More shorter reviews of books I read towards the end of 2018… The Language of Kindness: A Nurse’s Story by Christie Watson There are so many books written by hospital doctors these days – of all types. Surgeon’s stories in the operating theatre; junior doctor’s comedic diaries; heart-breaking lives cut short by cancer – they fill shelves Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: The French Lieutenant’s Woman
Hosted by Kate at Booksaremyfavouriteandbest, Six Degrees of Separation picks a starting book for participants to go wherever it takes them in six more steps. Our starting book this month is … The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles I read this many years ago – yes, after the 1981 film with Meryl came out, so early 1980s Read More
Review Catch-up #1 from 2018
I’ve got a pile of books I finished reading in 2018 that I haven’t reviewed yet. Some deserve their own posts, but here’s a pair of shorter write-ups. The Atlas of Disease by Sandra Hempel This is a curious book – ostensibly an ‘atlas’ produced using the latest data available, in which the author charts Read More
Name of the Rose Readalong
Last November I told you of my plans to re-read The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, and some of you said you might join in… Well I’m ready! I shall be reading my Folio Society edition, which is the original translation by William Weaver, but with some glorious extra artwork by Neil Packer Read More
My life in books I read in 2018
Happy New Year! I thought I’d do one more post looking backwards to the books I read last year, so I’ve resurrected this meme which is good fun… Book titles links take you to my reviews as always. Using only books you have read in the past year, answer these questions. Try not to repeat Read More
Year End Review #6: My Books of the Year!
And finally, in my review of my reading year, it’s my Books of the Year. I always save this post for last, in case there’s a late entry. I’ve given up trying to keep the list to a dozen and have ended up instead with a baker’s dozen, plus some runners up. All of these Read More
Year End Review #5: The Stats!
I still love compiling this post each year. I consult my trusty spreadsheet which has over ten years of basic data on it, and pull out some comparative figures about my year of reading. The top graph is accurate up to yesterday, the others to Boxing Day! For those of you who don’t like the Read More
Year End Review #4: Non-Fiction
This isn’t going to be a long post, as I’ve talked about a lot of my non-fiction reading this year recently during Non Fiction November (see here), but since that post, I’ve added several more books to that list, making my non-fiction total 31 in 2018 as of today. That’s just about 22% which is Read More
Year End Review #3: In Translation
Last year I gave books read in translation their own review – the aim was to encourage myself to read more in 2018 – I managed just 14 (10%) in 2017. This year, (up to Christmas Day cut-off) I’ve read 25 novels originally published in other languages which is just under 18%, so I’ve done Read More
Year End Review #2: The Disappointments
The DNF and the DNGS This year I was perhaps, lucky in my reading – there was only one book that I gave up on having got a little way in, despite its fab cover, and that was The Testament of Loki by Joanne M Harris. I won’t dwell on this, but you can read Read More
Year End Review #1: The Discoveries
I’m kicking off my review of my 2018 reading year by sharing a few of the authors I discovered for the first time and now want to read much more of. Kent Haruf Others have praised this author for years and I truly don’t know why I resisted reading him. I finally picked up Our Read More
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
If you need a little literary pick-me-up, do follow this link to the New York Times where you can read David Sedaris on being an Elf at SantaLand. It may lower the tone, but it’s very funny! (The full essay is in his book Santaland Diaries, also published as Holidays on Ice.) Meanwhile, very Read More
Thriller central
I’ve enjoyed reading several of Henry Porter’s novels (my review of his second book, A Spy’s Life is here). They are solidly plotted, full of action with great lead characters. His latest, Firefly, has a great tagline on the front cover of my ARC, ‘The prey – a boy genius. The predator – a deadly Read More
The Last 10 Books Tag…
I got this via Simon (see his answers here) but it originated with Rick at Another Book Vlog. I couldn’t resist… The last book I gave up on There are a few books that I never really got started with, like Iris Murdoch’s The Nice and the Good, but the last one I read a decent chunk of Read More
Norton proves he can write…
I haven’t yet read Norton’s first novel, Holding, but having now read his second, I would definitely like to go back and read the other. A Keeper falls into commercial fiction territory, but there’s nothing wrong with that. In A Keeper, Norton proves that he can create great characters, who set into a twisty plot, Read More
Living on the Edge
Outskirts by John Grindrod Like the author, I am a 1970s product of the Croydon/Surrey borders, so I was particularly interested to read this book, which is part memoir, part history of the Green Belt. Grindrod grew up in a postwar estate that was added to Croydon’s south-eastern outskirts, and in this estate, he lived Read More
