The Maintenance of Headwayby Magnus Mills I’ve read and loved three of Mills’s previous novels – especially All Quiet on the Orient Express, (review here). They’re deadpan, full of black humour, and expound upon the trials and tribulations of the ordinary working man. He’s dealt with fence installers, odd jobbers, and White Van Man; Read More
Cold war secrets the spooks can’t hide …
The Trinity Six by Charles Cumming We know about the Cambridge Five – Philby, Burgess, Maclean, Cairncross and Blunt. What if there had been a sixth man in this spy ring? What if that sixth man wanted to tell his story? What if his story could cause shame not just to the Russians but the British Read More
War & Peace – without much peace, but with added Vampires…
It’s that time of year again when I like to pepper my reading with a bit of blood and gore and undead creatures. I won’t be reading all vampires and zombies – the plan is to alternate roughly, so do come back later if the undead are not your thang! My first book in the Read More
Gaskella meets … Charlie Higson
This post was republished into my blog’s original timeline from my lost posts archive Gaskella meets … Charlie Higson This afternoon it was my delight to accompany a party of boys from my school over to the Abingdon school theatre to hear author, actor and comedian Charlie Higson talk about his zombie horror series of books 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
My life in my books read – the 2011 version
An updated version of the popular meme in which you answer questions using only titles from books you have read this year has started doing the rounds. With a whole set of new questions, I couldn’t resist! Feel free to copy, and check out Simon T’s, and Fleur Fisher’s goes at it too… Here are Read More
A handful of old movie reviews from 2010/11
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy On Friday afternoon I went to the cinema by myself for the first ever time, and I sat in front of the screen with roughly twenty other moviegoers to see Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy on the day it opened. I didn’t need company, for I was totally engrossed for a full 127 minutes by this Read More
Vamped out? Book Group Report
Two months ago, we were trying to choose a book to read in August, and no-one could come up with any suggestions that met any consensus. I suggested one of the books in the latest series of the Channel 4 TV Book Club that happens to be a vampire story and a jolly good summer Read More
A nanny state of affairs …
Everything and Nothing by Araminta Hall I needed a quick read in between two chunky novels, and when this popped through the door the other day it was just the ticket. This debut novel has been picked up by Richard & Judy for their autumn list, and is billed as a Nanny chiller – shades Read More
A fabulous little modern fable…
The Tiny Wife by Andrew Kaufman This small but perfectly formed novella could be the wackiest thing you’ll read this year. A modern fairy tale about a bank robber that doesn’t steal money, but items of sentimental value from everyone held up. He explains before he leaves, that those items give him 51% of everyone’s Read More
Stephen King’s Dark Tower #4
The Dark Tower Book 4: Wizard and Glass by Stephen King. It’s the fourth month of the Dark Tower Readalong hosted by Teresa and Jenny at Shelf Love. The fourth book was the longest yet at a massive 845 pages (I’ve been able to say that each month!), but it was also very enjoyable and the Read More
Class wars in the suburbs – just ‘champion’ …
The Champion by Tim Binding Tim Binding is one of those authors of whom I’ve been aware for a while, and I’ve even got a couple of his books in my TBR piles, but never read any of them. The publicity blurb for his latest published earlier this year, said ‘The Champion pulsates with black humour Read More
Generations of mothers and daughters
A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle This short novel by the fine Irish writer Roddy Doyle is written for teens, but I thoroughly enjoyed it on an adult level too… Mary O’Hara is twelve. She’s feisty and rather cheeky – but then her Mum Scarlett was too when she was younger; it’s a Read More
A groundbreaking novel…
This post was edited and republished into my blog’s timeline from my lost posts archive. Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann Jacqueline Susann’s 1966 novel was hugely influential; it paved the way for Jackie Collins and all the other bonkbusters that followed. I’d been wanting to reach this book for ages, but knew nothing Read More
Gaskella goes graphic …
When I was a student years ago, I was rather fond of the early Cerebus the Aardvark comics, (swords and sorcery with an cute aardvark hero – yes I know!). After that I didn’t read any comics or graphic novels until 2007 when our Bookgroup read one of the classics of the genre, Watchmen – written Read More
A renowned children’s author goes mainstream…
The True Tale of the Monster Billy Deanby David Almond David Almond’s first novel, written for older children, was Skellig (1998). It parallels the stories of two children who find and help an ailing creature who may or may not be an angel, with that of the boy’s little brother who is ill in hospital. Read More
The bookish equivalent of shouting at the telly!
