You know what it’s like. You read some wonderful 10/10 type books, but don’t feel inspired when it comes to writing about them! I have two such in the review queue – but they’re not for today. Instead here are capsule reviews of other good reads that I really enjoyed that are also in that Read More
Category: Title begins with S
#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
The Serial Killer’s Party by Amy Cunningham – blog tour
A new to me author, but what a fun sounding thriller! You can’t beat a book about rich people being naughty and profligate with added bodies for a summer thriller read – and on that score The Serial Killer’s Party certainly didn’t disappoint. I loved how Amy’s bio at the beginning says, “Amy has previous Read More
#20BooksofSummer2025 – Nos 7-8, Herron & Osman
Nine books now read, time for reviews of numbers 7 & 8, which just begged to be paired together, as both involve crime / spies, but both later volumes in series, where I don’t want to say too much – so shorter write-ups are game here. Slough House by Mick Herron, (Slow Horses #7) First Read More
A Sting in her Tail by Mark Ezra – blog tour
What do old spies do after they’ve retired? If you’re Richard Osman’s Elizabeth, decamped to a retirement village with her husband who has dementia, you keep your hand in, recruiting a band of retirees to form The Thursday Murder Club – looking at cold cases, helping the local constabulary out, making the most of contacts, 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
The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly, #20booksofsummer24
Being so busy these last couple of weeks at school, I’ve not been blogging much, being tired in the evenings, not sleeping well due to the heat – but perversely getting lots of reading done in the small hours! As a result, I’m doing unseasonably well with my 20 Books of Summer so far this Read More
Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata
Translated by Edward G. Seidensticker I may have just missed the #JanuaryinJapan tag with this review, although I read the novella in Jan, but the Japanese Literature Challenge 17 hosted by Meredith at Dolce Bellezza runs through to the end of February – so sorted! Kawabata, who died of an assumed suicide in 1972, won Read More
The Swedish Art of Ageing Well by Margareta Magnusson
It’s a real achievement to become a best-selling author in your late eighties, as Magnusson did with her 2020 book Döstädning: The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, which is all about doing a gentler version of Marie Kondo in preparation for your own death, so as not to leave it all to your loved Read More
Two for #GermanLitMonth #NovNov23 – von Chamisso & Dürrenmatt
Just squeaking in at the end of the month, here are two shorter reviews of novellas (hence qualifying for Novellas in November also) originally published in German, however, neither are by German-born authors. Adelbert von Chamisso was French, becoming naturalised German, Friederic Dürrenmatt was Swiss. Peter Schlemihl by Adelbert von Chamisso Translated by Leopold von Read More
Two by Irish authors: Lynch and Keegan
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch My first read from the Irish author, Prophet Song is shortlisted for the Booker Prize this year, and I can see why. I was, of course, drawn to its dystopian picture of a society collapsing. It’s not a book to love, but I did find it a compelling read once Read More
My first Booker longlist read…
Of the four books from the 2023 Booker Prize longlist that I already had or treated myself to, I picked the shortest one to read first. (The others I have are In Ascension, The Bee Sting, and Prophet Song by the way.) Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein Bernstein, a Canadian living in Scotland is 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
The Sound of Being Human by Jude Rogers
I’ve been a fan of Jude Roger’s writing for ages having followed her from music mags Q and Mojo to the much-missed The Word, where in all of which she was one of the few female voices. She’s also written for the Guardian and freelances, and has a substack column Stop, Look, Listen, which I Read More
Summer Fishing in Lapland by Juhani Karila
Translated by Lola Rogers In my ever-growing experience of Nordic reads, I think that the Finns win in terms of quirk factor! And, Summer Fishing in Lapland is perhaps the quirkiest of the lot so far – described as Finnish weird in terms of genre. It is a delightful, madcap adventure and debut novel by Read More
Ira Levin and Jeff Vandermeer – #20booksofsummer23 nos 3 & 4
The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin Decades ago, I first encountered Ira Levin when I read The Boys from Brazil, published in 1976, which was also the first time I’d ever heard of Nazi Josef Mengele – and what a chilling experience that was – and then to see Gregory Peck playing against type in Read More
The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again by M John Harrison (20B#1)
