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
A London Day Out
A day off today and up to London. We don’t go very often at all these days – £44 for a family train ticket isn’t too expensive but by the time you’ve factored in £30 minimum for lunch, it adds up. Anyway this time we played tourist and my daughter got to see (at a Read More
A bit of an ‘ish’ book – funny-ish, enjoyable-ish, satirical-ish
Bestseller by Alessando Gallenzi This black comedy, about the travails of publishing as seen by a serially-unpublished young wannabe bestselling author and a respected old publisher of translated works beleaguered by the financial world he is now forced to work in, could have been really hilarious – if say David Lodge or Tom Sharpe had written Read More
Tales of beasts, wolves and crafty maidens
The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter I tried reading one of AC’s novels many years ago, but it was the wrong book for me at that time. When Claire at Paperback Reader who is a huge fan decided to host an Angela Carter month, it was time to try again. I’m glad 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
Whatever Happened to Snail Mail?
Burley Cross Postbox Theft by Nicola Barker I was really keen to read Nicola Barker’s new book. I’ve read three others of hers, (although not her Booker shortlisted chunkster Darkmans yet). In those books I found she has a rare feel for ordinary people’s lives in and around London, capturing lifestyles and dialogue perfectly with great wit. Clear: A Read More
LOTR Readalong – The Final Post
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King: Vol 3 by JRR Tolkien. This month was the last part of the LOTR Readalong and everyone’s final thoughts can be found at Just Add Books. Having finished all 1076 pages of the three volumes of LOTR plus the Hobbit I think I’m going to miss Read More
An Education – See the film, read the book
Usually I always read the book before the film, but in the case of An Education by Lynn Barber, I saw the film on DVD first. In this case it didn’t matter, for the events that were adapted for the film, composed just a chapter in her memoir. It was originally written as an article for Granta magazine and Read More
This black covered teen novel rocks!
Emily the Strange: Lost Days by Rob Reger and Jessica Gruner, illustrated by Rob Reger and Buzz Parker I bought this book last year for my nine year old – it’s written for young adults, but we fell in love with the cats. After a quick flick through, there was no subject matter to worry Read More
Book Group Report – Celebrity Memoirs!
My S**t Life So Far by Frankie Boyle Out of all the celebrity memoirs available out there that we could have picked to read in our Book Group, we ended up with Frankie Boyle’s! For anyone who hasn’t seen the comedy panel game Mock the Week on BBC2, he’s a foul-mouthed Glaswegian comic who can be relied 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
You need toughness to be a cutter …
Direct Red: A Surgeon’s Story by Gabriel Weston This slim book about becoming a surgeon is one of the best medical books I’ve ever read. Some days as an interested bystander, I secretly wish I’d become a doctor – even a surgeon, but then seeing programmes on telly or reading books like this, I know Read More
A Limerick for Saturday
Another entry in the Gaskell book of bad poetry … I was having a cuddle with my daughter this morning and she was all hay-fevery. I was inspired to create this limerick (not bad for before 8am I thought!). Improvements to make it rhyme/scan perfectly are welcome! A girl with a musical sneeze, Thought it was Read More
Another OK-ish teen paranormal romance
The Immortals: Evermore by Alison Noel Let me tell you what I liked in this book: + There is a ghost that steals every scene she’s in; + The heroine has psychic powers that she struggles to control; + There are no vampires; + The heroine is not quite as squeaky clean as a certain Read More
King Lear – the comedy version!
Fool by Christopher Moore It’s a brave man that takes on Shakespeare. It’s an even braver one that takes a tragedy and makes a bawdy comedy of it! Moore has taken a deep breath and re-told King Lear from the Fool’s perspective. Now I’ve seen three different productions of Lear – it’s unrelentingly tragic, nary a chuckle Read More
The greatest ‘story’ ever told?