This post was republished into my blog’s timeline from my lost posts archive. The Testament of Jessie Lamb by Jane Rogers. This was one of the few titles on the 2011 Man Booker longlist that excited me from the short descriptions I’d read. I was familiar with Jane Rogers, having read Mr Wroe’s virgins, and Promised 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
Stephen King’s Dark Tower #3
The Dark Tower Book 3: The Waste Lands by Stephen King It’s the third month of the Dark Tower readalong hosted by Shelf Love. The Waste Lands (1991) is the thickest book so far, and things are certainly starting to hot up. If you’d like to see how I got on with the previous volumes, click here for Read More
Press rewind and edit … Two novellas by Robert Coover
Briar Rose & Spanking the Maid by Robert Coover Earlier this year, I discovered American author Robert Coover when I was sent his volume in the Pengiun Mini Modern Classics series to read and review (click here). One of the three stories in that collection, a novella called The Babysitter, was a mini masterpiece; the other two Read More
Dystopias R Us – Book Group Report
We had a new first for our book group last night. Because we just couldn’t choose a book to read in August two months back, we decided to try reading to a theme. You could choose whatever book you wanted to read as long as it featured a dystopian society. Firstly, what is a dystopia? Read More
Of baby factories, orgy-porgy & Shakespeare – Yes, it’s that dystopia!
This post was republished into my blog’s original timeline from my lost posts archive. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley This week, having re-visited one dystopian novel I previously read as a teenager (click here), I was able to fit in another of the biggies of the genre in time for our book group discussion Read More
So Many Books by Gabriel Zaid
Translated by Natasha Wimmer After reading Simon’s post on the wonderful book of essay about books by Anne Fadiman called Ex Libris yesterday, I spotted this little book about books lurking in my TBR. Zaid is Mexican, (I don’t think I’ve ever read anything by a Mexican before). His 2004 collection of articles/short essays mainly Read More
From Paradise to Hell …
This post was edited and republished into its original place in my blog’s timeline from my lost posts archive. Lord of the Flies by William Golding Conceived, so I’ve read, as a response to the Utopian and rose-tinted worlds of Swallows and Amazons, and in particular, Ballantyne’s Coral Island, Golding’s Lord of the Flies, published in Read More
The case of the nasty young man
This post was republished into my blog’s original timeline from my lost posts archive. Dirty Snow by Georges Simenon Translated by Marc Romano and Louise Varèse For most of us, Simenon is famous, justly, for his creation of Maigret, the pipe-smoking French detective that appeared in over a hundred novels and short stories from the 1930s Read More
The mad scientist and his red ray
This post was edited and republished into my blog’s timeline from my lost posts archive. The Fatal Eggs by Mikhail Bulgakov Translated by Roger Cockerell Pre-blog, back in 2006, we read The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov in our book group and I loved it. This novel about the devil coming to a town of Read More
Two Psycho-thrillers: SJ Watson & Sophie Hannah
This post is combined from two in my lost posts archive, republished into their original place in my blog’s timeline. Before I Go To Sleep by S J Watson There is a lot of love out there for this novel. Despite the hype though, given the type of psychological thriller that it is, it was Read More
Playing by the rules …
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles Scene: New York City, 1966 – an elderly couple, Katey and Val, are at a gallery viewing of photographs, all taken of passengers on the subway over many years. The same man occurs in two photos, but in obviously different circumstances years apart. Katey recognises him – it’s Tinker Grey… Read More
Doing what comes naturally …
This post was edited and republished into its original place in my blog timeline from my lost posts archive. Lucky Bunny by Jill Dawson Jill Dawson is one of those authors who appears to write a different book every time, although when you look underneath, there are links. The Great Lover tells the story of poet Read More
Book Group Report – The Little Stranger
This post was edited and republished into my blog’s timeline in its original place from my lost posts archives. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters This made a great choice for a book group (as long as you have the time to read it’s 500+ pages), because we all had differing ideas on the mystery Read More
