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 titles will take you to my reviews where they exist. This month – the starting book is a wild card – the book you ended your last chain with, which for me was: Sharp Read More
Category: Authors B
Women in Translation – Top 100 – My Nominations
This year for the annual #WITmonth in August, our host Meytal at Biblibio has decided to curate a list of the top 100 women in translation. Everyone is invited to join in and let Meytal know. Here are how it’s going to work: Here are my nominations. Links to my reviews are in the titles: Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: Where the Wild Things Are
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 titles will take you to my reviews where they exist. So without further ado, our starting book this month is … Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak As Read More
The story of Maud & Frank & Oz with Judy
Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts The Wizard of Oz is one of those films – once seen, never forgotten. When my daughter was little, we watched it all the time, and later we went to see it in the theatre after the TV show to find a Dorothy for a new production in the West Read More
Some good reads from pre-blog days, and what I thought about them then… #4
I’ve plundered my master spreadsheet yet again to bring you more of my capsule reviews from my pre-blog years. This batch are all from 2007… Babycham Night: A childhood at the end of the pier by Philip Norman Renowned author and biographer of The Beatles, Philip Norman grew up on the Isle of Wight after Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: Murmur
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 titles will take you to my reviews. So without further ado, our starting book this month is … Murmur by Will Eaves I loved Murmur, and was so happy that Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: The Dry
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 titles will take you to my reviews. So without further ado, our starting book this month is … The Dry by Jane Harper One of the best debut crime novels Read More
The 1965 Club
We’ve come back around to the 1960s in the twice yearly reading week hosted by Simon and Karen, 1965 was the year selected, and being one of my favourite decades, it was easy to find a candidate to read… The Drought by J.G. Ballard This novel, Ballard’s third, was first published in 1964 in the Read More
Just the job for this young lady…
MI5 and Me – A Coronet Among the Spooks by Charlotte Bingham Back in 1963, the young Charlotte Bingham published a book of humorous memoir called Coronet Among the Weeds. The daughter of the 7th Baron, Clanmorris, it told of Bingham’s experience of ‘The Season’ as a debutante among the chinless wonders, or weeds, as Read More
Some good reads from pre-blog days, and what I thought about them… #2
I’ve consulted my master spreadsheet again to bring you some more of my capsule reviews from my pre-blog years. Again, these are all from 2006 or before… Bringing Out the Dead by Joe Connelly This autobiographical novel is relentless, I read it in two sessions, only ending the first as I was completely drained. A Read More
Review Catch-up #2 from 2018
More shorter reviews of books I read towards the end of 2018… The Language of Kindness: A Nurse’s Story by Christie Watson There are so many books written by hospital doctors these days – of all types. Surgeon’s stories in the operating theatre; junior doctor’s comedic diaries; heart-breaking lives cut short by cancer – they fill shelves Read More
Year End Review #6: My Books of the Year!
And finally, in my review of my reading year, it’s my Books of the Year. I always save this post for last, in case there’s a late entry. I’ve given up trying to keep the list to a dozen and have ended up instead with a baker’s dozen, plus some runners up. All of these Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: A Christmas Carol
Better late than never – here’s my go this month. 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. Our starting book this month is … A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Dickens’ classic tale of redemption at Christmas. I could have Read More
Review catch-up
In an attempt to clear my pile of yet to be reviewed books, here are some capsule reviews: Beryl Bainbridge by Master Georgie Many consider Bainbridge’s later novel from 1998 to be her best – it won the ‘Best of Beryl Booker Prize’. Personally, on a first reading, it didn’t do it for me in Read More
Novellas in November – Part 2
Running Wild by J.G. Ballard This beautifully crafted novella published in 1988 concerns one of Ballard’s favourite themes – life in a community that walls itself away from the rest of the world. It is set in an exclusive housing estate of just ten houses, each on a large plot. The estate is gated, has Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: Vanity Fair
Hosted each month by Kate at Booksaremyfavouriteandbest, Six Degrees of Separation picks a starting book for participants to go wherever it takes them in six more steps. Our starting book this month is … Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray Never read it – I ought to though, for I’m sure I’d enjoy it – just Read More
The 1944 Club and a wartime classic
1944 is the latest year selected by Simon and Karen in their biannual reading years club. When I looked at my shelves, I didn’t have much choice from this year – Colette’s Gigi, which as a short novella I’ll try and squeeze in, and my choice below were the only ones immediately to hand (although I think Read More
Très charmant! J’ai adoré ce roman
With You in Paris by Clémentine Beauvais Translated by Sam Taylor After the excess of English whimsy (thanks for that phrase, Liz!) of The Brontes Went to Woolworths, I needed a palate-cleanser of a read. Usually, I turn to thrillers, but this book on my bedside shelf caught my eye, and it was just the perfect Read More
Can you cheat fate?
