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Jun 12, 20131 min read
115. David Lodge - Out Of The Shelter
Aeroplane reading en route for Spain. Haven't read a David Lodge for years. Coming of age novel, apparently quite autobiographical, set...
Mar 18, 20131 min read
87. Jennie Rooney - Red Joan
Best holiday read so far. About an English girl who goes to Cambridge pre-WW2 and falls in love with a Russian émigré communist. She is...
Feb 28, 20131 min read
82. Arnaldur Indridason - Silence Of The Grave
Another old murder; this time from WW2 Reykjavik. Hints of a fairy story about it; particularly the family suffering from the very...
Dec 29, 20121 min read
68. Ken Follett - Eye Of The Needle
An Xmas present from our next-door neighbors, who are obviously fans (I have never read one before). Fast-paced WW2 thriller; the needle...
Dec 26, 20121 min read
67. Sebastian Faulks - A Possible Life
Described as a novel, this is really five short stories, with obscure (if at all) thematic interlinkings. The best was the last one, but...
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...
Oct 31, 20121 min read
52. William Boyd - Restless
This was brilliant. I had a weird and precise memory of having read the first chapter (only) before; maybe one of the publisher's bits of...
Jul 16, 20121 min read
26. Peter Robinson - In A Dry Season
I had read this before and had always been a bit put off by the fact that (I think) Reginald Hill has written a book with a similar theme...
Apr 27, 20121 min read
6. Janice Y.K. Lee - The Piano Teacher
I thought this was a wonderful book, not unlike Greene, but written by a woman. Set in wartime and post-war Hong Kong, it is about...