List of the Lost by Morrissey Republished into my blog’s original timeline – one of the lost posts. Regular visitors will know that I am willing to try reading anything, and I always try to look for the best in a novel. I read Morrissey’s ‘Autobiography‘ and reviewed it here, finding some parts, especially the childhood Read More
Category: Title begins with L
Too much life?
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara Republished into my blog’s original timeline – one of my ‘lost’ posts. This novel has really divided its readers into camps. Most, but not all, of those reading along with Scott didn’t like it, and neither did James and Teresa. But, on the other side, Simon S, Jackie and Rebecca all loved it. Where do I stand? Well – Read More
A double dose of Simenon including his most autobiographical roman dur…
This post was republished into my blog’s original timeline from my lost post archive. Three Bedrooms in Manhattan by Georges Simenon Last month I had the opportunity to meet John Simenon, Georges’s son at an event celebrating the prolific Belgian author and his work. Apart from all the Maigret novels, Simenon was famed for his romans durs (hard Read More
A case of the ‘sweats’ …
A Lovely Way to Burn by Louise Welsh I don’t know why it took me so long to get around to reading this, the first volume in Louise Welsh’s planned Plague Times trilogy (the second was published earlier this month), for it turned out to be a taut suspense thriller combining a murder mystery with Read More
The Little Big Readalong
Republished and combined into one post on my blog’s timeline from my lost posts archive. May 3rd, 2015 I’m joining in the readalong of the modern classic fantasy novel Little Big by John Crowley this May, hosted by Dolce Belezza, together with Helen of A Gallimaufry and Tom of Wuthering Expectations. I read this book back Read More
Annabel’s Shelves: A is for…
This post was edited and republished into my blog’s original timeline from my lost posts archive. Arnott, Jake – The Long Firm Thank you to everyone who suggested authors beginning with ‘A’ for the first read of my Annabel’s Shelves project. Atwood was a very popular suggestion, and I’m sorry to disappoint you but I have Read More
Too lurid and too pretentiously cute!
Lurid & Cute by Adam Thirlwell When I read Alex Preston’s review of Adam Thirlwell’s new novel in the Financial Times I instantly wanted to read and review this book for Shiny New Books. As you know I love quirky novels, and I thought this book would be fun, very contemporary and something a bit Read More
Classic Children's Literature Month
The blog Simpler Pastimes is hosting a month-long Classic Children’s Literature Event. Given that I’m only reading from my TBR piles and have plenty of children’s classics, it was ideal to join in with. But which one should I read? Should I revisit a much-loved tale that I loved as a child? Or one that Read More
A French charmer
The List of My Desires by Grégoire Delacourt Translated by Anthea Bell As can be seen from my annual stats review (here if you like that kind of thing!), the country I visited the most to read in translation from last year was France. I suspect that’s going to continue this year too, for I have Read More
"I've been to paradise, but I've never been to me"
Love & Fallout by Kathryn Simmonds Tessa is one of those middle-aged women that do causes. She co-runs a (failing) green charity running workshops for schools and colleges and she’s always got a local campaign on the go – this time saving the playing field from development. She doesn’t take much time for herself (or Read More
5 Characters in Search of a Theme Song
Love, Love Me Do by Mark Haysom Looking at the title and cover of this book, I was expecting something light-hearted, a little bit sixties rock’n’roll, a bit Nick Hornby-ish if you will – and involving a caravan. Well the last bit was right, less so the others. The title, that of the Beatles’ first Read More
I get inside the Groucho Club (briefly)!
Just under a month ago, I blogged about the crowd-funding publisher Unbound and how much I was enjoying pledging my pennies towards getting books published – being a ‘Book Angel’ definitely appeals to me. (Incidentally, I’ve just done Spotlight on Publishing article with Unbound which will be in the new edition of Shiny New Books Read More
Would you do this on holiday?
