When Cathy of 746 books announced last year that she would not host 20 Books of Summer this year after ten successful years, Emma of Words and Peace and I both volunteered to take it on. Summer reading IS the 20, 15 or 10 Books challenge to us! We couldn’t let Cathy’s wonderful challenge fall Read More
Heatwave, The Summer of 1976, Britain at Boiling Point by John L Williams – blog tour
The 1970s was the decade during which I was a teenager, from start to finish – encompassing the whole of my time at senior school and my first years at university. Regardless of all the politics and scandals which largely passed me by, my life outside school was coloured by pop music, some classic sitcoms, Read More
Hattie Steals the Show by Patrick Gleeson – blog tour
Last May I had the pleasure of reading Gleeson’s first Theatreland Mystery, Hattie Brings the House Down, It introduced us to Harriet ‘Hattie’ Cocker, a theatre stage manager with decades of experience, who works primarily as a tutor on a stage management course at a minor acting college these days, whilst hoping to find theatre Read More
The Wolves of Staro Selo by Zdravka Evtimova
Translated by Yana Ellis Having read and enjoyed Abandonment by Erminia Dell’Oro earlier this year, I’ve been keen to read more titles from Héloïse Press, an indie based in Canterbury that specialises in female narratives from around the world. This is the first novel by a Bulgarian author that I’ve read, but Evtimova has been Read More
Watchlist: March into May
Titus Andronicus at the RSC Swan, Stratford I went to the theatre last week to see the latest production of Shakespeare’s bloodiest play – and it lived up to its name! Starring Simon Russell Beale in the title role, with Emma Fielding as Marcia, his sister, (gender-swapped from Marcellus). We had seats in the front Read More
Update and Book Group report
Firstly a quick update on the knee situation: I had a guided steroid injection last week, but first the doctor took nearly 100ml of murky liquid out of the joint which relieved all the pressure on the tendons at the back of my knee. Now the steroids are kicking in, my knee is back to Read More
#20BooksofSummer2025 – how I pick my 20 books…
Any challenge requiring reading a particular stack of books is a no-no for me. I have enough reading commitments in review copies and blog tours, without adding more. So I use a different way to pick my 20 books – it’s the ‘Bookcase plus’ scenario. Next to my bed is a small bookcase absolutely crammed Read More
Two shorter reviews: Callum McSorley & Hiromi Kawakami
I have two shorter reviews for you today. One short because it is a cracking and direct sequel, so I can’t say a lot about it, and the second because I was disappointed into not having a lot to say. Paperboy by Callum McSorley McSorley’s debut, Squeaky Clean, was an hilarious, yet gritty Glasgow crime Read More
Maigret’s Revolver by Georges Simenon – the #1952Club
Translated by Siân Reynolds My second read for the #1952Club reading week hosted by Kaggsy and Simon – is a Maigret – there’s nearly always a Maigret that can be fitted in! Karen has also reviewed it here reading an older translation, Reynold’s one for the most recent Penguin reissues dates from 2017. An unusually agitated Madame Maigret Read More
Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito – over at Shiny
Feito’s first novel Mrs March was an absolute blast. An exercise in paranoia on the part of an Upper East Side housewife, who thinks people are talking about her as the model for the not-so-complimentary protagonist of her husband’s new novel – and it escalates from there! After such a strong debut, could she surpass Read More
Campbell’s Kingdom by Hammond Innes – the #1952Club
It’s the latest year reading week hosted by Kaggsy and Simon. Last week I surveyed some of the titles published in 1952 that I’d already read and my reading plans. I’m doing well, two done and I hope to fit in the Nevil Shute if I can. My first read – or rather re-read – was this cracking Read More
Catch-up, short reviews and an author talk…
First a knee update! There’s no cartilage left, and still inflamation behind the knee – so an Ultrasound Guided Steroid Injection is booked to deal with the latter. Knee replacements (the other one probably has no cartilage left either) will be the order of the day in due time. Even though I’m able to go Read More
Bowieland by Peter Carpenter – blog tour
It’s a little over nine years since David Bowie died in January 2016, but his memory lives on. Although I had Ziggy on my bedroom walls as a young teen, it was Bolan I was more obsessed with at the time. Later I grew to really love Bowie’s music and creativity, and now I hoover Read More
Five Feat… 1952
The week after this one, from 21-27 April, it’s the next year reading club hosted by Kaggsy and Simon: The 1952 Club. As I was going through lists of possible books to read, it struck me there must be five I’ve already reviewed on this blog – so time for a new ‘Five Feat…’ post, Read More
The Cure by Eve Smith – blog tour
My first encounter with Eve Smith was with her second novel, Off Target, in which genetic engineering of children is normal. I very much enjoyed it – spec fiction being my favourite type of genre fiction these days. Two years later and her fourth novel The Cure is here, and this time she’s tackling the Read More
Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen – Book Group Report
Working our way through our Flora & Fauna alphabet – M was for Carl Hiaasen’s 2013 novel Bad Monkey, recently adapted by Apple TV starring Vince Vaughn – but more of that later. The good thing was that no-one in the group hated it. We thought it went on a bit though, losing around 50 Read More
Reading progress & a review -Eurotrash by Christian Kracht
“O tempora, o mores” as Cicero said. Can you believe the state that a certain orange person and his sidekicks have gotten us into? I’m not going to get into politics here though. My reading has also suffered. I twisted my knee in early Feb, it didn’t feel a bad one, but after a month Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: Knife
First Saturday of the month and time for the super monthly tag Six Degrees of Separation, which is hosted by Kate at Booksaremyfavouriteandbest, Six Degrees of Separation #6degrees picks a starting book for participants to go wherever it takes them in six more steps. Links to my reviews are in the titles of the books chosen. The starter Read More
Reading Ireland Month – Louise O’Neill and Gerald Lynch
I planned to read two or more books for Reading Ireland Month, as ever hosted by Cathy, and have so far managed one really good read, plus a DNF – but which was which? Well, let me get the DNF out of the way first… Troutstream by Gerald Lynch Originally published in 1995, this is Read More
Luminous by Silvia Park – blog tour
I am absolutely delighted to be leading off the blog tour for this fabulous novel on its UK publication day. I do love SF, although I read little of it these days. However, waft a spec fiction novel under my nose and I will grab it. I love the familiarity of a world I know, Read More
Mrs Matisse by Sophie Haydock – blog tour
A novel about art, Paris and the South of France – and I’m sold! Mrs Matisse is Haydock’ second novel, after her first The Flames, (which I now have to read) took the lives of Austrian artist Egon Schiele’s women as its subject. As you might guess, Mrs Matisse is a novel about the French Read More
Mrs Jekyll by Emma Glass – Dylan Thomas Prize Longlist Celebration
One of my favourite prizes of the year is the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize, which is open to writers in English under the age of 39 (Thomas’ age at his death). It always throws up an eclectic mix of books covering all the bases. Once again, I am delighted to take part in the Read More
Watchlist: Jan into March
Time to catch up with a little of what I’ve been watching lately… The year began well with the first series that got our staff room talking after each episode – I’m talking about the third season of Traitors of course! They managed to up the stakes and find some memorable characters in Linda, Minah, Read More
Pagans by James Alistair Henry
Now this was fun! Imagine that the Norman Conquest never happened in 1066. Great Britain continued to be an island divided by all the historic tribes you may have learnt about in your history lessons, dominated by the Saxons in the east and the Celts in the west, Scotland has gone its own way with Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: Prophet Song
First Saturday of the month and time for the super monthly tag Six Degrees of Separation, which is hosted by Kate at Booksaremyfavouriteandbest, Six Degrees of Separation #6degrees picks a starting book for participants to go wherever it takes them in six more steps. Links to my reviews are in the titles of the books chosen. The Read More
Runaway Horses by Carlo Fruttero & Franco Lucentini – blog tour
Translated by Gregory Dowling The late Italian writing partners, Fruttero and Lucentini, worked together for decades, along the way writing five novels. Last year, Bitter Lemon Press published the first English translation of The Lover of No Fixed Abode. First published in Italy in 1986, it is a mystery and a romance, but it turned Read More
Black Woods Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey – blog tour
I’m delighted to one of those leading off the blog tour for Eowyn Ivey’s new novel. She isn’t the most prolific of authors, with just three novels now in 13 years. However, I fell in love with her 2012 debut, The Snow Child, set in 1920s Alaska about a childless couple who find a little Read More
The Knowing by Madeleine Ryan
Published the week before Valentine’s Day in the UK, not being one to celebrate I’ve delayed my review a bit! The Knowing is set over the course of one Valentine’s Day, and it follows a Day in the Life and a Life in a Day of Camille, who works in the kind of establishment where Read More
Review catch-up – Sophie Hannah and Jonathan Coe
After my week and a bit immersed in Paul Auster, time to get back to normal, with a pair of reviews for you . The Killings at Kingfisher Hill by Sophie Hannah This was our book group choice for Jan into Feb which we discussed last week. We were up to ‘K’ in our ‘flora Read More
The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster – #AusterRW25
My original plans were to read this book and Oracle Night this week alongside Baumgartner, which would have left only Sunset Park of Auster’s novels unread, but I was enjoying his 2002 novel The Book of Illusions so much, I took it a little more slowly to savour the text. Now I have the hard Read More
