The Joys of Re-reading I don’t do much re-reading. I have too many unread books to get through, both new shiny ones and more of those which have been languishing on the shelves for far too long. Once in a blue moon though, I will re-read a book – just a couple a year usually. It Read More
Category: Title begins with S
Crime always soars in a heatwave …
The Summer of Dead Toys by Antonio Hill translated from the Spanish by Laura McGloughlin Inspector Héctor Salgado is a hot-blooded Argentine working in Barcelona. As the book opens, he has recently returned from enforced leave after he beat up a suspect in a Voodoo/paedophile trafficking ring. Investigation 1231-R Salgado Resolution Pending Three short lines Read More
Love the one you’re with – the Bainbridge version
Sweet William by Beryl Bainbridge I was thinking of an apt title for this post and was planning on calling it ‘The man who loved women‘ after the celebrated François Truffaut film, but then I remembered the Stephen Stills song ‘Love the one you’re with‘. It seemed to encapsulate Bainbridge’s 1975 novel in a nutshell. (More Read More
Through the keyhole …
Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You by Sam Gosling I defy any browsing bibliomane not to pick this book up on seeing the arrangements of books and comfy armchair through the keyhole on its cover! I’m sure that you, like me, sniff out the bookcases as soon as you go in someone’s house. If Read More
Book v Movie: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (republished into its original place in the time-line from my lost post archive) I went to see the film Salmon Fishing in the Yemen this afternoon based on the brilliant 2006 book by Paul Torday. I read the book last year and loved it, (review here), so I was crossing my fingers that Read More
Cosy Weirdness in Whitby
Never the Bride and Something Borrowed by Paul Magrs Just before I started this blog, I read a book that gave me a sustained bout of chuckling all the way through. On the face of it, Never the Bride was a cosy mystery set in Whitby, with two old ladies doing the sleuthing… But underneath Read More
Book Group Report – Land of the grey
Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall by Anna Funder After the racy delights of Jilly Cooper’s Riders last month, we went for something completely different for our February read. Stasiland by Anna Funder is a work of investigative journalism, chronicling the lives of some people who lived in the GDR before the Berlin Wall came Read More
Let it snow
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey This lovely modern fairytale is that rarity – a book that lives up to the hype. There have been many reviews, in both print and on blog over the past couple of months. Without exception I think, all have been glowing and gushing about this book – I’ll now Read More
Short Takes on Two Short Stories…
I don’t read many short stories, but this week, I’ve happened to read two … The Small Miracleby Paul Gallico Published in 1951, Gallico’s story is a charming fable of faith and love about an orphan boy Pepino, and his donkey Violette. Pepino and Violette live in Assisi. They make ends meet by doing donkey Read More
What is normal anyway?
Sherry Cracker Gets Normal by D J Connell Sherry Cracker is not a normal girl – she’s a loner, loves tartan trousers, facts, and obsessively documents all the graffiti she sees around her town in her ‘OBSERVATIONS’ file. She works for Chinese businessman Mr Chin, in an office above the closed-down cinema, where they buy Read More
The name’s Bond, James Bond.
The Young Bond novels by Charlie Higson Today, there’s a mega author event at Abingdon School’s Amey Theatre for over 600 local children – Charlie Higson, the author, actor and comedian (cough) is coming to talk to them, coinciding with the third installment of his zombie horror series, but more of that in another post… Read More
Two novels, two different Millers…
This post was combined and republished into my blog’s timeline from my lost posts archive. Snowdrops by A D Miller I bought this debut novel at the beginning of the year. It’s had a lot of interest even before it was Booker longlisted. Trying to ignore the hype, I dove in. It’s a tale of Read More
The spirit of Sir Humphrey lives on …
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday (republished into its original place in the time-line from my lost post archive) This was our Book Group choice to read in May, and all those who made it, enjoyed this book. There were different degrees of love ranging from a good read to fantastic, but no-one Read More
3 shorter reviews – Nesbo – Sabato – Teller
This post was edited and republished into my blog’s original timeline from my lost post archive. The Tunnel by Ernesto Sabato Translated by Margaret Sayers Peden, foreword by Colm Tóibín Ernesto Sabato died recently, just two months short of his one hundredth birthday. He was regarded as one of the greats of Argentinian literature, having Read More
My book of the year so far…
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt If I had to make a movie pitch for this book, it would be the Coen brothers do The Blues Brothers crossed with Deadwood, HBO’s fantastic wild west series, and that encapsulates it in a nutshell for me, save to say that the combination is an absolute winner. The Blues Brothers also just happens to Read More
What could have possessed Dr Jekyll?
