Reviews 

Featured on Radio 4’s ‘A Good Read’, a novel about transsexuals in New York. There were points of interest but the subject didn’t really...

I have read this before, but have no memory of it, I think, except for a scene where the daughter is lost on Hampstead Heath. There is a...

Never heard of this guy, or read anything of his before. 1930’s upper class decadence and sexual depravity meets 1930’s intellectualised...

Borrowed from P, as between library books. Inherently far too girly for me, but full of sharply observed points. Ghosts means (news to...

I have read this before, I think many years ago and it is very good. Full of quite graphic sex, but a lot better than Shades of Grey. The...

The author is apparently the daughter of Ronald and Nancy Reagan. It is actually quite a good exploration of a fairly taboo sexual topic...

Needed something easy to read after the rigours of 696 so plucked this off the bookshelf. It is pretty low grade really – a tiresome...

I half enjoyed this, if that is possible. Paddy said it reminded her a bit of Iris Murdoch, although it was better written and without...

Heard the author on Radio 4. Slightly strange book about love, loss and sado-masochim as an outlet for this in modern California. Quite...

Haven’t read this for a long time but it is a brilliant book. About sex, love, metaphysics, and the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia in...

A huge novel in the modish genre of bolting modern themes into a historic period; in this case late 18th century London. Mr Hancock is a...

An early (I think) Rebus novel, pre Siobhan Clarke and Cafferty. This is pretty good - about an up and coming (married) politician caught...

Emergency purchase at WH Smiths in Gatwick, as kindle won’t accept my card for some reason. Wildly controversial at the time, now perhaps...

Maybe optimistic to pick a difficult late James after enjoying 593, but you can see the logic I hope. And I read the Ambassadors...

Could be a parody of Pride and Prejudice, except I can’t think of 2 suitable nouns. Nonetheless, girl falls for incredibly rich and...

The best book of erotica I have ever read. Serious sado-machocism, although overwritten in rather florid prose at times. Surprisingly...

A follow on from Lucky Jim. Interesting these post-war working class boys (if the authors really were) who are interested in different...

Pretty good and totally different. Full of pretty lurid sex which however becomes just a motif. Quite like an 18th century novel about...

A library book from P. Set in the 1970’s, a mildly bored and disaffected teenager is sent off to live with his hippy uncle on a houseboat...

Rather desperate and protracted (due to flight cancellation) airport reading on the way home. A thriller about inversion in a battered...