The moment I read Knox’s first book, Sirens, the first in his excellent Manc-noir Aidan Waits trilogy, I knew I’d want to keep on reading this author. After the three Aidan Waits books, he did something else with his fourth novel True Crime Story (I have the hardback with shocking pink spredges!), and now three Read More
Kalmann and the Sleeping Mountain by Joachim B Schmidt – blog tour
Translated from the German by Jamie Lee Searle I’m delighted to be leading off the blog tour for this novel by Swiss author Schmidt, who has lived in Iceland since 2007. I hadn’t realised that this novel is a sequel to his first book, just titled Kalmann, which one reviewer has likened to an ‘Icelandic Read More
Shiny Linkiness
I’ve had a run of non-fiction reviews posted at Shiny New Books, so for those who’ve not seen them, here’s a capsule paragraph on each with links to my full reviews. The Future of Energy by Richard Black One of the latest additions to Melville House’s ‘Futures’ series is Richard Black’s book on The Future Read More
The Winter War by Philip Teir and Joe Country by Mick Herron, #20booksofsummer24 7 & 8
Two reviews for you today from the TBR, continuing my 20 books of summer… The Winter War by Philip Teir Translated from the Swedish by Tiina Nunnally I remember acquiring this novel shortly after Victoria reviewed it for Shiny New Books here, back in 2015 when it was published in English translation. Teir is Finnish, Read More
NY Times 100 best books of the 21st C
Don’t you love checking off your reading against various best of lists. The New York Times has published its list of the best 100 books of the 21st Century so far, having consulted 503 novelists, poets, critics etc. Amazingly it’s not behind their paywall. Anyway, I had to check… These are the ones I’ve ‘read’ Read More
Jigsaw Puzzle Times #1
I tend to do most of my reading at the start or end of the day, and when I’m at home during the day there’s nothing better to while away the hours if you don’t want to read than to do a jigsaw puzzle. You can have the telly on in the background of course. Read More
The Divorce by Moa Herngren – blogtour
Translated from the Swedish by Alice Menzies If you’re going to write a novel about a long marriage and its demise specifically, wouldn’t you want to hear both sides of the story? I say this with caution, speaking as a divorcee after a long marriage who now tries not to think about her ex’s story! Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck
First Saturday of the month, 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. I’ve missed Read More
Book Group Report: Black Dogs by Ian McEwan #20booksofsummer24
Do you remember the pre-internet days of ‘Book of the Month’ type clubs (including the Folio Society back then) where you signed up to buy so many books a year etc. There was one called ‘TSP’ The Softback Preview – which specialised in producing softback versions of new hardback books soon after hardback publication, so Read More
Watchlist: May & June
Mostly binge-worthy TV Now I can watch Netflix whenever I want again. The basic package has recently gone down in price, but now contains a few ads which aren’t too obtrusive. However, the big plus in a bonus second screen so my daughter and I can both watch now. I’ll be able to catch-up with Read More
The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly, #20booksofsummer24
Being so busy these last couple of weeks at school, I’ve not been blogging much, being tired in the evenings, not sleeping well due to the heat – but perversely getting lots of reading done in the small hours! As a result, I’m doing unseasonably well with my 20 Books of Summer so far this Read More
The Rook by Daniel O’Malley and the problem with ‘chunksters’ #20booksofsummer24
Before I get to my review of The Rook, my third read in this year’s 20 Books of Summer challenge, let’s have a discussion about chunksters, shall we. Up until recently, I loosely defined chunksters as any book of 500 pages or over, nowadays I revised that down to 450, and I’m inclined to pull Read More
Boxes by Pascal Garnier – #ReadingtheMeow2024 #20booksofsummer24
Translated by Melanie Florence It’s a while since I read any Pascal Garnier novellas. Gallic Books have published translations of twelve of his dark tales told with an even darker sense of humour after the prolific author turned towards noir in the 1990s, and Boxes is the fifth I’ve read, so plenty of treats still Read More
Husbands by Mo Fanning, blogtour
I can’t resist a road trip novel, and one taking in Route 66 even more so. But we’re not there yet… In the prologue, a British guy gets married in a Vegas chapel – or is he married? His date, ‘a craggy daddy-bear’ type promises to get it annulled the next day, as our chap Read More
It’s #20booksofsummer24 reviews 1 & 2, Rinder & Moshfegh
And I’m away, with my first two books in Cathy’s #20booksofsummer24. May into the early days of June I had so many blogtours, but I’ve really cut down on them for the duration of the challenge, so I can give it a good go, and join in some of the other reading themed events too, Read More
The Venus of Salò by Ben Pastor – blog tour