Below is my review of my first read from my TBR for #20booksofsummer23 hosted by Cathy at 746 Books. I look forward to this reading challenge every summer now, as it really does encourage me to get some books out of my TBR where they languish for far too long generally. I’m pretty sure when Read More
The Cook, his Wife and the Waitress – Service by Sarah Gilmartin
I won’t be the first to write a tagline reminiscent of the ace 1989 Peter Greenaway film The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, for this book. They have little in common other than a cook and a wife, but I couldn’t resist, sorry! A more apt comparison would be with Stephanie Danler’s Read More
Skin Deep by Antonia Lassa
Translated by Jacky Collins I’m delighted to be today’s stop on the blogtour for Corylus Books’ first publication translated from Spanish – and Skin Deep is an absolute winner! At just 114 pages, it may be brief, but as crime novels go it’s not a quick read, for it has real depth. There is so Read More
Two Short Reviews – Lelic and Porter
The House by Simon Lelic I’ve read four of Lelic’s novels before and really enjoyed all of them, especially his debut, Rupture – which was a whydunnit, and his third, The Child Who, told from the PoV of a child murderer’s solicitor. After those three, he changed tack towards psychological thrillers, retaining his skill at Read More
Two short books for the Japanese & Irish Reading challenges
While I hope to squeeze in more books for the Welsh, Irish and Japanese reading months that happen in March, here are two short reviews of two short novellas, one from Japan, one from Ireland… Star by Yukio Mishima Translated by Sam Bett This was my first experience of Mishima, one of those sightly intimidating Read More
#TDiRS22 – The Dark is Rising Sequence Book 5: Silver on the Tree
And so we come to the final book in Susan Cooper’s fantasy adventure series for older children (and adults!), Silver on the Tree, published in 1977. Thank you to all those who have read along with me over the past five months, your company has been much appreciated. You can also catch up with the Read More
Salt Crystals by Cristina Bendek
Translated by Robin Myers Released earlier this month, this is the latest title from Charco Press, the Latin American translation specialists, by Colombian author Cristina Bendek. The setting is San Andrés, a small island in the Caribbean Sea which although geographically closer to Nicaragua, is under Colombian rule. It wasn’t always so, the Dutch settlers Read More
Sometimes People Die by Simon Stephenson – blog tour
A bit of scene-setting first, for former doctor Stephenson’s second novel, Sometimes People Die, is more than just a normal medical thriller set in a failing hospital… Over the years, there have been many memoirs and diaries written by hospital doctors, ones I’ve read most recently include Catch Your Breath by Ed Patrick and, of Read More
Two shorter reviews for #20BooksofSummer
I’m doing well with my 20 Books of Summer 22, hosted by Cathy at 746 Books, reaching 17/20 so I have every hope of completing my 20 Books I acquired before 2022 from my TBR. Two slightly shorter reviews for you today – a small town America psychological drama and that the book set in Read More
More #20BooksofSummer22 – Braithwaite & Mason
No 5: Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason So much was written about this novel when published last year, and then it was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize this year and even more got written. I acquired my copy last summer – put it in a pile and forgot about it until this summer! As Read More
A Gardener’s Life
Son of the Secret Gardener by Trevor Millum The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett was one of my favourite childhood novels, read from my trusted Puffin edition with this glorious cover by the much missed, late Shirley Hughes. It was a pleasant surprise to discover that FHB based Misselthwaite Manor in her novel around Read More
#NordicFINDS – Finland Week – My ‘Would-be’ Gateway Book
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson Translated from the Swedish by Thomas Teal Because until this week, I’d read so few Finnish books, I didn’t have a definite gateway book that led me into the country’s literature. But it would have been The Summer Book by Tove Jansson, because when Sort Of Books started their Read More
#NordicFINDS – Sweden Week – a novel of letters and longing
Some Kind of Company by Nan Östman Translated by Julia Rivers We have to thank Aspal Press for finding this hidden gem of Swedish literature and making it available in English translation for the first time. Östman, who died in 2015, is a much loved Swedish children’s author, often writing about girls and horses, and Read More
#NordicFINDS – Norway Week – My Gateway Book
Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder Translated by Paulette Møller My second gateway Nordic read was another huge worldwide bestseller, first published in English translation in 1995. I got my original copy with the cover above through the QPD book club, now defunct, who produced what we’d now call trade paperbacks of new hardbacks – ie: Read More
