Reviews

Oct 24, 20141 min read

256. Oli Broom - Cycling To The Ashes

Another cricket related birthday present, but this is a brilliant travel book, and the cricket is just a coat hanger to steer him...

Apr 23, 20141 min read

201. William Boyd - A Good Man In Africa

I didn’t enjoy this as much as | expected, having read it years ago and knowing roughly what to expect (comic British colonial in,...

Mar 19, 20141 min read

189. Honoré De Balzac - Old Goriot (Père Goriot)

Read this in English, but Father Goriot sounds a bit naff. Quite a difficult book to read, as no chapters or other natural breaks in the...

Mar 16, 20141 min read

188. Honoré de Balzac - A Harlot High And Low

This is a long and at times difficult book — quite different from no.187 in its breadth and a huge range of characters. Very difficult at...

Mar 9, 20141 min read

187. Honoré de Balzac - Eugenie Grandet

A proper story at last. I hadn’t realised how early in the 19th century Balzac was writing; 1820’s/30’s. So there is lots of classicism,...

Feb 11, 20141 min read

183. James Lee Burke - Creole Belle

L used to be a big fan of James Lee Burke (and James Ellroy), but Burkes’ more recent books seem to me have to become very repetitive...

Feb 7, 20141 min read

182. Sian Busby - A Commonplace Killing

Bought four books in Waterstones with a token Dan gave me for Xmas. I had never heard of this or the author who turns out to be the wife...

Jan 10, 20141 min read

175. David Baldacci - King And Maxwell

Complete tat; airport fiction for a poor airport. Get this on Amazon

Dec 13, 20131 min read

169. William Boyd - Ordinary Thunderstorms

Not as good as some of the others; a thriller of sorts. The central figure Adam Kindred witnesses a murder, is a suspect and finds...

Nov 26, 20131 min read

166. Lawrence Block - Getting Off

This is subtitled 'a novel of sex and violence' which pretty well sums it up. Trouble is that there isn’t a great deal else; there is not...

Nov 23, 20131 min read

165. William Boyd - Waiting For Sunrise

Wonderful! Boyd is fast becoming my favourite modern English novelist. I have read this before (don’t know whether an earlier reading is...

Nov 16, 20131 min read

163. Lawrence Block - Hit Me

I have read quite a few of the Matt Scudder novels, but this is a new book with a new (anti-hero?) Keller. Keller is a semi-retired...

Oct 31, 20132 min read

159. William Boyd - An Ice-Cream War

My other birthday book! I read this years ago, enjoyed it, and couldn't find it on Amazon for the kindle, hence the paperback purchase. I...

Aug 9, 20131 min read

135. Anthony Burgess - Enderby Outside

Not a lot better than the first Enderby. Apart from the plot being different, I can’t think of much to say about it — is it a comedy...

Aug 2, 20131 min read

133. Anthony Burgess - Inside Mr. Enderby

Borrowed a few Burgess books from my Dad after enjoying 'Earthly Powers' so much on holiday. I found this a difficult book; Enderby is...

Jul 27, 20131 min read

131. Iain Banks - The Quarry

Never read any before and sadly the guy died of cancer earlier this year. The central character in this book is suffering and suffers the...

Jun 23, 20131 min read

122. Anthony Burgess - Earthly Powers

Wow, probably the read of the year. This is a huge book and possibly very underrated. The central character, whose name I forget, is a...

Jun 23, 20131 min read

122. Anthony Burgess - Earthly Powers

Wow, probably the read of the year. This is a huge book and possibly very underrated. The central character, whose name I forget, is a...

Jun 15, 20131 min read

118. Richard Brooks - The Great Tax Robbery

Journalist/ex tax inspector exposes the complicity between modern governments, capital and multinationals re tax avoidance, tax...

May 22, 20131 min read

106. Jeannie Faulkner Barber - Taste Of Fire

Mistook "good quality crime" on some website for Mills & Boon. Complete tat. Get this on Amazon