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. Read More
Review of the Year #2 – 2022 – Time for Book Stats!
I always say this, but this post really is my favourite of the year! The master spreadsheet is still going strong. I love playing with all the data, mining it for nuggets of information that will tell me if my reading habits have changed. In truth, they bobble along generally, but there are some general Read More
My Life in Books – the 2022 version
I spotted that Lizzy has started this off on its rounds again, so here goes. I’ve done different versions of this in 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2016, 2011 and 2009. The questions vary sometimes, but I’m staying with last year’s set (with an amended Covid one!) for now. Using only books you have read this year (2022), answer these prompts. Try Read More
Watchlist: November-December
The only recent films I really wanted to see, which particularly included BIll Nighy in Living never came to our cinemas, which is a shame, and since half term in October, there’s been no time to go to the theatre, so it’s telly all the way, and series rather than films too… His Dark Materials Read More
Review of the Year #1 – 2022, A Year of Reading and Blogging
As always, I’m saving my books of the year for the 31st, and you’ll get my book stats (my favourite post) on the 29th, but today I plan to share some other blogging highlights, discovered authors and the few disappointments of my reading year. Where did 2022 go? JANUARY – When I proposed running a Nordic 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
The Reviews that Got Away… Goldsworthy, Grudova & Pavone
My aim on this blog has always been to write at least a little about every book I read whether I loved them or DNF them. But, just occasionally, I read and love a book, but can’t find the hook to base my review on right away and the books then sit there waiting for Read More
Animal Life by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir – blog tour
Translated by Brian Fitzgibbon One of the highlights of my Nordic reading back at the beginning of the year was discovering new to me authors, of whom Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir was one. Her first novel to be translated into English, Butterflies in November was quirky and delightful; an episodic road trip with added recipes. She’s Read More
Review Catch-up
In an effort to plan for Christmas and beyond (who am I kidding?), I’m aiming to clear the decks of my review pile, so this is the first of a couple of catch-ups. Shiny Linkiness My three latest reviews for Shiny … Madly, Deeply: The Alan Rickman Diaries – edited by Alan Taylor. Rickman’s diaries, Read More
Dashboard Elvis is Dead by David F Ross – blogtour
Anyone who knows me, knows I love a book with rock’n’roll at its heart. Dashboard Elvis is Dead is such a novel, but it is also a lot more too. This novel may have started out as the story of a Texan runaway who met a Scottish band on tour in the USA, but the Read More
A final #NovNov22 review for Contemporary Novellas week
The Night Interns by Austin Duffy The final week’s theme for Novellas in November hosted by Cathy and Rebecca is contemporary novellas. I actually read this back in late September, but was planning to pair it with Adam Kay’s Undoctored for Non-Fiction November. That didn’t happen, so I’ve had a quick refresh to remind myself what happened in this Read More
#TDiRS22 – The Dark is Rising Sequence Book 4: The Grey King
A bit later than originally planned, but I hope you’re still with me as we come to the fourth of the five books in Susan Cooper’s wonderful children’s adventure fantasy series, The Grey King, published in 1975. Catch up with the previous posts here: Introduction Over Sea, Under Stone The Dark is Rising Greenwitch This Read More
Two more classics for #NovNov Dürrenmatt & McCoy
I know the final week’s theme for Novellas in November hosted by Cathy and Rebecca is contemporary novellas, but today I have two more classic novellas for you instead. Contemporary ones to come soon! The Judge & His Hangman by Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1950) Translated by Joel Agee (2006) I was keen to tie in #NovNov with German Read More
The Vicious Circle by Katherine St. John
It’s my turn on the blog tour today for this super psychological thriller, set mostly at a retreat in the steamy tropics of Mexico’s rainforest. Sveta loves Chase, Chase loves Sveta, Chase still loves his mum, and his mother is the one thing standing between them regarding their wedding. It must be on her old Read More
Nonfiction November Week 3: Stranger Than Fiction
This week is hosted by Christopher @ Plucked from the Stacks. My immediate thought on reading the prompts for this week was to take me to one of my favourite TV series ever – Mad Men! If ever there was a profession where life imitates art it is the world of advertising in 1960s New York, Read More
