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
Category: Title begins with L
#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
The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey
I’d started seeing a lot of love for this novel on X. It looked a little cosy with the crow picking at the milk-bottle tops on the cover. But on opening the book, I was convinced I had to read it; Godfrey has based her debut novel on her own childhood in Yorkshire in the Read More
The Lover of No Fixed Abode by Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini
Translated by Gregory Dowling The late Italian writing partners, Fruttero and Lucentini, worked together for decades, along the way writing five novels, four detective ones and this one. First published in Italy in 1986, it is a mystery and a romance, but it turned out to have much more hidden in its pages, taking a 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
#20booksofsummer23 : Mackie, Herron & Kuang
How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie There is a select sub-genre of crime novels featuring prison confessions of serial killers. One I read last summer was A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G Summers. In that book, Dorothy Daniels is a food critic and black widow, murdering her lovers – and enjoying eating select Read More
Two in Spanish for #WITMonth – Piñeiro & Posadas
Today, two more from my #20booksofsummer23 for #WITMonth too, both novels written in Spanish for you – both by South American authors – one from Argentina, the other from Uruguay; I loved one, and nearly DNF’d the other! A Little Luck by Claudia Pineiro Translated by Frances Riddle I discovered Argentinian author Claudia Piñeiro last Read More
‘Reading the Meow’ for #20booksofsummer23
Goodness knows, I’ve read enough books featuring prominent cats over the years, so when Mallika of Literary Potpourri announced ‘#ReadingtheMeow23‘ I went straight to my shelves. Whatever I read would have to also fit with Cathy’s 20 Books of Summer. However, I couldn’t initially find one there, and had to resort to some googling. I Read More
Review catch-up and a little rant!
Rant first… I had scoured the Cheltenham Literary Festival brochure, and worked out a nice programme of events, three on the first afternoon into the evening, and two on the following day. I saved them all to my wishlist and crossed my fingers. Living and hour and a half drive away I decided to treat Read More
The Last Girl to Die by Helen Fields – blog tour
Generally, I’m not good with crime series. I prefer to start at the beginning where I can, to follow the story arcs of the main characters, but… I rarely don’t get beyond the first two or three books in a series. This series fatigue is probably sparked by having too many other books calling at Read More
#20BooksofSummer – the last four – Melo, Steinberg, Warner, Royle
Hurrah! I finished my 20 Books of Summer (hosted by Cathy) with ten days to spare, and will continue to alternate my own books with review copies as much as I can. In an effort to keep reading more of my own books, I am not going overboard on requesting ARCs etc at the moment, Read More
The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid – blogtour
Ii’m delighted to be one of the stops today on the blog tour for Mohsin Hamid’s new novel. If only The Last White Man wasn’t so thought-provoking to get some really coherent thoughts together, my head is buzzing with it still! I love novels that really make me think, like the previous ones by Hamid Read More
Finishing #Narniathon21 – The Last Battle
And so we reach the final book of CS Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia – the last to be published and the last chronologically. The Last Battle was also the first of my 20 Books of Summer, read at the beginning of June, and I’ve been mulling over how to approach writing about it ever since. Read More
Little Drummer by Kjell Ola Dahl – blogtour
Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett My first encounter with Kjell Ola Dahl was last year when I read one of his standalone historical crime novels set in mid-1920s Norway moving up to WWII, and I very much enjoyed The Assistant. Kjell Ola Dahl is one of Norway’s foremost crime writers, especially known for Read More
Japanese Literature Challenge 15
Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura Translated by Philip Gabriel I just managed to squeeze in a Japanese read in time to catch the end of this year’s Japanese Literature Challenge 15 hosted by Dolce Belezza Lonely Castle in the Mirror was a prize-winning bestseller in Japan and it’s easy to see why Read More
#NordicFINDS – Sweden Week – My Gateway Book – a different take
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist & its movie adaptations Although a rather baggy novel at over 500 pages, Let the Right One In, translated by Ebba Segerberg, blew me away when I read it back in 2009. My full review from back then is here. At the novel’s heart is the Read More