Although The Venus of Salò is the eighth book in Ben Pastor’s Martin Bora series, due to the nature of Wehrmakt officer Colonel Martin von Bora being posted all around the Theatre of War in Italy, it’s more episodic a series in nature than many, so I was happy to jump in to the latest Read More
Piece of My Heart by Penelope Tree
In the 1960s, Penelope Tree was one of the supermodels of the day. Born in 1949, she was first photographed aged 13 by Diane Arbus, she was at Truman Capote’s ‘Black and White Ball’ in 1966, and was later photographed by Cecil Beaton and Richard Avedon, before becoming David Bailey’s live-in muse in 1967. That Read More
Toxic by Helga Flatland – #blogtour
Translated by from the Norwegian by Matt Bagguley Helga Flatland does complicated relationships as I discovered when I read her novel One Last Time back in 2021, so I was keen to read her newest novel Toxic, this time translated by a new-to-me translator in Matt Bagguley. The novel begins in two parallel timelines. The Read More
Review catch-up – novels by Marian Engel & Alicia Drake
I managed to sign up for rather a lot of blog tours – but for some fab books – in May, which has meant the other books I’ve read have rather had to take second fiddle. Time to catch up with a couple. Bear by Marian Engel First published in 1976, reprinted by Daunt Books Read More
Hera by Jennifer Saint
I am delighted to be one of those leading off the blogtour for Jennifer Saint’s fourth novel, another feminist retelling of the stories of Ancient Greek Godesses and Heroines, with a dose of Gods and Heroes and other mortals on the side. Before Hera, first came Ariadne, telling the story of her escape from the Read More
The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers by Samuel Burr – Blogtour
What a delight this novel was to read: a feelgood quest to find himself for young fogey Clayton Stumper, who was left in a hatbox on the doorstep of the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers HQ in Bedfordshire in 1993. He was taken in by sixty-seven-years-old director and founder of the organisation Pippa Allsbrook, and brought up Read More
20 Books of Summer – My books… !!!
A very quick post to say, yes, of course I shall participate in the 20 Books of Summer challenge hosted each year by Cathy of https://746books.com/. Yes, I’m going to aim for the full 20. I don’t always achieve it, but always get close. And yes, I am going to cheat in how I choose Read More
Hattie Brings the House Down by Patrick Gleeson
It was a true delight to read this debut novel for the blogtour. A cosy crime mystery set in the world of the theatre, the story is led by Hattie Cocker, who has been hired to be Stage Manager (SM) of a company who will perform Love’s Labour’s Lost at the Tavistock, a theatre attached Read More
The Coming Storm by Greg Mosse – blogtour
Last year I read Mosse’s first novel, The Coming Darkness (reviewed for Shiny here). A labyrinthine thriller set in the near future in 2037 in a world ravaged by global warming and a killer virus, it introduced us to Alexandre Lamarque, who works for the French equivalent of MI6. Alex found himself caught up in Read More
Watchlist: April
Series watch: Telly suddenly got good again – I’ve had a splendid April’s viewing – largely thanks to Prime offering a cheap deal on Paramount+ TV (£3.50 pcm for 3 months) which meant subscribing to see the superb adaptation of Amor Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow was affordable. AGinM stars Ewan McGregor as the Russian Read More
Murder Under the Midnight Sun by Stella Blómkvist
Translated by Quentin Bates It’s my turn on the blogtour for the second Blómkvist novel to be translated by Quentin Bates for Corylus Books, who continue their quest to bring us translated crime fiction with a sense of social justice. Murder Under the Midnight Sun was published in 2010, and the series has a huge Read More
The Book of Witty Women – introduced by Helen Lederer – #blogtour
I don’t read that many short stories, but those I do read tend to fall into horror and weird genres, sometimes or comedy-horror/weird, and occasionally some of them will be just comic. The latter is mostly the case here in the first book of short stories supported by the Comedy Women in Print organisation (CWIP), Read More
Profile K by Helen Fields
I love thrillers that will standalone, and Helen Fields’ latest took me by surprise slightly. I was expecting a sequel to The Institution which introduced us to Connie Woolwine, an American profiler and her British sidekick Brodie Baarda, who went undercover in the world’s most secure prison hospital for the criminally insane. Instead, after a Read More
Weekend Miscellany – the skip, the novels and the poems.
It’s been a busy week, mentally and physically. I picked up several extra playground duties due to staff absence on trips etc, I’ve had a skip outside my house into which I and our local builder/handyman have been clearing one end of my garden – the shed was so rotten I put my foot through Read More
The 1937 Club – Ali & Nino by Kurban Said
I did intend to read Eric Ambler’s Uncommon Danger for the 1937 Club, but it’s been so busy I’ve not managed to get started really, so instead I offer you a revamped review of a novel from that year that I read pre-blog and not previously featured. Azerbaijan in the early 20th century was at Read More