Two short NF titles for #NovNov22
The third week of Novellas in November hosted by Cathy and Rebecca focuses on short non-fiction, so here are two short reviews for you, both in translation carrying on week 2’s theme also… Stalking the Atomic City by Markiyan Kamysh Translated from the Ukrainian by Hanna Lelive & Reilly Costigan-Humes Ever since I read the chapter on disaster Read More
Urgent Matters by Paula Rodriguez – Blog tour
Translated by Sarah Moses I’ve been reading a bit more Latin American literature in translation this year. All in translation from Spanish, but from a range of countries: Cuba, Colombia, Mexico and Argentina, to be precise. Most of these novels have also been noirish or had a psychological thriller feel, but all have been unashamedly Read More
A Very Thought-Provoking Novella in Translation for #NovNov22
I had hoped to write more posts, but a very busy week with school trips, reports to proofread, and our big fireworks event on Friday meant I was too tired to write, or read much this week. The fireworks were great! But, luckily, I got some serious novella reading in the previous week, so here’s Read More
NORDIC FINDS is back for Jan 2023
After the success of my first Nordic FINDS Reading Project this January (wrap-up post here, dedicated page here), I’ve been asked if I was bringing it back to make it a regular reading month. Well, I couldn’t resist! This year I dedicated the first five weeks of 2022 to one of the five countries per Read More
Two Modern Classics from Faber Editions #NovNov22
I adore reading novellas all year round, but particularly when we focus on them in November with the reading event hosted by Cathy and Rebecca. Week one concentrates on ‘classics’ – which are defined as pre-1980 for these purposes. Although one of the titles I’m including in this post was published after 1980 in 1982, Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: The Naked Chef
First Saturday of the month, and it’s 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. This Read More
Non Fiction November: My Year in NF
November has a plethora of reading themes and challenges, and Non Fiction November is one of my favourites, precisely because it does encourage me to read more of it! This year so far 27/118 books I’ve read have been NF which is 23% up on last year in numbers and percentage of books read. This Read More
Havana Fever by Leonardo Padura
Translated from the Spanish by Peter Bush I’m delighted to be one of those leading off the blog tour for another of Bitter Lemon Press’s reprints of relatively recent world noir novels. This time we visit Cuba for Havana Fever which was first published in Spanish in 2005, with the English translation in 2009. Padura, 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
Watchlist: October
This month’s summary is going to be dominated by two trips to London to see two plays, both productions that had been postponed by the pandemic. One was good the other not just ‘Good’ but excellent! The Doctor, written & directed by Robert Icke, starring Juliet Stevenson The setting, wooden walls, a long table with Read More
Deceit by Jónína Leósdóttir
Translated by Sylvia and Quentin Bates I’m delighted to be today’s stop on the blogtour for yet another new to me Icelandic author. Deceit is the first of Jónína Leósdóttir’s books to be translated into English, brought to us by Corylus Books and translated by veteran Icelandic translator Quentin Bates with Sylvia Bates. Deceit is Read More
Thirteen Ways to Smell a Tree by David George Haskell
I’m delighted to be on of the stops leading off the blogtour for this super little book, a collection of essays about the olfactory aspects of trees by a noted writer and biologist. I was particularly interested in this volume as it promised not just nature writing, which is a theme I’ve been actively trying Read More
#TDiRS22 – The Dark is Rising Sequence Book 3: Greenwitch
Now this is more like it! In the first volume of the series Over Sea, Under Stone, we met the Drew children, Simon, Jane and Barney who had an adventure with their Great-Uncle Merry in Cornwall and found the grail, which was given to the British Museum. The Drews were missing from the second volume Read More
The Grove: A Nature Odyssey in 19½ Front Gardens by Ben Dark: Blogtour
One thing I hoped to do this year is to cover more titles that come under the broad genre of nature writing. This book makes it a handful, which is most of a handful more than last year, so that’s a win already. I was drawn to The Grove because of its sharp focus on Read More
The Moose Paradox by Antti Tuomainen: Blogtour
Translated from the Finnish by David Hackston Last year I was delighted to discover this new to me Finnish author, and his book The Rabbit Factor (reviewed here), the first in a planned trilogy, was a sheer delight, and I’m delighted to be today’s stop on the blog tour for the middle volume. I should Read More
