Shorter reviews today so I can close out my pile of books read in 2025 finally! (I got ChatGPT to design my header pic – pretty good huh?) Persuasion by Jane Austen This was our bookgroup’s Christmas Classic read – our celebration of Austen’s 250th anniversary too. All bar one of us really enjoyed it, Read More
Month: January 2026
Heaven by Mieko Kawakami
Translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd As Tony, the host of ‘January in Japan’ says in his review of this superb novella, ‘despite its title, this is a book where the main characters are going through hell…’ Heaven is the third novel of Kawakami’s to be translated into English, after Ms Ice Sandwich and Read More
Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal by Robin Ince
I read this between Christmas and New Year, and needless to say it resonated with me. If you’ve ever seen Robin Ince perform, you’ll know he’s quite a manic comedian, often preferring to riff rather than stick to his script (my encounter here). Radio 4 listeners will be familiar with him as Brian Cox’s ‘enthusiastic Read More
Into the Dark by Ørjan Karlsson – blog tour
Translated by Ian Giles Last January I read and reviewed the first book in this series set in Norway’s Nordland district capital Bødo. Into Thin Air introduced us to Chief Investigator Jakob Weber, and his colleagues, Noora Sande recently transferred north from Kripos, to get away from an abusive ex, and detectives Armann and Fine. Read More
Review catch-up
In an effort to clear the review pile, here are three shorter reviews of some of my outstanding pile! The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson I read relatively little historical fiction, but occasionally an author grabs me as Laura Shepherd-Robinson has done. I loved her previous novel The Square of Sevens, a Georgian Read More
Reading Resolutions & Plans 2026
Happy New Year to you all! As is customary, here are a few aims and plans for my reading in 2026. Resolutions Plans In mid-Jan, my critical reading class with Galley Beggar begins. Our first read will be The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine and I’ll report back on how that goes. I plan to resurrect Read More
My Year in Books Read: 2025
I’d forgotten about this meme which usually resurfaces in December. It’s such fun to answer the prompts from your annual reading list. See also Susan’s and Cathy746‘s posts. I’ve done different versions of this in 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2016, 2011 and 2009. The questions vary sometimes, but I’m staying with last year’s set. Where it originally came from is lost in Read More
