 📚 Perseus son of Zeus is not too bright, Medusa is an innocent. The Gods self absorbed & fickle. A bit too jokey for me sometimes but the last couple of page are transforming. …
23/06/2023tagged:Kate Atkinson, ★★★★-Read: Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson ★★★★☆ 📚 1920's London, mad night life, huge cast of unique and surprising characters tangled in a web of crime(s). Very funny, gets so complex there is a lot of tying up of loose ends in the last couple of chapters. …
15/06/2023tagged:Mick Herron, ★★★-Read: Slow Horses by Mick Herron ★★★ 📚 Enjoyed this, even though I’d seen the TV series. …
11/06/2023tagged:Salley Vickers, ★★★-Read: Miss Garnet’s Angel by Salley Vickers ★★★☆☆ 📚 Spinster reborn in Venice, kept me going, somewhat puzzled and not quite convinced by end. …
29/05/2023tagged:Will Maclean, ★★★★★-Read: The Apparition Phase by Will Maclean ★★★★★ 📚 Flawless seventies recreation. Suburban, gothic, ghosts, teenage energy all with a depth of detail. No modern language, attitudes or slip up. Exciting too. …
22/05/2023tagged:Jacqueline Crooks, ★★★★-Read: Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks ★★★★☆ 📚 Late 70s London, Bristol & Jamaica, dub reggae, ghosts, police brutality, crime & bad men. Guest appearance from Misty in Roots. …
14/05/2023tagged:John Higgs, William Blake, ★★★-Read: William Blake vs the World by John Higgs ★★★☆☆ 📚 Years ago I enjoyed the songs & Marriage of Heaven and Hell, I was baffled by Blake's prophetic books. Light is shone on this personal mythology. Amusing links to how Blake is used now, e.g. Jerusalem. …
23/04/2023tagged:Benjamin Wood, ★★★★-Read: The Young Accomplice by Benjamin Wood ★★★★☆ 📚 Wonderful queasy tension. Siblings, out of Borstal in the early 1950s bring all sorts of baggage to farm training centre for young humane architects. …
17/04/2023tagged:Sebastian Faulks, ★★★-Read: Where My Heart Used to Beat by Sebastian Faulks ★★★☆☆ Enjoys this life told through wars, love & remembering. …
13/04/2023tagged:Sara Baume, ★★★★-Read: A Line Made by Walking by Sara Baume ★★★★☆ 📚 Depressed young artist in the Irish countryside. Had me completely invested & worrying about the outcome throughout. Many short references to & descriptions of pieces of conceptual art are thought provoking. …
06/04/2023tagged:Ian Rankin, ★★★-Read: A Heart Full of Headstones by Ian Rankin ★★★☆☆ Rebus is now very old, somehow keeps me reading even though I've never steered a chronological paths through the books. …
22/03/2023tagged:John Banville, ★★★★-Read: April in Spain by John Banville ★★★★☆ 📚 Slowly building up a few different threads that come together quickly. A lot of fun from the characters as opposed to the plot. …
16/03/2023tagged:Octavia E. Butler, ★★★-Read: Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler ★★★☆☆ 📚 A wee bit to young-adult for me to love. I enjoyed reading it in a fairly relaxed way. As much as you an enjoy the apocalypse. …
09/03/2023tagged:Rachel Cusk, ★★★★-Read: Outline by Rachel Cusk ★★★★☆📚 An author has a series of revealing conversations. Some short some over a few days. Not sure why this is so readable? …
25/02/2023tagged:deer, Jenna Watt, rewilding, scotland, ★★★★-Read: Hindsight: In Search of Lost Wilderness by Jenna Watt ★★★★☆ 📚 Stimulating investigation deer in Scotland, rewilding, green lairds and the like. Fitted well with the recent episode of Scotland outdoors. Female ecologists & stalkers. A first stalk by the author. …
09/02/2023tagged:Kirsty Logan, ★★★-Read: Now She is Witch by Kirsty Logan ★★★☆☆ 📚 Fantasy history, witch hunts, plague. Some unexpected twists and reveals. …
01/02/2023tagged:Antal Szerb, ★★★★-Read: Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb ★★★★☆ 📚 Somewhat rambling, dreamy & hypnotic tale of a newly married couple who almost immediately split. The various Hungarians wander through Italy & Paris cross paths and each other, developing, or not, in different ways. …
