Read The Second Murderer: A Philip Marlowe Novel by Denise Mina ★★★☆☆ 📚
Pretty good job updating Marlow a little for our more sensitive times.
Category Archives: Book
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.
Read: So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan ★★★★☆ 📚
Very short, disturbing & moving tale.
Read: The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston ★★★★☆ 📚
I read this decades ago and was not disappointed by this re-read.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Read: Dead Lions by Mick Herron ★★★☆☆ 📚
The second in the series, grubby comic spies. I think I’ll keep reading these now and again.