Today, I’m delighted to welcome Anna Hollingsworth from our Shiny New Books reviewing team to my blog. Anna, who works in journalism, has been reviewing a wide range of fiction for us for several years (click here to be taken to some of her reviews). At Shiny, we only really like to include books that Read More
Two in Translation: One from Romania, one from Germany…
Sword by Bogdan Teodorescu Translated by Marina Sofia Firstly, yes, this novel is translated by the wonderful Marina of the blog Finding Time to Write, and is one of the lead titles from Corylus Books, which was founded last year to bring gems of current European crime fiction to English reading audiences. Secondly, I hope Read More
The kids are alright in this allegorical novel
A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet My Grandma gave me a copy of the Hamlyn Children’s Bible for my ninth birthday (right). I loved that book, and particularly enjoyed all the old testament stories and the now rather cheesy illustrations – indeed I still have it, in fair condition too. So, I can completely understand Read More
Vampire novels I have read – Ranked!
When I was writing my recent review of Vlad by Carlos Fuentes, a literary relocation of Dracula to modern Mexico, I was struck by the large number of vampire novels that I’ve read over the years, especially since I began blogging – probably more vampires than zombies, fallen angels, demons and perhaps even ghosts added Read More
The 1956 Club & a SF short
Minority Report by Philip K Dick I’m sure I’ve read this short story many, many years ago, but I’ve revisited it for the 1956 Club, hosted by Simon and Kaggsy. It was originally published in a SF magazine (right), I have it in a 2002 Gollancz film tie-in edition, of Dick’s stories from the 1950s and 1960s Read More
The 1956 Club & a timely novella
It’s time for the latest reading year in Simon and Kaggsy’s biannual club. Looking on my shelves, I found two books I hadn’t read, the novella The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon and the chunkier A Walk on the Wild Side by Nelson Algren: the slimmer of the two won out this time. Looking at Read More
Season of the Living Dead 2020
It’s October, the nights are drawing in, it’s raining and many of us will turn to reading choices to match that mood. I could sign up to the #RIPXV challenge, but instead I’m resurrecting my own banner from the dead to usher in my ‘Season of the Living Dead‘ 2020. (Search for that tag, or Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: The Turn of the Screw
My favourite monthly tag, hosted by Kate at Booksaremyfavouriteandbest, Six Degrees of Separation picks a starting book for participants to go wherever it takes them in six more steps. Links in the titles will take you to my reviews where they exist. This month our starting book is: The Turn of the Screw by Henry James I’ve Read More
This Could be My Book of the Year!
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke We’ve had to wait 16 years for Susanna Clarke to write her second novel, with just some short stories in between. Was it worth the wait or was it a ‘difficult’ second novel? It was definitely the former! Piranesi is one of those uncategorisable novels that has a bit of everything Read More
Weekend bookish and other rambling
I am in a book reviewing rut! With the exception of Piranesi (which will surely be my book of the year), I read it a couple of days ago and wrote a long review for Shiny immediately, I’m finding it hard to get to grips with my other pile of books read, but not yet Read More
Review Catch-Up
Not only have I been too busy and mentally wired the past couple of weeks to read much. I’m also way behind on reviewing, so a bit of a catch-up is in order, so two shorter reviews for you today! Firstly though, I watched Susanna Clarke in conversation with Madeline Miller on the Waterstones feed Read More
12 Years of Blogging
My blog’s anniversary has seemed to come round very quickly this year – Twelve whole years – Eek! As always, a huge thank you to everyone who pops by, you are always very welcome. To celebrate, some thoughts on my favourite instances of the number 12… 12-based number and timekeeping systems Although dealing in tens Read More
Weekend Miscellany
Last night I planned to sit in my hotel room in Leeds and read a book – just couldn’t read. I was aching from all the carrying I’d done, and all the noises around me, hotel ones and student ones from the huge accommodation block next door where I’d deposited my daughter earlier, kept me Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: Rodham
My favourite monthly tag, hosted by Kate at Booksaremyfavouriteandbest, Six Degrees of Separation picks a starting book for participants to go wherever it takes them in six more steps. Links in the titles will take you to my reviews where they exist. This month our starting book is: Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld A book I’ve not read, Read More
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman – Blog Tour
Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of reading and reviewing Suede bassist Mat Osman’s first novel, The Ruins (see here) which was a mystery involving identical twin brothers and a lost album. It was a brilliant and complex novel full of rock’n’roll. Now it’s early September and it’s Mat’s younger brother’s turn to publish Read More
20 Books of Summer – #16 & #17 & Wrap-up