18/01/2023tagged:Madeline Miller, ★★★-Read: Galatea by Madeline Miller ★★★☆☆ 📚 Short, Pygmalion retold. Not The Song of Achilles or Circe. …
14/01/2023tagged:Donna Tartt, ★★★★★-Read: The Secret History by Donna Tartt ★★★★★ 📚 A re-read. Still brilliant. A cast of over privileged young poseurs’ arrogance leads to murder and their panic to another. The consequences play out. All followed by the less wealthy narrator, who is dragged in and down by his fascination. …
11/01/2023tagged:Shehan Karunatilaka, ★★★★★-Read: The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka ★★★★★ 📚 Great read. I know almost nothing about Sri Lanka. Surprisingly touching given the setting, the after life, a world of ghosts & demons many the result of political killings. …
06/01/2023tagged:Simon Mawer, ★★★★-Read: Swimming to Ithaca by Simon Mawer ★★★★☆ 📚 Historian discovers his mother's past in Cyprus during the 50s, intrigue, secrets and spies. I rather disliked the main character but it didn't stop me enjoying book. …
2022
23/12/2022tagged:Jean Rhys, ★★★★-Read: The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys ★★★★☆ 📚 Hot sweaty, feverish & confusing, unreliable narrators & characters, pickled by heat and rum. …
17/12/2022tagged:Helen Dunmore, ★★★★-Read: A Spell of Winter by Helen Dunmore ★★★★☆ 📚 Broken characters crumble with the house. Lyrical countryside. The young ones grow wild. Relationships are awkward or too intense. The first world war appears out of nowhere. …
30/11/2022tagged:Raymond Chandler, ★★★★-Read: The High Window by Raymond Chandler ★★★★☆ 📚 One of a few comfort re-reads. Always enjoy Chandler despite some dated attitudes. This one has the usual slick chat, lots of smoking and a tangled web. “Moist eyes with the sympathetic expression of wet stones” …
21/11/2022tagged:Sara Baume, ★★★★★-Read seven steeples by Sara Baume ★★★★★ 📚 October mornings peeled the night cloud back to its subcutaneous lilac tissue. The leaves earned their name by leaving the trees. A couple drop out and slowly dissolve into nature. Dreamy poetic prose. …
15/11/2022tagged:Val McDermid, ★★★-Read: A Darker Domain by Val McDermid ★★★☆☆ 📚 …
11/11/2022tagged:Daphne du Maurier, ★★★★-Read: My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier ★★★★☆ Oh what fun. I was caught up. Great ambiguous ending. …
01/11/2022tagged:Fíona Scarlett, ★★★★-Read: Boys Don't Cry by Fíona Scarlett ★★★★☆ 📚 This one nearly did. Emotional story of two young brothers, I dying of cancer the other getting mixed up in crime. Slightly confusing ending. …
30/10/2022tagged:Liu Cixin, ★★★-Read: The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin ★★★☆☆ 📚 I found the Cultural Revolution section interesting, the detective predictable, the physics and harder sci-fi lost me. I did finish it though. …
25/10/2022tagged:Ali Smith, ★★★★-Read: Autumn by Ali Smith ★★★★☆ 📚 Partly a lovely story about the relationship between a girl who becomes a young woman and an old man who gets older. Dreams, time, reputation. I am sure much went over my head but I loved this. …
19/10/2022tagged:Alan Garner, ★★★-Read: Treacle Walker by Alan Garner ★★★☆☆ 📚 Short full of allegory, symbolism & english folklore, most of which I am sure I missed, but I enjoyed listening to the strange dialect & nonsense words. …
19/10/2022tagged:Sarah Moss, ★★★★-Read: The Fell by Sarah Moss ★★★★☆ 📚I love how Sarah Moss gets inside her characters internal dialogue. Glad I take my phone & leave note of where I go when walking! …
15/10/2022tagged:Andrea Camilleri, ★★★-Read: Riccardino by Andrea Camilleri, Stephen Sartarelli (Translator) ★★★☆☆ 📚 Montalbano fades out… …
09/10/2022tagged:Andrew Greig, ★★★★★-Read: Rose Nicolson by Andrew Greig ★★★★★ 📚 Scottish History the 1570s, a period I am ignorant of. Glad to get an entertaining education & hints of what to search Wikipedia for. Fair bit of Scots, a tale of a furniture dealer, poet, scholar & courtier. Exciting as Stevenson. …
