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Aug 19, 20231 min read
1087. Jane Austen - Northanger Abbey
Haven’t read this since I was at school, but P now has the collected works. Austen does write perfect prose, which is a joy to read. I...
Jun 24, 20231 min read
1076. Kate Atkinson - Shrines Of Gaiety
I am a big fan, especially of the Jackson Brodie series and found this a bit disappointing. Set in 1920’s London, the central figure is...
Sep 7, 20221 min read
1011. Kate Atkinson - Big Sky
Have read this before, but struggling to find things in the library. A bolt on, I think, to the earlier four Jackson Brodie books. Brodie...
Feb 20, 20221 min read
949. Isabel Allende - Violeta
I loved this – fictionalised autobiography spanning the century from 1920 to 2020, written as a letter from a Uruguayan (I think) woman...
Sep 22, 20211 min read
897. Dolly Alderton - Ghosts
Borrowed from P, as between library books. Inherently far too girly for me, but full of sharply observed points. Ghosts means (news to...
Jun 6, 20211 min read
865. Paul Auster - City Of Glass
Was reminded of this by no.863, so gave it another read. Not much similarity really. This is very obscure – starts as a parody of...
Oct 2, 20201 min read
818. Martin Amis - The Rachel Papers
Heard Amis interviewed on the radio and thought ‘Time to try him again’. I had read this years ago, but thought it was pretty dreadful...
May 18, 20201 min read
778. Kate Atkinson - Big Sky
I had read this before, but Paddy convinced me it was a new book, so I decided to buy and read it before finding it on my Kindle. It is...
Jul 7, 20191 min read
694. Kate Atkinson - Big Sky
The return of Jackson Brodie. This was good, but not as rich as some of the previous books; read a bit as if her agent or backers had...
Apr 8, 20191 min read
674. Anita Anand - The Patient Assassin
A book by an Indian BBC presenter about an Indian guy who murdered in 1940 the British colonial administrator responsible for the...
Oct 11, 20181 min read
631. Kate Atkinson - When Will There Be Good News
So this is no.3 Jackson Brodie, and again very good – I wish she had written, or would write, more. This one begins with a family...
Oct 6, 20181 min read
630. Kate Atkinson - One Good Turn
Bingeing on Jackson Brodie - this is no.2 and although quite different as good as no.1. Julie is now Jackson’s girlfriend and the action...
Oct 1, 20181 min read
629. Kate Atkinson - Case Histories
If she is so good, better read another. This is no.1 in the series; 628 is the 4th and last to date. This is very good as well; begins...
Sep 28, 20181 min read
628. Kate Atkinson - Started Early, Took My Dog
This last of the Jackson Brodies’ restored my faith in Kate Atkinson after the disappointing 625. This is a brilliant book, clever,...
Sep 19, 20181 min read
625. Kate Atkinson - Transcription
3rd purchase from Smith’s at Gatwick, her new book which Paddy devoured before I did! Not as good as many of her books, a bit...
Jun 16, 20181 min read
599. Margaret Atwood - The Handmaids Tale
Good, dystopian novel, which I am not sure whether I have read before. In some ways, very like 1984. I enjoyed it and particularly her...
Apr 10, 20181 min read
585. Jake Arnott - The Long Firm
Have read this before but took it as airport aeroplane reading, and as the flight to Stockholm was delayed got through a lot of it. It is...
Apr 1, 20181 min read
582. Kate Atkinson - Emotionally Weird
I have tried, I think, to read this before. It is quite a weird book, a slightly surreal campus novel set in Aberdeen or possibly Dundee...
Mar 17, 20181 min read
578. Jake Arnott - Johnny Come Home
Grabbed another Jake Arnott as I finished 577 late evening and needed an easy start. This I think is a better book than 577, set in...
Mar 15, 20181 min read
577. Jake Arnott - The Fatal Tree
A virtuoso feat of writing, but maybe not much else? Set in 18th century London, written in an (I assume) genuine working class London...