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Jun 24, 20231 min read
1075. Dorothy B Hughes - The Expendable Man
Published in the mid -1950s, this is very different. Re-published by a UK imprint called Persephone Books (to which P subscribes) it is...
Feb 26, 20231 min read
1048. Truman Capote - In Cold Blood
Quite enjoyed this. Particularly the opening scenes set in rural Kansas, reminded me of Patrick White on the Australian outback. The plot...
Dec 16, 20221 min read
1036. Octavia E. Butler - Kindred
Interesting to read this following no.1035. This is about a contemporary black American woman, married to a white man, who is dragged...
Aug 8, 20221 min read
1003. Dawnie Walton - The Final Revival Of Opal & Nev
Very different and quite strange. A fictionalised documentary history of a singing duo, Nev a brummie who escapes to the US to pursue...
Dec 11, 20211 min read
921. Colm Tóibín - The Magician
Never read any by this guy before, but from the bibliography, at the start, I should; he sounds a bit like Antony Burgess, mixing fiction...
Jul 11, 20211 min read
876. Tami Hoag - The Boy
Never read any before, but she is obviously a well established author. Despite a slow start, I thought this was very good. Set in the...
Jan 26, 20211 min read
844. Anne Tyler - Clock Dance
I found the first 200 or so pages quite dull, but loved the last 150. Middle class girl, becomes woman and mother with quite a boring...
Jan 7, 20211 min read
841. Tayari Jones - An American Marriage
This was good, but not that good - I think the publicity has over-egged it. I struggled with a couple of aspects; were the 3 central...
Dec 8, 20201 min read
832. R. J. Ellory - Three Bullets
I think he is quite patchy and this is not one of his best (which are very good). A fictionalisation of the Kennedy assassination in (I...
Mar 17, 20201 min read
755. Jodi Picoult - Small Great Things
Another recommendation from Paddy. This was very good, but maybe a bit thematic for a novel. Three main characters through whom the story...
Oct 12, 20191 min read
721. Colson Whitehead - The Underground Railroad
Heard an extract on Radio 4. This is a shocking book about slavery in the deep south in the 19th century, but it is not a very good book....
Sep 10, 20191 min read
714. William Faulkner - Light In August
Always try to read one big chunky classic novel on holiday and chose this, for some reason this year. A big and difficult novel, about...
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...
Jun 28, 20181 min read
608. R. J. Ellory - The Devil And The River
Ellory is possibly my 2nd favourite thriller writer, unlike Herron which has bits of the best of Dickens and Le Carre, Ellory is an...
May 18, 20181 min read
593. Edith Wharton - The Age Of Innocence
I have tried (I don’t think successfully) to read this is the past, but it is brilliant. The themes are all Henry James, but the cultural...
Dec 17, 20171 min read
558. Anna Quindlen - Miller's Valley
As above. I didn’t do this justice, but didn’t enjoy it enough to want to re-read. Quindlen is obviously quite a well known and classy...
Jun 28, 20171 min read
504. James Lee Burke - Black Cherry Blues
Haven’t read one of these for years. I used to love James Lee Burke, but that was in a different place and this now seems pretty...
Jun 15, 20171 min read
499. Hari Kunzru - Gods Without Men
Best book of the holiday. Strange, quite hard work, as I understood it's a book basically about a place in the Nevada desert and it's...
Oct 7, 20161 min read
436. Katarina Bivald - The Readers Of Broken Wheel Recommend
This is a lovely book, totally different and beautifully constructed. A lonely young Swedish woman arrives in the run down Iowa town of...
Mar 27, 20161 min read
387. Henry James - The Ambassadors
Bought in February 1977 from the 2nd hand book store in the town where we then lived, but never as far as I can tell, read until now. One...