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Oct 1, 20151 min read
341. William Boyd - A Good Man In Africa
I am sure I read this about 2 years ago and hated it. This time round it was very good, maybe in contrast to the excess Kate Atkinson in...
Jun 13, 20151 min read
312. George Eliot - Felix Holt: The Radical
I suppose a pre-cursor of Middlemarch, this centres on the 1832 general election, which seems to have post-dated some electoral reform....
Jun 10, 20151 min read
311. Attica Locke - Pleasantville
I wasn’t even aware I had this book – obviously a Radio 4 inspired impulse buy. But very good, even following Ms. Austen. Courtroom drama...
Apr 2, 20151 min read
293. Charles Cumming - A Colder War
Marketed (a bit) as the new John Le Carré, I thought perhaps it was at first, but it is actually quite derivative (of Le Carré). The plot...
Mar 15, 20151 min read
289. Alan Hollinghurst - The Line Of Beauty
Not quite sure why I bought this, although it did win the Booker prize and is good, if a little ponderous for me. I found it difficult to...
Mar 8, 20151 min read
288. Patrick Cockburn - The Rise Of Islamic State
It took me six chapters and nearly 100 pages to find out what I wanted to know. Chapter 7 summarises the recent Middle East history,...
Jul 17, 20141 min read
228. Ian Rankin - Set In Darkness
Very good – I have really enjoyed Ian Rankin over the last couple of years; odd because I never used to. Perhaps it was the alcohol. By...
May 10, 20141 min read
206. James Joyce - Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man
Read this (copiously) as an A-level set text about 40 years ago and couldn’t answer the question on it then. I think the question was...
Dec 6, 20131 min read
167. Anthony Trollope - Framley Parsonage
My first Trollope, so to speak. Not sure that this was the best choice as it is long, not all easy, and felt at times like 'War & Peace'....
Jun 15, 20131 min read
118. Richard Brooks - The Great Tax Robbery
Journalist/ex tax inspector exposes the complicity between modern governments, capital and multinationals re tax avoidance, tax...
Dec 19, 20121 min read
64. James Robertson - And The Land Lay Still
This was long and difficult. Much of it was excellent, although I found the lengthy middle section, narrated by a very alcoholic and...