Search
Oct 22, 20221 min read
1023. David Palin - Let The Game Commence
I like David’s books and have read this twice, as it was a difficult first read with a lot of characters living in Merryking Close (and...
Jul 31, 20151 min read
324. F. Scott Fitzgerald - Tender Is The Night
Tried starting this two years ago in Spain; couldn’t get into it. A bit of a curate’s egg; some of his writing is excellent; some less...
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,...
Nov 29, 20141 min read
267. Leonardo Padura - Havana Black
Similar, but Mario falls in love in this one and his amorata turns out to be a married woman whose husband is absent and after a brief...
Sep 29, 20141 min read
250. Martin Amis - The Zone Of Interest
Haven’t read any Martin Amis for yonks. This is a difficult book set in or around a concentration camp (although there aren’t many...
Aug 24, 20141 min read
237. D. H. Lawrence - Lady Chatterley's Lover
Haven’t read any Lawrence for ages; I think that no.223 inclined me to read another novel of thwarted love across the classes. The sex is...
Jun 18, 20141 min read
222. Thomas Mann - BuddenBrooks
If I have read Thomas Mann before, it was 'Death in Venice' 40 years ago. This, especially the first half, was a wonderfully stately...
Jul 24, 20131 min read
129. Iris Murdoch - The Sacred And Profane Love Machine
Haven’t read any for years and doubt I will again. The plot is a man with wife and child and mistress and child, and his absurd...
Sep 6, 20121 min read
38. Ford Madox Ford - The Good Soldier
Have tried reading this many times, but there is a big Ford Maddox Ford drama 'Parades End' on the TV which has encouraged me to give it...
Jun 6, 20121 min read
14. Gustave Flaubert - Madame Bovary
I thought, rather to my surprise, that this was complete tosh. Badly written (or translated? I know Flaubert is supposed to be a master...