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Jun 17, 20231 min read
1074. Zadie Smith - White Teeth
I have read this before, and it is good, but long and quite difficult. The story of two families, one an Englishman married to a...
Apr 8, 20231 min read
1056. Liane Moriarty - Apples Never Fall
A library book via P, about a couple, the Delaney’s, their four adult children and very good on adult sibling rivalry. The couple used to...
Sep 3, 20221 min read
1010. Helen Fitzgerald - Viral
"I sucked twelve cocks in Magaluf" is an opening sentence to rival Jane Austen or Tolstoy. Subtitled "what if the worst thing you did...
Apr 23, 20221 min read
969. Elena Ferrante - The Lying Life Of Adults
I enjoyed the beginning of this, but as it progressed the similarities to (and repetitions of) My Brilliant Friend began to proliferate....
Feb 8, 20221 min read
943. Kate Sawyer - The Stranding
This is very good, and the title a good pun. A conventional middle class girl chooses the wrong partner, and escapes from London to New...
Oct 28, 20211 min read
912. Graham Greene - The Human Factor
One of my favourite of his books, despite my copy having been in the bath some years ago. Thematically, very John le Carré – set possibly...
Jul 19, 20211 min read
878. Sadie Jones - The Snakes
One of P’s. I quite enjoyed this and it was original in that the two central characters Dan and Bea (Dante P suggested?!) are both dead...
May 17, 20211 min read
860. Deborah Orr - Motherwell
Very good. Quite a difficult book about her childhood in Motherwell, written by a successful and now I think sadly dead journalist in her...
Apr 23, 20211 min read
857. Reginald Hill - Child's Play
Thought I would go for something a bit lighter. Had read this before and possibly seen it on the TV, many years ago. It is the one in...
Apr 2, 20211 min read
854. Anne Glenconner - Lady In Waiting
Quite a strange, but interesting, book. Anne Glenconner is a typical upper class English girl, born into the aristocracy, marries another...
Mar 9, 20201 min read
753. Marina Lewycka - Various Pets Alive & Dead
Paddy recommended this. I found it slightly hard going although as I got into it I wondered why. Maybe re-read on a beach. 3 main...
Mar 4, 20201 min read
752. Penelope Fitzgerald - The Beginning of Spring
Recommended on BBC’s A Good Read, and I had never read any of hers before. Good, but I struggled to understand the underlying theme. Set...
Oct 26, 20191 min read
725. Jessie Burton - The Confession
This was on the radio a few weeks ago and is her much heralded 3rd book. I found it hard work, and not frankly that good. The narrative...
Oct 21, 20191 min read
724. Tracey Chevalier - At The Edge Of The Orchard
I didn’t enjoy this as much as the previous ones. The theme/motif here was trees, apples early in the book and sequoias, towards the end,...
Jun 28, 20191 min read
692. Graham Norton - A Keeper
I had no idea this guys wrote books, as well as being a chat show host. I wouldn’t say this was very well written, but the plot was...
Jan 5, 20191 min read
647. Fydor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
This is a huge and very challenging book. The basic plot is relatively simple – three brothers with an unpleasant and dissolute father,...
Nov 10, 20181 min read
638. Andrew Michael Hurley - The Loney
This is a strange book; Radio 4’s book of the month for November which is where I came across it. The Loney is a bit of actual (or...
Oct 1, 20181 min read
629. Kate Atkinson - Case Histories
If she is so good, better read another. This is no.1 in the series; 628 is the 4th and last to date. This is very good as well; begins...
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...
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...