Two of the PFD Sunday Times Young Writer Award shortlist…
The winner of the PFD Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award in association with the University of Warwick was announced earlier this week. Adam Weymouth’s non-fiction book, Kings of the Yukon (which I shall be reading next), scooped this year’s prize from an interesting shortlist that was wide open as to who would Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: A Christmas Carol
Better late than never – here’s my go this month. Hosted by Kate at Booksaremyfavouriteandbest, Six Degrees of Separation picks a starting book for participants to go wherever it takes them in six more steps. Our starting book this month is … A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Dickens’ classic tale of redemption at Christmas. I could have Read More
Novellas in November – Part 3
Although my normal reading contains a fair smattering of novellas anyway, I’ve loved concentrating on reading novellas this November – here’s my third and final selection for this month: Poor Cow by Nell Dunn Published in 1967, Dunn’s novella is a ‘classic of 1960s London life’ and was her second work of fiction after her Read More
Review catch-up
In an attempt to clear my pile of yet to be reviewed books, here are some capsule reviews: Beryl Bainbridge by Master Georgie Many consider Bainbridge’s later novel from 1998 to be her best – it won the ‘Best of Beryl Booker Prize’. Personally, on a first reading, it didn’t do it for me in Read More
War Horse – an actor’s story…
All Quiet on the West End Front by William Rycroft Firstly, I must declare, I know Will a little. He used to write a wonderful blog Just William’s Luck (which you can still see) back when he was an actor. When his long run in the West End hit War Horse ended, he moved into the publishing Read More
Novellas in November – Part 2
Running Wild by J.G. Ballard This beautifully crafted novella published in 1988 concerns one of Ballard’s favourite themes – life in a community that walls itself away from the rest of the world. It is set in an exclusive housing estate of just ten houses, each on a large plot. The estate is gated, has Read More
The Sunday Times PFD Young Writer of the Year 2018 Bloggers Event
Last year I was privileged to be on the official Shadow Judges Panel for this super award – you can read about my experiences here. One of the key events in the awards calendar each year is the Bloggers Event which is held at the Groucho Club in London, and I was delighted to be Read More
Two recent Shiny reviews…
I’m off to London today for the annual PFD Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year blogger’s do at the Groucho (yes, I’m name-dropping), so here are links to my two Shiny reviews this week. Either would make wonderful Christmas presents…. Eye of the Shoal by Helen Scales Marine biologist Scales, having previously written books Read More
Graphic Short Stories, Adrian Tomine style…
Killing and Dying by Adrian Tomine I’ve long been a fan of graphic artistTomine’s individual cartoons including covers for The New Yorker like this one (right, which is available as a greetings card!), but I’d never read any of his stories before. Killing and Dying is his 2015 collection of six short stories, written and Read More
Novellas in November Part 1
This year I’m joining in with Novellas in November, a long-running tag now sort of shepherded by Laura at Reading in Bed. I absolutely love novellas, that extra length over a short story, of say up to 150 pages, gives space for development of plot and characters, but still requires the author to move things Read More
Nonfiction November: Book Pairings
Nonfiction November is being hosted by Sarah (Sarah’s Book Shelves), Kim (Sophisticated Dorkiness), Sarah (Sarah’s Book Shelves), Julie (JulzReads), and Katie (Doing Dewey). through the site What’s Nonfiction? They have a wonderful programme mapped out for November here. The topic for the second week is “book pairings” – matching a nonfiction book with a fiction one, which Read More
Coming in January – Echoes of Eco
Inspired by the comments on my post the other day on this month’s Six Degrees of Separation tag, I’ve decided to set myself a little project for January, and you’re all welcome to join in. The starting book for the tag this month was Vanity Fair – and much as I’d love to read that Read More
Six Degrees of Separation: Vanity Fair
Hosted each month by Kate at Booksaremyfavouriteandbest, Six Degrees of Separation picks a starting book for participants to go wherever it takes them in six more steps. Our starting book this month is … Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray Never read it – I ought to though, for I’m sure I’d enjoy it – just Read More
Nonfiction November – My Year in Non-fiction
Nonfiction November is being hosted by Sarah (Sarah’s Book Shelves), Kim (Sophisticated Dorkiness), Sarah (Sarah’s Book Shelves), Julie (JulzReads), and Katie (Doing Dewey). through the site What’s Nonfiction? They have a wonderful programme mapped out for November here. The topic for the first week is “Your Year in Nonfiction ” in which we’re encouraged to Read More
