State of the Union by Nick Hornby Are you watching State of the Union on the telly? (Sunday evenings on BBC2 at 10 – or the complete series on iPlayer). I pre-ordered the book, then the BBC made the series available on iPlayer before starting showing it on BBC2, so I started watching it and Read More
Month: September 2019
Which author have I read the most books by?
There are several authors who I own many books by, and have read a fair few of them – Peter Ackroyd, Paul Auster, Beryl Bainbridge, Iain (M) Banks and Georges Simenon lead the pack, each having between 22 and 25 books on my shelves. But there is one prolific author who I no longer own Read More
The Book Lucy Ellmann wrote before Ducks, Newburyport
Mimi by Lucy Ellmann Although I know it’s really readable, I am still putting off getting started on Ellman’s Booker shortlisted (and tipped to win?) doorstop of a novel, Ducks, Newburyport. I tell myself it’s because as a Galley Beggar subscriber I have the limited edition black cover and I don’t want to break the Read More
Some good reads from pre-blog days, and what I thought about them then… #7
I do have full book reviews coming soon, but to fill the gap (again), here is another round-up of some pre-blog capsule reviews that I wrote back in 2006 for you. Crucifix Lane by Kate Mosse The world is just the same but also oh so different 11 years into the future in Kate Mosse’s Read More
11th Blogversary Giveaway – the Result
Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by to leave their best wishes for my blog’s prime 11th birthday. Now to the result of the giveaway. I made a numbered list of everyone making a book choice and generated a random number. The power of serendipity rules sometimes, and number 11 came up – Read More
Choose the Year Book Tag: 1979
This fun tag has been doing the rounds lately – it started on Book Tube, but Dr Laura Tisdall and Bookish Beck have recently taken part and I’ve finally given in to have a go myself. (Actually it means I can put off writing a review – I’ve got reviewer’s block at the moment – Read More
11 years a-bloggin’ & a giveaway
My blog began (in its original guise) on September 15th 2008, so today is it eleven years old. I went looking for information on the number eleven and amongst all the gobbledegook of ‘Angel numbers’ and the like, one thing stands out: 11 is the first double-digit PRIME number So I’d like to think that Read More
Literary Genre Fiction – let’s discuss
Earlier this week, Rebecca took part in a tag on the subject of literary fiction (see here), and after defining what literary fiction is for you and picking some examples, the tag asks, “Name a brilliant literary-hybrid genre novel.” Rebecca chose The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell – which I read many years ago, and Read More
A dystopian response to 9/11
Then by Julie Myerson I read Myerson’s fifth novel, Something Might Happen, back in 2004 – this was before I started writing capsule reviews, but I did make a note about this book, “Emotional and profound,” I wrote, giving it 8/10. That novel explored the effects of a woman’s murder on the local community – Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: A Gentleman in Moscow
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. This month – the starting book is: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles One of my favourite books of recent years. Read More
Two recent reads – one prose, one poetry
A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale This was our book group read for August, which we discussed earlier this week – and we scored yet another hit! I certainly loved this novel, and although not all in the group quite shared my enthusiasm for it, everyone seemed to enjoy it. Often, when we all Read More
A perplexing thriller and a new trope: ‘Nuclear Noir’
The Carrier by Mattias Berg Translated from the Swedish by George Goulding This thriller has a premise and a half to keep you reading. Imagine you’re on a state visit and the agent who is never more than a few feet from POTUS, the agent called Erasmus Levine carrying the briefcase with the nuclear launch Read More