Lazy Days by Erlend Loe Translated by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw. With its irresistible cover I was always going to pick this book up to examine it. I read the blurb on the flyleaf and discovered that the author, new to me, was Norwegian, and that the book was likely to be quirky and probably Read More
Growing Old Disgracefully …
The Little Old Lady Who Broke All The Rules by Catharine Ingelman-Sundberg Translated by Rod Bradbury Let’s get it out of the way. If you enjoyed The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson as I did, (my review here), I’m certain that you will enjoy this novel. This Read More
A Trio of Short Reviews
I thought I’d sneak a couple of short book reviews into that week between Christmas and New Year. Too bloated with turkey, booze and chocolate to concentrate on reading, I often find I’m scouring the web at this time for stuff to read and do! The Last Kings of Sark by Rosa Rankin-Gee This is Read More
Nannying in the 1980s
Love, Nina: Despatches from Family Life by Nina Stibbe This volume of memoirs in the form of letters was the perfect reading for me in the past couple of weeks, when life has been so hectic. I’ve just finished a couple of weeks of full-time cover teaching, and then with all the usual Christmas events from Read More
A tale of two Richards …
Lion Heart by Justin Cartwright Richard I was a king I know very little about. The sum total of my knowledge comprises little more than knowing that he went on the crusades to the Holy Land, his mother was Eleanor of Acquitaine, and the minstrel Blondel was supposedly involved in his release from imprisonment in an Read More
Travelling Man
Lost Luggageby Jordi Punti, translated from the Catalan by Julie Wark. This is the story of Gabriel Delacruz, orphan, international furniture remover and father to four sons. Four boys – born in four different countries to four different mothers; one German, one English, one French and one Spanish, and all christened the local equivalent of the Read More
From the Silk Road to Norwood
A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar by Suzanne Joinson It’s 1923. Evangeline English is accompanying her sister Lizzie as part of a Christian mission to Kashgar, in Western China on the ancient Silk Road route. Eva in turn is accompanied by her trusty bicycle. She keeps a diary about their expedition which she plans to Read More
A family drama with a Hollywood backdrop
Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures by Emma Straub A novel set during the golden age of Hollywood has an instant allure, promising old-fashioned glamour and a look behind the scenes of the movies, plus possibly a whiff of scandal. That’s not what this novel is really about though, despite its title and monochrome cover … Read More
Serendipity makes this a timely read from And Other Stories…
Lightning Rods by Helen DeWitt I started reading this book around ten days ago, and was shocked and amused in equal measure – but I paused around a third of the way through to give in to the hype and read JK Rowling’s latest (see previous post here) – and by the time I picked Read More
Which path should one take? A novel choice…
Luminous Airplanes by Paul La Farge I had just come home from a festival in Nevada, the theme of which was Contact with Other Worlds, when my mother, or, I should say, one of my mothers, called to tell me that my grandfather had died. Thus begins Luminous Airplanes, a quirky novel right from the outset, Read More
Can faith work miracles?
The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen This book wasn’t what I was expecting, although it did start off that way… In the beginning there was an empty room, a little bit of space, a little bit of light, a little bit of time. I said: ‘I am going to make fields,’ and I made Read More
The case of the randy old goats and the vampire!
Linger Awhile by Russell Hoban The ex-pat US author Russell Hoban, who lived in London, died at the end of 2011 aged 86. He kept writing right up to the end. I haven’t paid a visit to Hobanville in a while, and this short novel published in 2006 neatly filled in the gap between more Read More
I should be so lucky ….
The Luck Factor: The Scientific Study of the Lucky Mind by Dr Richard Wiseman Richard Wiseman’s speciality is a fascination with the quirkier side of psychology, (his website and blog are here). A magician and psychologist based at the University of Hertfordshire, (which is still Hatfield Poly in my mind), he and his team investigate the Read More
A book of homecoming and letting go …
Like Bees to Honeyby Caroline Smailes It was Juxtabook’s review of this book a couple of weeks ago, that made me pick this book up to read immediately, and she wasn’t wrong – this book is LOVELY! It tells the story of Nina, a Maltese woman, whose rather traditional family disowned her when she got pregnant Read More
From Paradise to Hell …
This post was edited and republished into its original place in my blog’s timeline from my lost posts archive. Lord of the Flies by William Golding Conceived, so I’ve read, as a response to the Utopian and rose-tinted worlds of Swallows and Amazons, and in particular, Ballantyne’s Coral Island, Golding’s Lord of the Flies, published in Read More
Two Psycho-thrillers: SJ Watson & Sophie Hannah
This post is combined from two in my lost posts archive, republished into their original place in my blog’s timeline. Before I Go To Sleep by S J Watson There is a lot of love out there for this novel. Despite the hype though, given the type of psychological thriller that it is, it was Read More
Doing what comes naturally …
This post was edited and republished into its original place in my blog timeline from my lost posts archive. Lucky Bunny by Jill Dawson Jill Dawson is one of those authors who appears to write a different book every time, although when you look underneath, there are links. The Great Lover tells the story of poet Read More
Book Group Report – The Little Stranger
This post was edited and republished into my blog’s timeline in its original place from my lost posts archives. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters This made a great choice for a book group (as long as you have the time to read it’s 500+ pages), because we all had differing ideas on the mystery Read More
