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Aug 9, 20231 min read
1084. Marghanita Laski - Little Boy Lost
Another very good book, although completely different. Set just after the end of the 2nd World War, Hilary Wainwright is an ex-British...
Mar 25, 20231 min read
1053. Jessie Burton - The House Of Fortune
This is very good and well-written. Need to re-read ‘The Miniaturist’ which is the sequel. The central figures are Theo, the daughter...
Jun 5, 20221 min read
986. Jean Rhys - Wide Sargasso Sea
Good to read a serious book, after a recent diet of (too much) crime. I had never heard of this but it is extraordinary. Jean Rhys was...
Feb 18, 20221 min read
948. Henry James - Washington Square
A serious and classic novel in response to the above thoughts; I am not sure if I have read this before, although we bought it in 1978!...
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...
Nov 24, 20211 min read
917. Sasha Swire - Diary Of An MP's Wife
Didn’t really know what to make of this. Far too long; should have been edited down to c300 pages rather than 500. Sasha Swire is the...
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...
Sep 10, 20211 min read
893. Tayari Jones - Silver Sparrow
As P said, this is much better than 'An American Marriage'. A story about a bigamous marriage written from the standpoint of the two...
Aug 17, 20211 min read
885. Uzma Jalaluddin - Ayesha At Last
A cleverly written take on 'Pride & Prejudice', based in the muslim immigrant community in Toronto. So we have Ayesha (Elizabeth Bennett)...
May 7, 20211 min read
858. Henry James - The Portrait Of A Lady
I have read this before, I think a very long time ago, as I had forgotten most of the plot. Long, hard work, but brilliant. The plot can...
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...
Jan 13, 20191 min read
651. Reginald Hill - A Killing Kindness
Re-read this as a substitute to 650 above, and can’t remember that much about it now, maybe not a recommendation. A series of unrelated...
Jun 9, 20181 min read
596. Sebastian Faulks - A Fool's Alphabet
This was quite a difficult book; I have read it before, but assume a long time ago. But as it progressed, I enjoyed it more and it is...
Jun 2, 20181 min read
594. Henry James - The Wings Of A Dove
Maybe optimistic to pick a difficult late James after enjoying 593, but you can see the logic I hope. And I read the Ambassadors...
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...
Apr 6, 20181 min read
583. Anthony Trollope - Barchester Towers
I have never read this before and perhaps because I am not in a very receptive phase didn’t enjoy it, although struggled to understand...
Mar 10, 20181 min read
576. V. S. Naipaul - A House For Mr Biswas
Another Susan Hill recommendation. I don’t think I will follow these anymore as our tastes don’t match at all. This is an early novel by...
Dec 30, 20171 min read
563. Thomas Hardy - A Pair Of Blue Eyes
His third book, which we seem to have had in the house for years, but I had never read. One girl, 2 men in love with her. Friends prior...
Sep 22, 20171 min read
527. Patricia Highsmith - Deep Water
Struggled to get into this, but it is a cleverly written portrait, not so much of a psychopath but of a disintegrated marriage which...
Feb 22, 20171 min read
469. Jane Austen - Sense And Sensibility
I found this difficult and hard work. The two sisters (Elinor – sense) and (Marianne – which I think means passion) both fall in love...