This novella was sheer joy to read! A rediscovered masterpiece, Rum Doodle is a comic novel satirising men, their work and obsessions on an expedition to the Himalaya, first published in 1956, written by an unassuming structural engineer from Guildford, so Bill Bryson tells us in his intro to this edition. It wasn’t a huge Read More
Category: Authors B
#20BooksofSummer2025 – Nos 11 & 14 – Newman and Barry
My internet is back, but it’s patchy, so I bought a wireless home hub to fill in the outages! I’ve now read 17/20 books of my 20 Books and have some reviewing catch-up to do. Here’s two more for you… Sandwich by Catherine Newman There was a time when my parents rented the same cottage Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: The Safekeep
First Saturday of the month and 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. The starter Read More
Shiny Linkiness, #parisinjuly2025 #20BooksofSummer2025 #TranslationThursday
Every Thursday it’s #TranslationThursday as founded by Stu (I’m never quite sure if I get that tag right), and this and last week, I posted reviews at Shiny New Books of translated fiction old and new. Today, my post is about the new Penguin Maigret Capsule Collection – 12 hand-picked titles from the 75 Maigret Read More
Shiny Linkiness – Kidd & Brown
I’ve had two reviews published at Shiny New Books in the past couple of week, so just highlighting them here. Murder at Gull’s Nest by Jess Kidd This is the first in a new series from the acclaimed Irish author. Subtitled Nora Breen investigates, we travel to a 1950s Kentish seaside town out of season Read More
Our Last Wild Days by Anna Bailey (with Ginny) #20BooksofSummer2025 No 6
So that’s 7 books read – I hope to fit in an 8th before the month is out, but have a couple of review copies to cover first. But I’m on track for my 20 books with the holidays and more reading time to come soon. Time for a review, accompanied by a photo from Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: All Fours by Miranda July
First Saturday of the month and 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. The starter Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: Les Liaisons Dangereuses
First Saturday of the month and 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. The Read More
Talking Header Images
One last fun post before School starts; I do have book reviews scheduled – honest! I was looking at my header images on the blog, and wondering if I should update them… Obviously, they’re cut down from larger photos to fit. I have six current ones, which are randomised to appear with each refresh of Read More
Review of the Year #3, 2024 – Books of the Year!
It’s finally time for me to share my favourite books of the year with you. It’s always a difficult decision and, as so often happens, the last two books I finished, but have yet to review, both pushed their way onto the list! I read 122 books this year, of which I awarded 10/10 to Read More
Five Feat . . . Duos
In my irregular themed look at old posts (previous posts here), this time I’ve picked Duos as the link. Like the musical duos Simon & Garfunkel and Althea & Donna, all the titles in this list feature two names in the title. However, they aren’t all couples, there are friends and colleagues too in this Read More
Nonfiction November Week 3 – Book Pairings
Week 3 of Nonfiction November is the always intriguing Book Pairings topic, hosted by Liz at Adventures in reading, running and working from home. Nothing had occurred to me as suitable pairings this year, until it did. Not once, but twice! Again, I’m taking the opportunity to combine this with #NovNov24 by pairing two short Read More
The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S. Berry – blog tour
You know me and spies! How could I resist? Especially given that this novel is set in Bahrain, (with their distinctive flag on the cover) a small island nation I knew little about, which would prove to be so fascinating. The author lived in Bahrain, and was a CIA ops officer for six years, so Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: Long Island
I’m a day late to the first Saturday of the month, but there’s still 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 Read More
20 Books of Summer – final reviews part 1 – Orwell + books #21-22 by Barrett & deWitt
Now the first week of being back at School is over, I shall revert to some shorter reviews for the remaining books I read which, Orwell excepted, were extras to my twenty! So I don’t feel guilty about reviewing them late. Animal Farm by George Orwell This was a book group choice – we’re on Read More
#20booksofsummer24, No. 10, A Luminous Republic by Andrés Barba
Translated by Lisa Dillman I read this book in July, intending to review it sooner for Stu’s Spanish & Portuguese Reading Month, so I’m a bit late – but had good intentions. Back in 2017, I read Such Small Hands by Barba, a dark and disquieting portrait of childhood bullying among young girls in which 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
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
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
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
All You Need is Love: The End of the Beatles by Peter Brown and Steven Gaines
I am delighted to have been able to read this amazing book and review it for the blogtour. Whereas I’m by no means a Beatles completist, I am a huge fan having grown up with them. And yes, I watched all 8 hrs of Peter Jackson’s documentary, Get Back, which compiled the hours and hours Read More
Anna O by Matthew Blake
Anna O has been asleep for four years now. A known somnambulist, the experts think it was her body’s response to having committed a terrible double murder while sleepwalking. Now it’s time to wake her up, and the man to do it is Dr Benedict Prince, a forensic psychologist based at a sleep clinic in Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
First Saturday of the month and new year too, 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 Read More
Tristan / Yseult by Harry Bonelle – Blogtour
Given my love of things Arthurian and mediaeval, and need – and yes, it is a need – to engage more with poetry I was not going to turn down the opportunity to take part in the blogtour for Harry Bonelle’s retelling of part of the myth of Tristan and Isolde / Iseult / Yseult Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: the last book you read
First Saturday of the month and new year too, 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 Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
First Saturday of the month and new year too, 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 Read More
Review of the Year #3: 2023, Books of the Year!
I still award a score to all the books I read – recorded on my Reading List page. I score out of 10, including half points (so out of 20 really!). Those scores are only snapshots of course, and some books fade from your memory as others, which maybe scored lower initially, stay or grow. I read Read More
Review of the Year #2 – 2023 – Time for Book Stats!
I always say this, but this post really is my favourite of the year! The master spreadsheet is still going strong. I love playing with all the data, mining it for nuggets of information that will tell me if my reading habits have changed. In truth, they bobble along generally, but there are some general Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: Kitchen Confidential
First Saturday of the month, time for the super monthly tag Six Degrees of Separation, which is hosted by Kate at Booksaremyfavouriteandbest, I’ve been so busy, I’ve missed the past couple of months, but I’m back to joining in today! Six Degrees of Separation #6degrees picks a starting book for participants to go wherever it takes them Read More
Shiny Linkiness – Nicholas Royle
Today at Shiny New Books, I have a pair of posts for you. Nicholas Royle (the one who is/was a professor at Sussex University, not the Manchester one), has just had a new non-fiction book published. A series of essays, lectures, ‘memoirish’ narrative non-fiction, conceived as a valedictory speech after being offered voluntary severance from Read More
