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Aug 5, 20231 min read
1082. Colin Dexter - The Dead Of Jericho
Read this on holiday but was really not well at the time and didn’t enjoy or follow it at all. Get this from Waterstones
Jul 27, 20231 min read
1081. Colin Dexter - Death Is Now My Neighbour
This is a more conventional Morse novel than no.1072 and I didn’t enjoy it as much. A suburban Oxford street, a murder, several suspects,...
Jun 3, 20231 min read
1072. Colin Dexter - The Daughters Of Cain
Haven’t read any of these for years, but thought I would read something a bit less contemporary, and this is brilliant (compared to some...
Dec 24, 20221 min read
1038. Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Never read this before, and probably won’t again. A short morality tale, featuring Ebenezer Scrooge who is visited first by the ghost of...
Jun 14, 20221 min read
989. Charles Dickens - Martin Chuzzlewit
I always try to take a Dickens or big 19th C novel on holiday. If Galbraith can be prolix and needs editing, what do you say about...
Jun 1, 20221 min read
984. Luca D'Andrea - The Wanderer
Probably the worst book I have read for a while; don’t know why I bothered to finish it. Set in North Italy, near the border with Germany...
Apr 10, 20221 min read
966. Lawrence Durrell - White Eagles Over Serbia
I love the Alexandria Quartet, but this is a fairly lightweight thriller set in communist-occupied Serbia in the 1950’s. The central...
Jul 30, 20211 min read
880. Abi Dare - The Girl With The Louding Voice
This is very good. Set in Nigeria, Adunni, a village girl is sold at 14 into marriage, as the third wife of a wealthy villager, to pay...
Jul 24, 20211 min read
879. Alan Davies - Just Ignore Him
I felt quite cynical about this. Alan Davies, the comedian and TV personality, was sexually abused, in a fairly minor way, by his father...
Nov 16, 20201 min read
827. Roddy Doyle - Love
Never read any Roddy Doyle before, but listened to bits of this on Radio 4 and enjoyed it. Good, but quite hard work. Shades of both...
Oct 31, 20201 min read
823. Colin Dexter - The Silent World Of Nicholas Quinn
Started this after my kindle ran out of power, mid way into 824. This was so baffling obscure, that I was relieved when Lewis sat down...
Oct 22, 20201 min read
821. Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist
Thought I would try another Dickens after 819 and not really enjoying the 21st century 820. Quite enjoyed this, but Dickens' characters...
Oct 9, 20201 min read
819. Charles Dickens - Our Mutual Friend
Not being a big Dickens fan, I thought I would try one yet again and took this on holiday. Deliberately chose a book I knew nothing...
Aug 21, 20201 min read
809. JP Delaney - Believe Me
The last of the 3 Xmas books from Dan’s Waterstones token. Couldn’t make my mind up about this – the writing was poor, but the plotting...
Jul 6, 20201 min read
797. Colin Dexter - The Wench Is Dead
I enjoyed the first ¾ of this enormously; beautifully written (not something I remember from Colin Dexter). Morse is in hospital; another...
May 28, 20201 min read
783. Lawrence Durrell - Clea
Disappointing. Darley returns to Alexandria with Nessim’s daughter, who is immediately taken home by Nessim. War has now broken out and...
May 24, 20202 min read
782. Lawrence Durrell - Mountolive
No 3 in this wonderful quartet. Mountolive is a career diplomat, who early in the book is posted to Alexandria where he has an affair...
May 21, 20201 min read
780. Lawrence Durrell - Balthazar
I think I summarised this quite well when I first read it (no.352), nearly 5 years ago. (no.779 above is a better summary of Justine than...
May 19, 20201 min read
779. Lawrence Durrell - Justine
I thought I would give these, or at least one, another go. They are quite difficult and I think I enjoyed it much more 2nd time round....
Apr 15, 20201 min read
766. Dante - Inferno
1/3 of The Divine Comedy. Inspired to give this a try, partly because Dorothy Sayers translated it, but I couldn’t find her version on...