The 20 Books of Summer challenge runs from the beginning of June to the end of August each year, hosted by Cathy at 746 Books. This is my fourth year of joining in, and my most successful yet, the best I’ve managed before being 15 out of my 20. I always aim to go for Read More
20 Books of Summer #15 – Berners-Lee
There Is No Planet B by Mike Berners-Lee Back in 2010, I read Mike B-L’s first book, How Bad are Bananas? The Carbon Footprint of Everything reviewed here. Apart from being very informative, I found MB-L (yes, he is the brother of Sir Tim) to be an entertaining host as he talked us through his Read More
The Search Party by Simon Lelic – Blog Tour
The Search Party is Lelic’s sixth thriller, and having loved reading his first three (Rupture, The Facility and The Child Who) I was keen to reconnect with this author. The structure of The Search Party has a lot in common with his stunning debut: Rupture combined police procedural with psychological thriller in a cleverly constructed Read More
A Cracking Memoir – Mother by Nicholas Royle, and a DNF
Before I get into talking about specific books, an apology to all the lovely book publicists who have sent me review copies of titles out from mid-August onwards. THANK YOU! I will read and review all the books you’ve sent, but with the crowding of titles coming out on this year’s ‘Super Thursday’ – Sept Read More
Some good reads from pre-blog days, and what I thought about them then… #13
Yet another plundering from my pre-blog capsule reviews on the trusty spreadsheet. Im not quite running out of meaningful reviews yet, so here is another mixed bag from 2007… What Was Lost by Catherine O’Flynn A gripping first novel about a group of outsiders. From the nine-year-old loner cub-detective Kate, to Kurt the insomniac security Read More
Crime Dot Com by Geoff White – Blog Tour & Extract
Written by investigative journalist Geoff White, and subtitled “From Viruses to Vote Rigging, How Hacking Went Global” this is another book that I wish I had time to read as I’m fascinated by cybersecurity and hacking (without ever wanting to do it, you understand!). Let me tell you a bit about the book and it’s Read More
20 Books of Summer #14 – St Aubyn
At Last by Edward St Aubyn – the fifth and final Patrick Melrose novel Reading this sequence of semi-autobiographical novels this summer has been a wonderful experience, despite the challenging events chronicled within their pages. This fifth and final snapshot in the life of Patrick Melrose was published in 2011. As you might expect, it Read More
A Rant and a Ramble for the Weekend!
Rant first …. Came down this morning to find a conservatory full of shattered glass. I didn’t hear a thing – most of it landed on the rug! One of the inside panes in the roof had shattered, covering everything with glass shards. A south-facing pane, triangular in shape. My materials science training tells me Read More
20 Books of Summer #13 & #WITmonth 1: Tawada
The Last Children of Tokyo by Yoko Tawada Translated by Margaret Misutani I’m killing two birds with one stone with this book – always a good thing when you’re embarked on multiple reading challenges, and don’t you just love that cover? This is the first book by Tawada that I’ve read; she won the inaugural Read More
A novel of navel-gazing
This Happy by Niamh Campbell Over recent years, Ireland has become a real hot-bed for new literary talent. It goes way beyond the stellar success of Sally Rooney and Baileys winner Lisa McInerny. So when I heard about another Irish debut that sounded really enticing I arranged a copy. I would have picked this book Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: How To Do Nothing
My favourite monthly tag, hosted by Kate at Booksaremyfavouriteandbest, Six Degrees of Separation picks a starting book for participants to go wherever it takes them in six more steps. Links in the titles will take you to my reviews where they exist. This month our starting book is: How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell As Kate Read More
#WITmonth is here!
August is #WIT – Women In Translation month, a long-term project hosted as always by Meytal at Bilibio. Meytal does a fab job at highlighting the widest possible range of women authors around the whole world, ensuring that we read beyond the Eurocentric publishing world of books in translation. As always I will join in, Read More
Stats Fun
Rebecca posted some data from her blog stats the other day here, and I took a look at mine too. I wasn’t going to post anything, but when I discovered that they are really linked by one particular post/author I couldn’t resist commenting here too. That post of mine is entitled ‘Return to Wigtown‘ and Read More
20 Books of Summer #11-12 – de Hériz & Aboulela
The Manual of Darkness by Enrique de Hériz Translated by Frank Wynne I’ll be writing this book up more fully for Shiny’s ‘My Summer Reading’ slot, in which reviewers highlight an older book they’ve been reading, but I’ll write about it in short here as it’s just still Spanish Lit Month as hosted by Stu Read More
The Truth Must Dazzle Gradually by Helen Cullen – Blogtour
Last year I read Helen Cullen’s delightful debut, The Lost Letters of William Woolf, reviewed here. This novel about a chap who works at the Dead Letter Depot, reuniting lost letters and parcels with their intended recipients, sometimes years later, was an ideal spring into summer read for me (in paperback) with a great premise Read More