08/10/2022tagged:Michael Longley-Reading: Angel Hill by Michael Longley Swallows From their precarious nest-cup The swallows whitewash our turf-stack. When we set fire to their excrement They will be crossing the Sahara. Michael Longley …
02/10/2022tagged:Audrey Magee, ★★★★-Read: The Colony by Audrey Magee ★★★★☆ 📚 engrossing exploration of colonisation & its woes in Ireland. 1979 adventures of an English artist & French linguist appropriating, each in their own way, the culture of an Irish isle are interspersed with reports of death in the north. …
02/10/2022tagged:Elizabeth Strout, ★★★-Read: Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout ★★★☆☆ 📚 I think I liked this better than the original Lucy and not nearly as much as the Olive books. I think I prefer her older characters. …
27/09/2022tagged:Pat Barker, ★★★-Read: The Woman of Troy by Pat Barker ★★★☆☆ …
11/09/2022tagged:Emily St. John Mandel, ★★★★★-Read: The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel 📚★★★★★ Amazing multi viewpoint story. Writing had me invested in each of the diverse characters as they came into focus. Then their stories slowly fitted together. Beautiful. Really catches the way people imagine different lives. …
09/09/2022tagged:Claire Keegan, ★★★★★-Read: Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan 📚 ★★★★★ A beautiful wee book that drew me in quietly & has stuck in my mind. Ireland 1985, A gentle slightly troubled man digs deep. "Hunters in the Snow" on the cover seems fitting as the village approaches a snowy Christmas. …
03/09/2022tagged:Ian Rankin, ★★★-Read: In the House of Lies by Ian Rankin ★★★☆☆ 📚 Usual enjoyable stuff Rebus retired and sticking his nose in. …
13/08/2022tagged:Andrea Camilleri, ★★★-Read: The Terracotta dog, by Andrea Camilleri ★★★☆☆ 📚 Another Montalbano, easy read, and 99p. The food is the best part. I might read a more recent one to see how things develop and call it quits with this series for a while. …
11/08/2022tagged:Kiran Millwood Hargrave, ★★★-Read: The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave ★★★☆☆ 📚 Really interesting setting & background, remote 1600s Norway & witch hunting following the pattern of King James. The story flowed along but no real surprises. …
08/08/2022tagged:Andrea Camilleri, ★★★-Read: The Shape of Water, by Andrea Camilleri ★★★☆☆ 📚 Turns out I must have read this years ago. And seen the episode of the T.V. series I think. A light read somewhat non-woke language here and there, mouthwatering food descriptions. …
07/08/2022tagged:Lan Samantha Chang, ★★★★★-Read: The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang ★★★★★ 📚 Really loved this engaging & exciting book. Set in the Midwest in a family run Chinese restaurant using The Brothers Karamazov as a template in a brilliant way. Food to die for, familial murder, racism & the American dream. …
04/08/2022tagged:★★★-Read: Pandora by Susan Stokes-Chapman ★★★☆☆ 📚 Good fun Georgian mystery, no great suprises. …
31/07/2022tagged:Blake Crouch, ★★★-Read: Upgrade by Blake Crouch 📚★★★☆☆ Climate change, gene editing, upgrades for humans. So fast paced you don't really think about possible plot holes. Very much a page turner. …
29/07/2022tagged:Ian Rankin, William McIlvanney, ★★★-Read: The Dark Remains by William McIlvanney & Ian Rankin 📚★★★☆☆ Mcllvanney left half a manuscript, finished by Ian Rankin. Good page turner. Especially enjoyable for the 1972 Glasgow setting, chain smoking, pints & whisky in pretty rough pubs. The hero travels on the bus! …
23/07/2022tagged:Wole Soyinka-Read: Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth by Wole Soyinka 📚 A huge complicated baggy book. Perhaps reflecting the chaos of reality too much to read smoothly. Sometimes exciting, sometimes amusing & quite often baffling to me. I suspect some knowledge of recent Nigerian politics would help. …