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin I’ve been itching to read this novel due to its clever premise since I first got my hands on a copy. I’ve finally made time for it. How long would you live your life if you knew the day you were going to die? This is the central question, emblazoned Read More
20 Books of Summer #6 & #7 – Gavalda & Bourdouxhe for #WITMonth
A double-pronged duo today. I can cross off books 6 & 7 from my 20 Books of Summer list and they are both translated from the French by women translators and thus perfect for Women in Translation month, which is hosted by Meytal at Biblibio every August. Billie by Anna Gavalda Translated by Jennifer Rappaport Read More
20 Books of Summer #3 & #4: Young protagonists
What a Way To Go by Julia Forster I couldn’t resist the cover of this book – it was the ghetto blaster (as we called boomboxes then) on the front and cassette tapes on the back that took me right back to around 1979 when I bought one with my holiday job pay from the Read More
Events with Books
Back to normal posting soon – I’ve lots of book reviews to catch up on! But here are the bookish events I’ve been at recently… The Last Chance Hotel Book Launch Firstly – the launch party for friend, former bookseller, and now published author Nicki Thornton, whose book for older children (8-11) The Last Chance Read More
20 Books of Summer #2 – a modern day Robinson Crusoe?
Concrete Island by J G Ballard Ballard’s slim novel from 1973 is his own bleak take on Robinson Crusoe being marooned on a desert island. However, this being Ballard, he has found a way of subverting Crusoe by marooning his protagonist in the middle of a very busy world. Concrete Island is a controlled and Read More
The Booker Bridesmaid & the Best of Beryl
I wrote this piece for Shiny New Books’s Booker Celebrations week – coming to you at the beginning of July, where it’ll be included in a post about many of the wonderful novels that were shortlisted for the Booker Prize but didn’t win. I thought I’d share it here first though… Beryl Bainbridge – Shortlisted Read More
‘A Life in Death’
All That Remains by Sue Black As one of the world’s foremost anatomists and forensic anthropologists, Sue Black’s life in death has been full of interest. She has been a professor based at Dundee University for years, and, she was appointed as a Dame in 2016 for services to forensic anthropology and she is a Read More
20 Books of Summer 2018
Hosted again by Cathy at 746 Books – her 20 Books of Summer challenge is one I’d followed for a few years, finally taking part last year – I managed 11 out of my pile of 20. I shall try to better that this summer. This morning I have picked my pile of twenty books Read More
My new Desert Island Library – 100 Books
I’ve had a tab entitled ‘Desert Island LIbrary‘ on this blog for ages, in which I imagined if I were stranded on a desert island, which books I’d like washed up onto the shore in a waterproof trunk! I started off writing short takes on the books to go into this trunk – but it Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: The Poisonwood Bible
Hosted each month by Kate at Booksaremyfavouriteandbest, Six Degrees of Separation picks a starting book for participants to go wherever it takes them in six more steps. Click on the titles to go to my reviews where they exist. Our starting book this month is the chunky literary bestseller: The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver This Read More
Guest Post: Q&A with Richard Beard
The other day, I gave you my thoughts on the shortlist for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2018 (see here). Today, I am delighted to host a guest post in the form of a Q&A the prize’s publicists did with the shortlisted authors (see more here). I lobbied to get Richard Beard as a) I loved Read More
From one book prize to another: The Rathbones Folio Prize shortlist
One of the younger book prizes, the Rathbones Folio Prize began life as the Folio Prize, sponsored by the Folio Society in 2014. The prize money has varied, but is currently £20,000 sponsored by the investment bank, and this year’s winner will be announced on May 8th. The prize has an interesting and unashamedly literary Read More
