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. This Read More
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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
2 more novellas for #NovNov24: A ‘Maigret’ by Simenon and a ‘Parker’ by Stark
The Madman of Bergerac by Georges Simenon (No 15) Translated by Ros Schwartz Inspector Maigret is embarking on a holiday, going to the Dordogne to see an old friend and colleague, with a small job to do in Bordeaux on the side, while Madame Maigret is visiting her sister in Alsace. In his sleeper compartment, Read More
Nonfiction November Week 4 – Mind Openers
Week 4 is hosted by Rebekah at She Seeks Nonfiction blog. The topic is mind openers, and she asks: One of the greatest things about reading nonfiction is the way it can open your eyes to the world around you—no plane ticket required. What nonfiction book or books have impacted the way you see the Read More
#NovNov24 – an assortment of Novellas – Morpurgo, Magariel, Schenkel
Book Group Report – War Horse by Michael Morpurgo Just occasionally in our book group, we’ll read a children’s book – usually a classic – and War Horse will surely become a modern one. It begins: My earliest memories are a confusion of hilly fields and dark, damp stables, and rats that scampered along the Read More
Black Storms by Teresa Solana – blog tour
Translated from Catalan by Peter Bush I’m delighted to be today’s stop on the blog tour for another new to me crime author, now published by Corylus books in translation. It’s the third crime novel by Teresa Solana, and the first to feature her detective Norma Forester. Now I know you’re thinking that doesn’t sound Read More
Dark as Night by Lilja Sigurðardóttir – blog tour
Translated by Lorenza Garcia This was the first novel by Lilja Sigurðardóttir that I’ve read, and it won’t be the last. Dark as Night is actually the fourth in her ‘Áróra Investigation’ series, but having encountered Áróra, boyfriend Daníel and the other supporting characters I need to know more. Áróra isn’t a police officer, which Read More
Simenon & a Maigret for the #1970club
It’s time for another reading week hosted by Simon and Kaggsy – this time books published in 1970. Looking at the Wikipedia page for 1970 in Literature I’ve read loads through the years, including classic SF&F from Larry Niven and Roger Zelazny, schmalz from Erich Segal with Love Story, inexplicably Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, and I Read More
Short reviews catch-up – Susie Dent, Fred Sirieix, Barbara Pym, Michael Findlay
Guilty by Definition by Susie Dent Popular broadcaster and lexcographer Susie Dent has written her first novel, after writing a handful of books all about words, and jolly good fun it was too. (I went to see her talk about it back in August.) And where else would a lexicographer choose to set their murder 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
Red Dwarf: Discovering the TV Series by Tom Salinsky
Volume 1: 1988-1993 – Review with Guest Fun Facts by the author Having been a fan of Red Dwarf since the very beginning, I had to read this book. Of course it brought all the memories flooding back – well most of them! Back in the day, we struck lucky getting tickets for one of Read More
20 Books of Summer – final review part 2 – books #23-24, Smythe & Sterling
Here are my final reviews of the extra books from my TBR piles that I managed to squeeze in for 20 Books of Summer in August. As they were extras to the 20, I don’t feel guilty at all for the reviews being later. You may have read that Cathy will step down from hosting Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: After Story
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. This month Read More
Shiny Linkiness – Walsh and Towles for 20 Books of Summer
I’ve had two recent reviews published at Shiny New Books recently, both read as part of my #20booksofsummer24 reading. Kala by Colin Walsh A superb slowburn literary dual time-lined thriller, Irish author Walsh’s debut was a huge hit last year in hardback. I was sent a proof, but didn’t get the time to read it Read More
Prey by Vanda Symon #SamShephard6, blogtour
This is the first novel I’ve read by New Zealander Symons. It’s the sixth in a series, and whilst I like, where possible, to start a series from the beginning, this sixth volume is like a new start as Detective Sam Shephard returns to work in the Dunedin police after maternity leave. In the Prologue, Read More
Kalmann and the Sleeping Mountain by Joachim B Schmidt – blog tour
Translated from the German by Jamie Lee Searle I’m delighted to be leading off the blog tour for this novel by Swiss author Schmidt, who has lived in Iceland since 2007. I hadn’t realised that this novel is a sequel to his first book, just titled Kalmann, which one reviewer has likened to an ‘Icelandic 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
Hera by Jennifer Saint
I am delighted to be one of those leading off the blogtour for Jennifer Saint’s fourth novel, another feminist retelling of the stories of Ancient Greek Godesses and Heroines, with a dose of Gods and Heroes and other mortals on the side. Before Hera, first came Ariadne, telling the story of her escape from the Read More
Hattie Brings the House Down by Patrick Gleeson
It was a true delight to read this debut novel for the blogtour. A cosy crime mystery set in the world of the theatre, the story is led by Hattie Cocker, who has been hired to be Stage Manager (SM) of a company who will perform Love’s Labour’s Lost at the Tavistock, a theatre attached Read More
Watchlist: Jan-March
Time was, I kept a running list of all the thing I’d seen that I wanted to mention on my watchlist posts, but I’ve lost the scrap of paper I was writing them on. I’ll start a new ‘note’ for next time, so this post will be heavy on the past few weeks and less Read More
Hotel Arcadia by Sunny Singh – blogtour
When Hotel Arcadia was first published by Quartet in 2015, I found it unputdownable, reading it in one session (which is perfectly doable given its length of 224 pages). Now it has finally got a paperback release through Magpie/Point Blank Books, and I was delighted to revisit it for the new blogtour. Think of hotel Read More
The Scottish Play at Dock X, London
Starring Ralph Fiennes & Indira Varma, directed by Simon Godwin So this production of Macbeth which played in Liverpool and Edinburgh has reached London before heading off to Washington DC for its final leg. Staged at each location in a warehouse/conference centre, this allowed more atmosphere setting around the show – a dark entrance hall 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
Two more reviews: Richard Armitage and Roland Schimmelpfennig
Still clearing the to be reviewed pile. Today, proof that planning your year end best of early can mean readjustment when a late contender appears. But first… Geneva by Richard Armitage Yes, it’s a celebrity thriller, but given Armitage’s pedigree as an actor, and narrator of many audiobooks, one that I had higher hopes for Read More
Two reviews: Laura Shepherd-Robinson & T M Thomas
In an attempt to clear the books to review decks before my Review of the Year posts next week, here are some shorter reviews, with more to follow. The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson I was very lucky to win a signed copy of this from Laura in a giveaway. It is a totally 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
What is a Novella? #NovNov23 Week 2
I’ll admit, I was a bit cheeky last week, I included several books in my tally of novellas that aren’t really novellas. Novellas are accepted as being between 10k and 40k words, and up to 200 pages, although the more usual bottom limit is 17.5k words. Novelettes – a term not often used – are Read More
Review catch-up: Buchan, Saint and Laurain
My review pile of books read, mostly some time ago, and needing to be written up before I forget them is too big, so here’s some shorter pieces to deal with said pile! Book Group report – The Museum of Broken Promises by Elizabeth Buchan Following on nicely by association from last month’s Hašek by Read More
Reading the Decades: #6 The 1980s
I am more often than not devoted to contemporary fiction, the shiny and the new. But I do read some older books too as my stats will attest. This series picks out some of those old books that I’ve read, sorted by publishing date, not reading dates which can be any time. You can read Read More
