Reviews

Dec 9, 20151 min read

360. Victoria Hislop - The Sunrise

I don’t think this is a very good book, although as a quasi-historical novel about a recent bit of Cypriot history that I had pretty well...

Jul 5, 20151 min read

320. Sarah Hilary - Someone Else's Skin

Nominated for a Theakstons Crime Book of the Year award, this was certainly different, with a good plot, but for me totally let down by...

Jun 8, 20151 min read

309. Yuval Noah Harari - Sapiens: A Brief History Of Humankind

Book of the year so far. A real helicopter view of homo sapiens starting pretty well with the science and biology, ending with cyborgs...

Apr 3, 20151 min read

294. Simon Hopkinson - Roast Chicken And Other Stories

I read this probably in reaction to Rick Stein's book (no.292). Hopkinson is a cook rather than a restauranteur (he may be that as well)...

Mar 15, 20151 min read

289. Alan Hollinghurst - The Line Of Beauty

Not quite sure why I bought this, although it did win the Booker prize and is good, if a little ponderous for me. I found it difficult to...

Feb 17, 20151 min read

283. Elizabeth Jane Howard - All Change

The final book in the quintet; I wouldn’t have read this straightaway but had to spend four hours in the hospital waiting room yesterday...

Feb 14, 20151 min read

282. Elizabeth Jane Howard - Casting Off

This is the fourth, and I think she planned final book in the quartet. They do get better as you progress through them; the characters...

Feb 6, 20151 min read

280. Elizabeth Jane Howard - Marking Time

Book 2 of the above. This focuses sporadically on three of the daughters, Louisa, Polly and Clary. Louisa, who is a little older, has...

Feb 6, 20151 min read

281. Elizabeth Jane Howard - Confusion

Book 3 which takes us from 1942 to the end of the war. Lots of events as the girls grow up and Louise gets married to a dreadful man,...

Jan 31, 20151 min read

279. Elizabeth Jane Howard - The Light Years

Never read this, or any of her books, before. Huge cast of characters, introduced in short ensemble sketches, so very difficult to...

Dec 2, 20141 min read

268. Dashiell Hammett - The Maltese Falcon

I hadn’t understood this, but The Maltese Falcon is in fact a Red Herring. My reading of the plot, although Wikipedia doesn’t support...

Oct 27, 20141 min read

257. John Harvey - Flesh And Blood

Having seen this guy in the library last week, thought I would try some of his other books. This one doesn’t feature Resnick, but another...

Oct 6, 20141 min read

252. John Harvey - Cold In Hand

Another John Harvey from the library; there are lots. They are well plotted, and one of the interesting aspects is that the narration is...

Sep 20, 20141 min read

248. John Harvey - Darkness, Darkness

I think I have read one of the Resnick novels before, without really enjoying it. Jon Harvey is coming to speak at our local library in a...

Sep 5, 20141 min read

241. Michel Houellebecq - Whatever (Serpent's Tail)

Undoubtedly the worst and stupidest book I have read for a long time. The plot, if it has one, is about an incredibly cross Frenchman,...

Apr 30, 20141 min read

202. Thomas Hardy - The Return Of The Native

Started this on our abortive trip to Dorset. A strange book, fell a bit between two stools as a novel of manners about intrigues between...

Apr 12, 20141 min read

198. Simon Hoggart - A Long Lunch: My Stories and I'm Sticking To Them

A journalist’s reminiscences/anecdotes about the people he has met and had dealings with. Hoggart is (or was, I think he may have died...

Apr 11, 20141 min read

197. Reginald Hill - Pictures Of Perfection

Read this years ago; Hill got more experimental (not always successfully) as he got older. This is a parody of a classical comedy; no...

Mar 26, 20141 min read

191. Keigo Higashino - The Devotion Of Suspect X

Marketed as ‘The Japanese Steig Larsson’, which it isn’t. But it is good - more Conan Doyle than Larsson. Difficult to describe without...

Jan 24, 20141 min read

179. David Hewson - The Killing

An adaptation of the TV series, a lot of which I had forgotten or missed. Very good, very long (700+ pages) but fast-paced. Although...