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.
Category Archives: Book
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.
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.