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Dec 5, 20221 min read
1034. Harriet Tyce - Blood Orange
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...
Jun 9, 20221 min read
987. Robert Galbraith - The Cuckoo's Calling
The first of the Cormorant Strike novels in which the eponymous hero and Robin his P.A, business partner and romantic partner are...
May 16, 20191 min read
683. William McIlvanney - Strange Loyalties
A book whose provenance I don’t know; must have been my father’s if the marginal jottings are in his handwriting. Not unlike a Rebus...
Aug 4, 20181 min read
615. Reginald Hill - Bones And Silence
Struggling to find a writer I can enjoy and read one of his en-route to Malaga (597). Quite enjoyed this; I can’t quite make Hill out as...
Jun 19, 20181 min read
602. Edith Wharton - The House Of Mirth
Not a lot of humour or mirth in this. I enjoyed The Age of Innocence (593) and thought I would try another Wharton. Proved to be (by the...
Jun 13, 20181 min read
597. Reginald Hill - Good Morning, Midnight
Airport, aeroplane reading en route to Malaga. Same book as no.1, 6 years ago. Very clever plotting, probably Hill and the Daziel novels...
Nov 11, 20171 min read
549. Helen Dunmore - Zennor In Darkness
I loved this; she said she likes to write about people on the periphery of major events so here we have a WW1 novel set in Zennor, just...
Dec 13, 20161 min read
452. Julie Cohen - Falling
Another that Paddy enjoyed from the library. I guess this is chic-lit, and on the whole I enjoyed it. Made me think about the difference...
Jan 2, 20161 min read
367. Javier Marías - The Infatuations
A library book by a writer I had never heard of; apparently a prominent modern Spanish novelist. The narrator is a very verbose young...
Nov 9, 20151 min read
353. Lawrence Durrell - Mountolive
Meant to read a Zola next, but got a bit hooked by no.352. This is much more of a stand- alone novel, centering mainly on Mountolive, a...
Jun 14, 20151 min read
220. William Faulkner - The Sound And The Fury
Best serious holiday read so far. Never read any Faulkner before, but this, although difficult was very good, especially part two (out of...
May 28, 20151 min read
306. Ed McBain - Nocturne
A much later book than no.304, and much longer and more ponderous. The central conceit is quite clever (an apparent murder, which...
Jan 10, 20151 min read
276. Émile Zola - Thérèse Raquin
I enjoyed 'Germinal' hugely and 'La Terre' quite a lot, but this, at best was like an early Shakespeare if you had started with say 'King...
Nov 23, 20141 min read
264. Graham Greene - The Heart Of The Matter
Aeroplane reading en route to Copenhagen. I had thought this was my favourite Greene, but was disappointed this time round. I understood...
Oct 31, 20132 min read
159. William Boyd - An Ice-Cream War
My other birthday book! I read this years ago, enjoyed it, and couldn't find it on Amazon for the kindle, hence the paperback purchase. I...
Mar 12, 20131 min read
85. Henrik Ibsen - The Wild Duck
Much better. Financial and sexual corruption have led to a sham marriage. Husband finds out that his daughter is not his, threatens to...
Feb 24, 20131 min read
81. Arnaldur Indridason - Hypothermia
I am hooked on these now. Found this one hard to get into initially (no murder, just a clear cut suicide) but so cleverly done that you...
Sep 8, 20121 min read
39. Patrick Gale - A Perfectly Good Man
Another brilliant book. An otherworldly priest in Cornwall (it links explicitly to no.37 above), not quite otherworldly enough to avoid...
Apr 6, 20121 min read
1. Reginald Hill - Good Morning, Midnight
Suicide/Murder(?) screwed up family, security services involvement, a bit of state terrorism. Dalziel was deceived (?) by the prime...