Here are my final reviews of the extra books from my TBR piles that I managed to squeeze in for 20 Books of Summer in August. As they were extras to the 20, I don’t feel guilty at all for the reviews being later. You may have read that Cathy will step down from hosting Read More
Tag: #20booksofsummer24
20 Books of Summer – final reviews part 1 – Orwell + books #21-22 by Barrett & deWitt
Now the first week of being back at School is over, I shall revert to some shorter reviews for the remaining books I read which, Orwell excepted, were extras to my twenty! So I don’t feel guilty about reviewing them late. Animal Farm by George Orwell This was a book group choice – we’re on Read More
#20booksofsummer24 – Round-up!
I’ve signed up to Cathy’s annual ‘20 Books of Summer‘ challenge every year since 2016. Although you can pick your level of 10, 15 or 20 books – I’ve always aimed for the full 20, but only achieved it three times – in 2022, 2021 and this year. This year I even reached twenty books Read More
Shiny Linkiness – Walsh and Towles for 20 Books of Summer
I’ve had two recent reviews published at Shiny New Books recently, both read as part of my #20booksofsummer24 reading. Kala by Colin Walsh A superb slowburn literary dual time-lined thriller, Irish author Walsh’s debut was a huge hit last year in hardback. I was sent a proof, but didn’t get the time to read it Read More
Two Fab Thrillers – Jordan Harper & Steve Cavanagh
Two superb thrillers for you today, one from last year and in my #20booksofsummer and one brand new out. Everybody Knows by Jordan Harper I love the tag line of this novel, ‘In Hollywood, nobody talks, but everybody whispers.’ It immediately drew me in, and simultaneously got me humming Leonard Cohen’s wonderful song that shares Read More
#20booksofsummer24 – Dinerstein Knight, Osman and El-Mohar & Gladstone
A three-fer for you today of my #20booksofsummer24 hosted by Cathy, I’m now up to 17 read, 3 to go. Here are the three reviews: one OK, one great fun and one very very different and wonderful – in that order. Hex by Rebecca Dinerstein Knight Naturally, I was attracted to this book by the Read More
#20booksofsummer24, No. 10, A Luminous Republic by Andrés Barba
Translated by Lisa Dillman I read this book in July, intending to review it sooner for Stu’s Spanish & Portuguese Reading Month, so I’m a bit late – but had good intentions. Back in 2017, I read Such Small Hands by Barba, a dark and disquieting portrait of childhood bullying among young girls in which Read More
Rememberings by Sinéad O’Connor
Yesterday, it was a year since Sinéad O’Connor was found dead in her South London home. I hadn’t realised that when I picked her memoir out of the TBR piles a couple of weeks ago, but realised once I heard the trails for an Archive on 4 programme hosted by Jo Whiley to celebrate her Read More
The Winter War by Philip Teir and Joe Country by Mick Herron, #20booksofsummer24 7 & 8
Two reviews for you today from the TBR, continuing my 20 books of summer… The Winter War by Philip Teir Translated from the Swedish by Tiina Nunnally I remember acquiring this novel shortly after Victoria reviewed it for Shiny New Books here, back in 2015 when it was published in English translation. Teir is Finnish, Read More
Book Group Report: Black Dogs by Ian McEwan #20booksofsummer24
Do you remember the pre-internet days of ‘Book of the Month’ type clubs (including the Folio Society back then) where you signed up to buy so many books a year etc. There was one called ‘TSP’ The Softback Preview – which specialised in producing softback versions of new hardback books soon after hardback publication, so Read More
The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly, #20booksofsummer24
Being so busy these last couple of weeks at school, I’ve not been blogging much, being tired in the evenings, not sleeping well due to the heat – but perversely getting lots of reading done in the small hours! As a result, I’m doing unseasonably well with my 20 Books of Summer so far this Read More
The Rook by Daniel O’Malley and the problem with ‘chunksters’ #20booksofsummer24
Before I get to my review of The Rook, my third read in this year’s 20 Books of Summer challenge, let’s have a discussion about chunksters, shall we. Up until recently, I loosely defined chunksters as any book of 500 pages or over, nowadays I revised that down to 450, and I’m inclined to pull Read More
Boxes by Pascal Garnier – #ReadingtheMeow2024 #20booksofsummer24
Translated by Melanie Florence It’s a while since I read any Pascal Garnier novellas. Gallic Books have published translations of twelve of his dark tales told with an even darker sense of humour after the prolific author turned towards noir in the 1990s, and Boxes is the fifth I’ve read, so plenty of treats still Read More
It’s #20booksofsummer24 reviews 1 & 2, Rinder & Moshfegh
And I’m away, with my first two books in Cathy’s #20booksofsummer24. May into the early days of June I had so many blogtours, but I’ve really cut down on them for the duration of the challenge, so I can give it a good go, and join in some of the other reading themed events too, Read More
20 Books of Summer – My books… !!!
A very quick post to say, yes, of course I shall participate in the 20 Books of Summer challenge hosted each year by Cathy of https://746books.com/. Yes, I’m going to aim for the full 20. I don’t always achieve it, but always get close. And yes, I am going to cheat in how I choose Read More
