Yesterday I went to another of literary agency PFD’s salons at the Groucho Club, this time to celebrate the books and lives of John Creasey and Dennis Wheatley. Authors who were read by everyone at their peaks, hugely influential with totally different lives and styles – yet as we discovered, they have a lovely connection… Read More
Month: February 2016
Can’t wait for this TV adaptation, but had to read the book first…
The Night Manager by John Le Carré I can’t be the only person who is eagerly anticipating the BBC’s adaptation of Le Carré’s 1993 novel The Night Manager this weekend. Hiddleston and Laurie feel like perfect casting, and I’d watch anything with Olivia Colman in. Interestingly, Colman’s character is male in the book, but Le Read More
Shiny Fiction Linkiness
Time to share my Fiction reviews from Issue 8 of Shiny New Books with you – four very different but enjoyable books, click through to read the full reviews, links within the text refer to my previous reviews: The Great Swindle by Pierre Lemaitre Best known for his Verhoeven trilogy, Lemaitre has turned from contemporary fare to the end Read More
A speculative thriller of a Sino-driven LA?
The 3rd Woman by Jonathan Freedland Guardian journalist, Jonathan Freedland has previously written thrillers as Sam Bourne, but for his sixth book he dropped the pseudonym. Possibly, this was because his book is dedicated to his older sister Fiona who died of cancer in 2014, (read a touching article about their relationship here), but that is Read More
BBAW Interview Day
Welcome to day two of Book Bloggers Appreciation Week – It’s interview day. I was assigned Amanda of The Zen Leaf and we’ve been batting emails back and forth for a few days interviewing each other. Amanda’s blog is new to me so after having a good look around it I started off by asking Amanda Read More
Moviewatch – a true story
Spotlight Last night I was in Birmingham with nearly 5 hrs to kill while my daughter and her friend saw All Time Low (an American pop punk band from Towson, Maryland – I’m none the wiser!) at the NIA. I had been planning to base myself in one of the many coffee shops locally and read The Read More
Exit, pursued by a bear – a winter’s tale…
The Revenant by Michael Punke You thought you were getting Shakey didn’t you? But those words so fit this novel which the much-lauded movie starring Leo was based on too! I’ve not seen the film of The Revenant and don’t want to. I’m not attracted to watching two and a half hours of Rocky Mountain winters full of gore, Read More
The making of Mary (Queen of Shops)
Shop Girl by Mary Portas Mary Portas is one of those TV presenter/gurus you either love or find profoundly irritating. I love her and her championing of the high street and independent retailers. Her TV programmes where she helps ailing businesses are full of common sense and good advice jazzed up with her team’s design Read More
This year I’m going to read more graphic novels and started with these…
Lumberjanes I & II by Noelle Stevenson & Grace Ellis, co-created by Sharon Watters and illustrated by Brooke Allen Vol I – Beware the Kitten Holy There was a lot of talk in 2015 about the Lumberjanes – espcially since the comics have been collected into softbacks for our delectation. Two volumes are currently available comprising 4 Read More
Getting Hygge …
The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell This was our book group’s read for January, chosen when our of our group had just come back from Copenhagen enthusiastic to learn more about the Danish way of life. The whole group enjoyed reading it – it’s very easy and the author has a nice line Read More
