Some shorter reviews to help reduce the height of the pile of books I’ve read but haven’t written up yet. First my latest read for WITMonth which is also my 20th of my 20 Books of Summer. Challenge done! The Time of Cherries by Montserrat Roig, translated by Julia Sanches The Time of Cherries was Read More
Critical Reading Class
Something I’ve wanted to do for ages is an evening class in critical reading. The Oxford Uni Lifelong Learning course ‘Contemporary Critish Fiction’ sounds wonderful based on novels by McEwan, Mantel, Ishiguro and Zadie Smith, but at 10 hrs a week study over 10 weeks it’s more time than I can commit to while working Read More
Top Ten Tuesday on a Wednesday – Chunksters!
I’ve never done one of the ‘Top Ten Tuesday’ prompts hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl but having seen some blogger friends joining in this week, couldn’t resist – but I’m a day late. Last year, I had a bit of a rant about the time that chunksters take to read, which means that quantity of Read More
The Ascent of Rum Doodle by W.E.Bowman – #20BooksofSummer2025 no. 19
This novella was sheer joy to read! A rediscovered masterpiece, Rum Doodle is a comic novel satirising men, their work and obsessions on an expedition to the Himalaya, first published in 1956, written by an unassuming structural engineer from Guildford, so Bill Bryson tells us in his intro to this edition. It wasn’t a huge Read More
3 for #WITMonth2025 and #20BooksofSummer2025 nos 16-18
It’s now a tradition to read books by Women in Translation each August (see my earlier post about it here). I’ve read 4 this month already – 1 will be reviewed for Shiny New Books, the other three are reviewed below – 2 hits and 1 meh, in three different languages from three different indie Read More
Making It So by Patrick Stewart – #20BooksofSummer2025 no 15
Stewart’s memoir is my favourite kind of actors’ autobiography, combining lots of Shakespeare, building from one-liner parts to the title character, then film and TV success, with more theatre all the way through. Add to that an interesting working class Yorkshire childhood, and the fact that he’s a humble and lovely bloke, it was perfect. Read More
#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
20BooksofSummer2025 – July Questionnaire
As she did for our June reading, Emma has created another fun questionnaire. Do join in! Get the link here. Now here are my answers this month:
Lay Your Armour Down by Michael Farris Smith – blogtour (belatedly)
Argh – I would have posted this days ago, but I’ve had no internet – the idea of trying to do WP on my phone terrifies me. Sadly, there’s a major fault in the cabinet my wifi goes to – and the engineer couldn’t give me a time for when it would be fixed properly Read More
Women in Translation Month – #WITMonth2025
For many years now, August has been Women in Translation Month – #WITMonth, hosted by Meytal. I’m not sure whether she’s continuing to run it formally this year, but I along with many others I’m sure will continue to support the initiative informally. At the beginning of the month, I usually go back over my Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: The Safekeep
First Saturday of the month and 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 chosen. The starter Read More
#20BooksofSummer2025 – August (into Sept for late reviews)
June started the 2025 20 Books campaign off brilliantly and July continued the trend. Emma and I have been delighted with your wonderful response, and we hope you’ve enjoyed visiting some of the posts too. It was lovely to see so many linking in with #parisinjuly2025 too. August brings another chance to join in two tags at Read More
Shiny Linkiness, #parisinjuly2025 #20BooksofSummer2025 #TranslationThursday
Every Thursday it’s #TranslationThursday as founded by Stu (I’m never quite sure if I get that tag right), and this and last week, I posted reviews at Shiny New Books of translated fiction old and new. Today, my post is about the new Penguin Maigret Capsule Collection – 12 hand-picked titles from the 75 Maigret 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 no 10 – Bad Actors by Mick Herron
I’m managing to keep up with my 20 books – just finishing reading 12 & 13 at the moment, and nos 13 & 14 will be a double bill of Maigrets in new editions which I’ll be reviewing for Shiny New Books and tying into Emma’s Paris in July tag. Having read many Maigrets as Read More
Divinity Games by Lou Gilmond – blog tour