04/07/2022tagged:Cal Flyn, ★★★★★-Read: Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flyn ★★★★★ 📚 The book travels to places abandoned by people & recovered to varying degrees by nature. It evokes the 'islands' weirdness powerfully. The last chapters go further, reaching into deep time, climate crisis & even faith. Marvellous. …
20/06/2022tagged:Denise Mina, ★★★★-Read: Rizzio by Denise Mina, ★★★★☆ short account of the murder. Not too much in the way of backstory, but lots of detail & characters. Fits very well with the painting by Sir William Allan. Featured image: Out of Copyright, National Galleries of Scotland. …
01/06/2022tagged:★★★-In Search of One Last Song: Britain’s disappearing birds and the people trying to save them Patrick Galbraith ★★★☆☆ The author's meeting with a cross section of folk working in bird conservation, talking about the birds they love. Not the usual conservation suspects, but farmers and keepers along with poets and RSPB types. The subjects… …
28/05/2022tagged:Jennifer Egan, ★★★-A Visit from the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan ★★★☆☆ 📚 one to re-read when I am reading in larger chunks. Fragmented tales across time and characters had me a mite confused. …
13/05/2022tagged:Hiromi Kawakami, ★★-Read: The Nakano Thrift Shop by Hiromi Kawakami ★★☆☆☆ 📚 Simple, slow and quiet tale, told rather flatly. Left me feeling slightly depressed. …
05/05/2022tagged:Douglas Stuart, ★★★-Read Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart ★★★☆☆ 📚 …
30/04/2022tagged:Anne Tyler, ★★★★-Read: French Braid by Anne Tyler ★★★★☆ 📚 Family story, nothing dramatic but quietly insightful. Personalities and behaviour bounce through generations. …
22/04/2022tagged:Bernard MacLaverty, ★★★★★-Read: Blank Pages and Other Stories - Bernard MacLaverty ★★★★★ 📚 Quite spare stories, filled with details. Mostly around loss, grief or difficult lives. …
11/04/2022tagged:Elizabeth Strout, ★★★★-Read: My Name Is Lucy Barton - Elizabeth Strout ★★★★☆ 📚 So quiet and understated, the whitespace seems to hold the story. …
07/04/2022tagged:Connor O'Callaghan, ★★★-Read: We are not in the World by Connor O'Callaghan ★★★☆☆📚 Mysterious or confusing narrative, slips between times & narrators. I struggled to follow. The lurch at then end was a great surprise. …
17/03/2022tagged:Olga Ravn, ★★★★-Read: The employees: a workplace novel of the 22nd century by Olga Ravn ★★★★☆ 📚 Quite unclassifiable, science fiction, elliptical, mysterious and compelling. I found Lea Guldditte Hestelund at Overgaden, the art exibit the book is 'based' on, helpful. …
19/02/2022tagged:Elizabeth Strout, ★★★-Read: The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout ★★★☆☆ 📚 Found this a bit less satisfactory that Olive Kitteridge, which I adored. The boys have a sister & a fair bit of family tension. A lot going on, immigrants, New York & Maine, differences in class... …
06/02/2022tagged:Maggie Shipstead, ★★★★★-Read: Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead ★★★★★ 📚 Great book, story of fictional woman aviator who circles the globe, embedded in family history & film of her life. Covering a lot of ground, in all senses, it pretty much all fits together. …
22/01/2022tagged:Elisabeth Gifford-Read: A Woman Made of Snow by Elisabeth Gifford …
15/01/2022-Read: We'll Always Have Casablanca: The Life, Legend, and Afterlife of Hollywood's Most Beloved Movie by Isenberg, Noah Read after watching the movie again, great mix of ideas and gossip, I am read for another watch. ★★★★☆ 📚 …
12/01/2022tagged:Louise Heal Kawai, ★★★-Read: The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa translated Louise Heal Kawai ★★★☆☆ 📚 Carelessly throwing this into the slight, fun Japanese novel pile. …
07/01/2022tagged:Elspeth Barker, ★★★★★-Read: O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker ★★★★★📚 2022 off to a good start. Brilliant fun. Short strange life of Scot's girl. Gothic home, weird family, horrible school. Laugh out loud & touching. …
