Reviews

Jul 29, 20201 min read

802. Emma Smith - This Is Shakespeare

This is one of Paddy’s and very good. Emma Smith is an Oxford Professor but this book really tries to demystify Shakespeare, and...

May 5, 20201 min read

773. Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

This is a lovely book. Saw the film on the TV last week and discovered that our next door neighbour had given the book (twice) to Paddy...

Mar 23, 20201 min read

757. Dorothy L Sayers - Strong Poison

I am not sure that I have read any before, and am not sure I would read any more. I thought this was pretty trite and trivial in...

Dec 22, 20191 min read

737. Robert Spicer - From The Curates Egg

I enjoyed this enormously, but partly because I know Robert (a little) personally and our career paths have run slightly in parallel, and...

Sep 14, 20191 min read

715. Zadie Smith - Swing Time

I hate doing this but am half way through this book, and really can’t see any good reason to finish it, so I won’t. I really enjoyed...

Sep 7, 20191 min read

712. Nina Stibbe - Reasons To Be Cheerful

Don’t know why I bought this. Slightly jokey female novel about a dental nurse/assistant –you can certainly learn quite a lot about...

Aug 21, 20191 min read

704. CJ Sansom - Winter In Madrid

I enjoyed this, although it was long and hard work! Annoyingly, it succumbed to various clichés attaching to this type of novel; about 3...

Feb 23, 20191 min read

662. Susie Steiner - Persons Unknown

First book on my very challenging to use new kindle. I re-read 650 with a view to re-reading this, but my kindle then died, hence a...

Jan 25, 20191 min read

653. C. J. Sansom - Dissolution

Never read any of these before, but very very good. Quasi detective novels set in Tudor England whose heroine/ detective Shardlake is a...

Jan 12, 20191 min read

650. Susie Steiner - Missing Presumed

No coincidence (and no relative I assume) but started re-reading this only for my Kindle to die. So unfinished. Finished this after...

Jan 11, 20191 min read

649. George Steiner - Tolstoy Or Dostoevsky

I have been meaning to read this for years, but thought I should read more Dostoyevsky first. Steiner wrote this in his late 20’s and his...

Oct 13, 20181 min read

632. Nell Stevens - Mrs Gaskell And Me

A library book of Paddy's. Couldn’t entirely make this out – an eponymous (Nell Stevens) PhD student in London has a love affair which...

Sep 22, 20181 min read

627. Jay Stringer - Runaway Town

Running out of books on holiday, found this on my kindle. Never read it before and won’t again. Get this on Amazon

Sep 15, 20181 min read

623. John Steinbeck - The Grapes Of Wrath

I had never read this and really enjoyed it, although probably a holiday/beach read. Written with great power, anger and a lot of...

Sep 13, 20181 min read

622. Hubert Selby Jr - Last Exit To Brooklyn

Emergency purchase at WH Smiths in Gatwick, as kindle won’t accept my card for some reason. Wildly controversial at the time, now perhaps...

Aug 16, 20181 min read

617. Kamila Shamsie - Home Fire

This was very good, although I’d have enjoyed it more if: I had realised it was a reworking of Antigone and I had any knowledge of the...

Jun 23, 20181 min read

604. Zadie Smith - White Teeth

This sort of thing has not been done before, and I thought it was brilliant. Too complex a plot to summarise, but a very funny and clever...

Jun 5, 20181 min read

595. Ed Smith - On And Off The Field

Needed something light after Henry James. I have read this before, years ago, and my impression hasn’t changed much - despite being...

Feb 12, 20181 min read

572. Muriel Spark - The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie

I don’t think I have ever read any Muriel Spark before, but put her on my list after reading 568. Quite a strange book; Jean Brodie’s...

Oct 8, 20171 min read

539. Alastair Sawday - Travelling Light

I asked for this for my birthday, and try to avoid writing about books I haven’t finished, but sometimes life is just too short. He...