As I did for 2010 (see here), I’ve put together many of the snippets I posted on my old blog, but were lost in the transfer here, into one collection for 2011. Enjoy… May-2011 – An appropriate address … I’m still sifting through the home library and TBR searching for books I can bear to part Read More
Month: December 2011
The return of everyone’s flying car
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again by Frank Cottrell Boyce When Mr Tooting is made redundant, he decides he needs a project and, with son Jem’s help, they rebuild an ancient old camper van. Then the plan is to go globe-trotting in it. It needs new vintage sparkplugs though despite all their travails. Off they Read More
Book Stats – Review of 2011
I told you about my Books of the Year a few weeks ago here, but another thing I like to do at the end of the year is compare my reading stats. Being an inveterate list-maker and cataloguer this always appeals to me, and actually I’ve had a different type of reading year in 2011 Read More
Spying is a dirty game …
The Envoy by Edward Wilson A few weeks ago I got an e-mail from Edward Wilson inviting me to a signing he was doing in Ipswich. I replied saying that Oxford was too far for me to come, but wished him well with his new book. I also told him that I had one of Read More
Moviewatch – Arthur Christmas
“So what would you like to see?”, I asked my daughter. “What’s on?”, she replied. I reeled off the list at the multiplex fully expecting her to pick ‘Alvin & the Chipmunks 3’, but secretly hoping that the one I really wanted to see might be acceptable. (My choice was Martin Scorsese’s ‘Hugo’ – which Read More
What is normal anyway?
Sherry Cracker Gets Normal by D J Connell Sherry Cracker is not a normal girl – she’s a loner, loves tartan trousers, facts, and obsessively documents all the graffiti she sees around her town in her ‘OBSERVATIONS’ file. She works for Chinese businessman Mr Chin, in an office above the closed-down cinema, where they buy Read More
My Day in Books
I found this meme which was started by Karen at Cornflower Books via Simon T at Stuck in a Book. Just complete the story with titles of books you have read this year. This was fun – so do feel free to have a go yourself… MY DAY IN BOOKS I began the day with The Read More
Cuddle up with a cosy mystery
Death of a Cad by M C Beaton. Now that the weather is cold and frosty, what better type of book to huddle down with than a cosy mystery from M C Beaton. I did exactly this yesterday in between preparations for Christmas with the second in her Hamish Macbeth series set in the Highlands. Read More
I never knew policing in London could be this much fun! …
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch OK – Let me nail my colours to the mast… I was born and bred in Purley, Surrey, on the edge of London suburbia; yes, that Purley – ‘nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more’. I later studied at Imperial College in Kensington, and I know there and London’s Read More
Book Group Report – In search of dragons …
Jamrach’s Menagerie by Carol Birch This story of young Jaffy Brown and his adventures, starting with an encounter with an escaped tiger, was another really good book group choice. We all throroughly enjoyed this impeccably researched and ultimately rather gory tale of exploration and shipwreck in Victorian times. The Guardian’s review of the book tells Read More
Gaskella’s Books of the Year
It’s that time of year again, and I thought I’d highlight my top reads chosen from the 90 I’ve managed to read, so they’re not necessarily published this year. All the books I’ve chosen are ones I gave 9 or more out of ten to; I tend to be generous in my scoring, having given Read More
The life artistic …
This post was republished into my blog’s timeline from my lost posts archive. The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson I do enjoy quirky novels. I also enjoy stories about dysfunctional families. The Family Fang is both, and just let me tell you that despite the title suggesting blood and bites in suburbia, c.f. The Radleys by Matt Haig, there are no Read More