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Mar 19, 20161 min read
385. Elizabeth Gaskell - North And South
Another one from Bristol. I had read this years ago. Found it quite hard going; she doesn’t write very fluently about people so the...
Nov 1, 20151 min read
350. Patrick Gale - A Place Called Winter
Fond though I am of Patrick Gale, I didn’t like this much; too much gay proselytising, although he explains the genesis of the book (a...
Oct 23, 20151 min read
348. Graham Greene - Monsignor Quixote
Another purloined book, the only Greene I could see there that I hadn’t read. This is a late and rather slight book; a parody I assume of...
Sep 24, 20151 min read
340. Patrick Gale - The Whole Day Through
A short and unplanned read post no.339 above. This is a very good book, but as I had forgotten about it I can’t think of much to say. If...
Aug 12, 20151 min read
328. Patrick Gale - Rough Music
This is another good book, but nothing like as good as no.327. It may be quite autobiographical (at least in its settings) and lacks the...
Aug 8, 20151 min read
327. Patrick Gale - Notes From An Exhibition
If I had to pick my favourite novel, I think this might be it. It is absolutely brilliant (I have put Jane Siberry on to type this up,...
Nov 23, 20141 min read
264. Graham Greene - The Heart Of The Matter
Aeroplane reading en route to Copenhagen. I had thought this was my favourite Greene, but was disappointed this time round. I understood...
Aug 17, 20141 min read
209. Graham Greene - The Third Man
Never read this either; written as a film script, (don’t think I have ever seen the film?) it is a brief but well-constructed story. The...
Jun 26, 20141 min read
225. Graham Greene - Stamboul Train
Pretty good. A relatively early Greene, about a rail trip from London to Istanbul in the 1930’s. As the train progresses — Ostende,...
May 16, 20141 min read
208. Graham Greene - The Confidential Agent
Borrowed this from my father’s library, and was surprised to find I had read it before (in fact, we have a very ancient, dropped in the...
Apr 8, 20141 min read
196. Laurence Gough - Death On A No. 8 Hook
An old detective novel I must have ‘borrowed' from my Dad, as his annotations are evident. Quite well written, but pretty clichéd — a...
Apr 5, 20141 min read
195. Patrick Gale - The Whole Day Through
A beautiful (short) novel, about a couple who were literally a couple at university, meet in later life when he is married, have a brief...
Nov 11, 20131 min read
162. David Gower - An Endangered Species
Haven’t read a cricketing biography for years, and probably won’t repeat the experience for a while. Get this on Amazon
Oct 21, 20131 min read
157. Graham Greene - Travels With My Aunt
Spent my Waterstones birthday token from Dan on a couple of books. I had never, except by name, heard of this but the blurb on the back...
Oct 10, 20131 min read
154. Graham Greene - A Burnt-out Case
This is a very strange book. It is about a successful Western Architect who appears to have had enough of everything and gives it all up...
Apr 19, 20131 min read
100. Graham Greene - The Confidential Agent
And no.100! (I did try to read 'Mr Sammler's Planet' by Saul Bellow after no.99, but gave up in the garden this morning. Too prosaic, and...
Apr 5, 20131 min read
95. Graham Greene - The Honorary Consul
Despite my mixed response to Greene in this text, I found this one, bent and out of shape from having been read and it appears dropped in...
Feb 17, 20131 min read
79. Graham Greene - Our Man In Havana
Didn't enjoy this for reasons I find hard to understand. Some Green is fantastic; others of his do little for me. In theory, I should...
Nov 28, 20121 min read
61. Eliza Graham - The History Room
One of P's. Very good part-thriller about sinister goings on at an English boarding school, which all have their origins in the past. Not...
Sep 8, 20121 min read
39. Patrick Gale - A Perfectly Good Man
Another brilliant book. An otherworldly priest in Cornwall (it links explicitly to no.37 above), not quite otherworldly enough to avoid...