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by R L Stevenson When I received an email from the publicist for this new series of classic novels in quality pocket hardback format from Whites books, Jekyll and Hyde was the one that leapt out of the list as I’d never read it before. The Read More
Cold War espionage feels so real in this book
The Spy Who Came in from the Coldby John Le Carré This was the October choice for our book group and I must say it proved to be a popular one given that several of the group had moaned ‘not a Le Carré’ when I suggested it; however this one’s relative brevity, tautness and utter plausibility Read More
Sisters are doing it …
The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman Elv, Claire and Meg Story are sisters. They’re extremely close, inventing a language all of their own – Arnish – even their mother is excluded from their fantasy world, and the younger two are always rapt with Elv’s storytelling about the fairy land of Arnelle. Theirs is a world full Read More
Susan Hill’s ghostly story for autumnal nights
The Small Hand by Susan Hill Susan Hill is justly renowned for her ghost stories – her best-known is The Woman in Black which is both chilling and a darned good read. The Small Hand is her latest, and I thoroughly enjoyed it too. It starts off simply. Adam Snow, an antiquarian bookseller is on his way home from meeting a Read More
File under Noir, not Fantasy
The Dresden Files Books 1 and 2 by Jim Butcher A few weeks ago while talking about crime series to read, my good blog-friend LizF recommended these books to me. As is often the case with me and my TBR mountains, I’d spotted them myself some time ago and had already picked up the first Read More
A Promising Pair
Introducing Peirene Press Peirene Press, named after a Greek nymph who turned into a water spring which was drunk by poets for inspiration, is a new publishing house specialising in contemporary European literature of novella length in translation. I was lucky enough to win a copy of their first novel from Librarything, and was offered Read More
A day in the life – a life in a day
The Still Point by Amy Sackville Julia is the great-grand-niece of Edward Mackley, a polar explorer at the turn of the century, who newly married to Emily, left on an expedition and was never seen alive again after a group of men set out for the North Pole from their ship the Persephone. Emily, effectively abandoned after their Read More
Home is where the heart is
The Swimmer by Roma Tearne The village of Orford, near Aldeburgh in Suffolk is not used to foreigners. Someone’s killing animals by slitting their throats, and everyone is concerned about terrorists in their midst. Ria, a poet, lives in relative isolation in her late uncle’s cottage by the coast in Suffolk – it’s home. Eric, a Read More
A novel to make your skin creep…
Skin Lane by Neil Bartlett Mr F has worked for 33 of his 47 years in the fur trade in 60s London and is a master cutter who takes pride in his work. A bachelor, he leads a strictly ordered life, running by a to the minute timetable that rarely deviates. It’s not a normal Read More
Evolution goes mad in this YA horror tale
Savannah Grey by Cliff McNish The cover of this book attracted me – it’s not black for a start, and the green combined with autumn leaves is a winner. The taglines suggest something nasty… but combined with romance, and the figure on the cover, you could be forgiven for expecting a rather soft supernatural tale. Read More
Starting the Canongate Myths series …
A Short History of Myth by Karen Armstrong One of my reading resolutions for 2010 is to read the entire Canongate Myths series – re-tellings of age old stories by great authors. While I’m not intending to read them in strict publication order necessarily, (I managed to snaffle a copy of the latest addition Orphans Read More
A magical read for older children
Shadowmagic by John Lenahan When Scott offered giveaway copies of Shadowmagic by John Lenahan I was quick to comment as I thought this older children’s fantasy could be really fun; and that my daughter might enjoy it. I was particularly thrilled when a signed copy arrived – Thank you Scott & John. Lenahan is an Read More
The Police are but a small episode in this busy life …
Strange Things Happen by Stewart Copeland The emphasis is on fun in this memoir – for Copeland is a hyperactive sort, a workaholic but easily bored, loving a challenge, never playing anything quite the same way twice, liking to be boss, and he’s also much more than a mere drummer. Jumping about in time with Read More
Powerful prose wrought from chemistry and music…
Solo by Rana Dasgupta I read Dasgupta’s first novel Tokyo Cancelled back in 2007 and it was one of the most original debut novels I’ve read in recent years; it has really stayed with me. A modern take on the Canterbury Tales, Tokyo Cancelled is really a linked story cycle in which a group of Read More
A solid and enjoyable police procedural
Spider Trap by Barry Maitland Barry Maitland is the author of a series of nine crime novels so far featuring the detective team of ‘Brock and Kolla’. Some years ago, I remember reading one of the earlier ones, The Chalon Heads, which was set in the world of stamp collecting. A plot involving gangsters and forgers Read More