Christmassy reads
With perfect timing, I have some Christmas fare for you today. Admittedly, I probably wouldn’t have read these at the right time unless I had occasions to read them for, so without further ado… The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis Chris at Calmgrove is hosting #Narniathon21 beginning this month, reading the Read More
I had to treat myself…
To a third copy of Lord of the Rings I’ve already got these… On the left my single volume paperback from the 1970s, on the right one of the 50th anniversary editions – in this case illustrated by Alan Lee, which together with its companion 60th anniversary Hobbit was part of my joining offer to Read More
20 Books of Summer 21 nos. 16-17 – Zadie Smith & Horatio Clare
Firstly I’m going to pause to go ‘Whoop! Whoop!’ – I’ve read my 20 books with days to spare. I honestly didn’t think I’d make it, but judicious choice of some short books to finish has done the job – all 20 were books I’ve owned since 2020 and were all own copies from my Read More
Love Under Lockdown by Michael Estorick – Blog Tour
I’m delighted to be kicking off the blog tour for this gentle comedy about two ageing chaps taking them from the Brexit referendum through to the end of the first Covid lockdown. Bill and Pete have been best friends for 55 years, they’re now in their mid-sixties, and retired. Estorick first wrote about them in Read More
20 Books of Summer 21 #1 & #2
I’ve read my first two books – 18 to go, although I have three review books to read next before reading any others that count towards my 20. Here are my thoughts on the first two. #1 The Liar’s Dictionary by Eley Williams When this book was published last year, there was so much love Read More
Famous last words – Just one more job…
Love and Theft by Stan Parish You know me, I LOVE my thrillers. All of ’em. However there are two types I love more than the rest: the first has spies, the second has a heist. Love and Theft is the latter, and I’m delighted to be taking part in the short blog tour for Read More
Review catch-up!
This spring into summer period is shaping up to be a huge publishing push, as publishers catch-up with COVID-19 delays. It’s nice to see new books spread out over several months too, which I hope means that more will get the attention they deserve. Will they revert to form in September and October though? Woe Read More
Shiny Linkiness – Hamburg to Douala
Today, just a couple of links to my latest reviews for Shiny New Books. Having been able to read more during furlough – last day today, back to school on Monday (looking forward to that and dreading it at the same time – but I have had my first jab, so will feel safer as Read More
The 1956 Club & a timely novella
It’s time for the latest reading year in Simon and Kaggsy’s biannual club. Looking on my shelves, I found two books I hadn’t read, the novella The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon and the chunkier A Walk on the Wild Side by Nelson Algren: the slimmer of the two won out this time. Looking at Read More
20 Books of Summer #13 & #WITmonth 1: Tawada
The Last Children of Tokyo by Yoko Tawada Translated by Margaret Misutani I’m killing two birds with one stone with this book – always a good thing when you’re embarked on multiple reading challenges, and don’t you just love that cover? This is the first book by Tawada that I’ve read; she won the inaugural Read More
20 Books of Summer #5-6 – Aymé and Larkin
I know I said I wouldn’t cheat beyond having three shelves (85 books) to pick from for my 20 Books of Summer this year! But circumstances change, and I’m swapping a few books in. OK? I’d totally forgotten it was Spanish Lit Month as hosted by Stu this July – so I’ve picked The Manual Read More
A Most Curious Fable!
Lake of Urine: A Love Story by Guillermo Stitch To be honest, when originally offered a review copy of this novel some months ago, I nearly turned it down because of its title alone – which is so bizarre and off-putting, but there was something in the summary on the press release that nabbed me: Read More
20 Books of Summer #1-2 Braithwaite and Saunders
My 20 books has got off to a slow start. The distractions of 800 pages of a SF classic for book group, an impulse re-read and the review pile for summer suddenly growing with moved dates – that’s my excuse. But I am 2 in, just 18 to go! My Sister, the Serial Killer by Read More
Shiny Linkiness
Today over at Shiny New Books is my review of the wonderful third novel from Natasha Pulley: The Lost Future of Pepperharrow Pulley’s third novel revisits the characters of her first, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street (reviewed here) and takes them back to Japan in the late 1880s, where the clairvoyant Keita Mori will be Read More