Two years ago, I read Lou Gilmond’s first novel – a near future set political thriller called Dirty Geese, and enjoyed it a lot. It featured Harry Colbey and Esme Kanha, both Tory MPs, Kanha being Chief Whip, and backbencher Colbey was touted as the replacement Minister at the Department for Personal Information when the incumbent Read More
Lost in the Garden by Adam Leslie – #20BooksofSummer2025 No 9 and a DNF
I’m currently reading my 11th book of my 20, loving Sandwich so far – a brilliant summery read. But I had one DNF too – let me get that out of the way with a few comments. The Appeal by Janice Hallett – DNF, 55/445 pages This novel has been a huge bestseller – I’ve 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
Six Degrees of Separation: Theory & Practice by Michelle de Kretser
First Saturday of the month and 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 chosen. The starter 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
Murder Tide by Stella Blómkvist – blog tour
Translated by Quentin Bates This series of crime thrillers by the anonymous author Stella Blómkvist, who shares their pseudonym with the main character has been a big success in Iceland, with over twenty books in the series so far. Thanks for Corylus Books and translator Quentin Bates for bringing them to the English-speaking world, with Read More
#20BooksofSummer2025 – mid-season reading…
June started the 2025 20 Books campaign off brilliantly with tons of you linking, commenting and tweeting etc giving Emma and I, and you, of course, loads of wonderful reviews to explore. It’s been particularly lovely making so many new blog connections. If you still need to pick up the logos for the different numbers of books, Read More
#20BooksofSummer2025 – June Recap & Questionnaire
Emma and I hope you had a great month of summer reading. The July post with the linky for your July reviews will be here tomorrow. I’ve had a good start to my 20 books, reading 8 and reviewing 6 – I hope July will be equally productive, although I have managed to sign myself Read More
This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub – Book 5 of my #20BooksofSummer2025
That’s 8 summer books read now, so it’s time for another review, I’m getting behind in them. I’ve been meaning to read more novels by Emma Straub ever since I read her debut, Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures, which I loved. Despite its central SF conceit of time travel which may put some non-SF readers Read More
Shiny Linkiness – Kidd & Brown
I’ve had two reviews published at Shiny New Books in the past couple of week, so just highlighting them here. Murder at Gull’s Nest by Jess Kidd This is the first in a new series from the acclaimed Irish author. Subtitled Nora Breen investigates, we travel to a 1950s Kentish seaside town out of season Read More
Our Last Wild Days by Anna Bailey (with Ginny) #20BooksofSummer2025 No 6
So that’s 7 books read – I hope to fit in an 8th before the month is out, but have a couple of review copies to cover first. But I’m on track for my 20 books with the holidays and more reading time to come soon. Time for a review, accompanied by a photo from Read More
The Wild Swimmers by William Shaw – Alex Cupidi 5 – #20BooksofSummer2025 – Book No 3
William Shaw is one of my favourite UK crime writers. His DS Alex Cupidi novels, which are set in Kent and around Dungeness in particular, are particularly strong for their sense of place, but also there’s always a social justice theme running through them. It’s probably better to have read some of the others before Read More
Broken by Jón Atli Jónasson – blog tour
Translated by Quentin Bates A first novel in translation by an award-winning Icelandic screenwriter, Broken is a police procedural that’s the beginning of a trilogy – translated by Quentin Bates for Corylus Books: it sounds like a winner… It begins with a teenager going missing on a school trip. There’s no-one else available, so Dóra Read More
Invisible Kitties by Yu Yoyo, #ReadingtheMeow2025 #20BooksofSummer2025
Translated by Jeremy Tiang It’s great to be able to cover two challenges with one book – as well as being one of my 20 Books of Summer, Invisible Kitties is also for Mallika’s Reading the Meow 2025, the third year of her feline reading challenge, and what a super book I picked! I really had my Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: All Fours by Miranda July
First Saturday of the month and 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 chosen. The starter Read More