The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman Storytelling is something that Philip Pullman cares about very much – he told the audience so at the Oxford Literary Festival a week or so ago (link here). It is also immediately apparent when you start to read this book. The language is very straight-forward, Read More
All Angst and No Action
The Hollow by Jessica Verday I liked the fact that The Hollow doesn’t have vampires or angels. Instead, it is linked to the ghostly apparitions of Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the book itself being set in the same town. Then I started reading, and was immediately irritated by Abigail aka Abbey, who emphasises Read More
The Two Towers – the LOTR Readalong month 3
LOTR: The Two Towers by JRR Tolkien It’s the end of month 3 of the LOTR readlong, and I’ve finished LOTR vol 2: The Two Towers . You can see what others thought via the Mr Linky on Teresa’s post at Shelflove, and you can see my comments on the first half of this book here, Read More
Philip Pullman at the Oxford Literary Festival
The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ It was Palm Sunday today, and off I went to the hallows of the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford to see the first full talk by Philip Pullman on his new book, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, which is published tomorrow. It’s the latest volume in the Read More
Mar 2010 – A Lit List – 5 Favourite Novels set in Venice
Venice is a location that I adore in books. We visited Venice in 2005, and it’s just as fascinating in real life. The picture, above, was drawn by my daughter (who had just turned five), after experiencing crossing the canal on a traghetto ferry gondola. For a five year old she nailed the perspective didn’t she! Read More
Heatwaves can be murder!
August Heat by Andrea Camilleri Translated by Stephen Sartarelli This is the third of Camilleri’s novels that I’ve read, the tenth in the popular series featuring Inspector Salvo Montalbano, and it was the most enjoyable yet. It’s nearing the middle of August and the heat in Sicily is getting unbearable. Montalbano’s girlfriend Livia is arriving Read More
A Science Fiction Noir Classic from 1942
Donovan’s Brain by Curt Siodmak When I was writing my post the other week about my reading history I tried to remember my favourite Science Fiction books from my teens. John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids was one, Asimov’s Fantastic Voyage was another, but my absolute favourite from back then was Donovan’s Brain by Curt Siodmak. This Read More
Love and Landscape
Corrag by Susan Fletcher I was always for places. I was made for the places where people did not go – like forests, or the soft marshy ground where feet sank down and to walk there made a suck suck sound. Me as a child was often in bogs. I watched frogs, or listened to Read More
LOTR Readalong Month 3 – Midway through the Two Towers
The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers Vol 2 by JRR Tolkien It’s month 3 of the LOTR Readalong in which we’re reading vol 2 – The Two Towers. (here are links to my posts for month 2, month 1 and introduction) This month the readalong is hosted by Teresa at Shelf Love and she has 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
136 pages of Classic Noir
Double Indemnity by James M Cain I love the classic crime noir novels of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, but somehow never got round to read any by James M Cain. I wanted a short novel to fill in a couple of hours and with these 136 pages published in 1943, I found a perfect Read More
An evening with Roma Tearne
Brixton Beach Book Group I went to an author event with a difference last night. Roma Tearne, author of Brixton Beach which I reviewed here agreed to join in a book group discussion at Mostly Books and I was able to join in with the regular book group. We all met and discussed the book for Read More
Entirely bonkers! But all the best people are.
Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland As you would expect of a Tim Burton film, this was such a visual treat, spectacular to look at from start to finish. We begin with young Alice having nightmares, then cut to nineteen year old Alice on the way to a garden party, where the toothsome fop Hamish will ask Read More
Smoke and Mirrors?
The Illusionist by Jennifer Johnston Jennifer Johnston is Dublin-born, and won the Whitbread prize for her novel The Old Jest in 1979; The Illusionist was published in 1995. It tells the story of Stella and Martyn who meet on a train, fall in love, get married, have a child, fall out of love, then Martyn Read More
A Favourite Author – Michael Connelly
Weekly Geeks, the bookbloggers community website, posed an irresistible task for this week’s topic – to tell us about a favourite author and why you love their books. I’ve raved about Paul Auster who is my real literary hero before, so thought I’d talk about another very different author whose books I love today. I’ve Read More
