Fix yourself a bowl of popcorn, settle in an armchair, leave cynicism at the door and devour this adrenaline-fuelled, conspiracy-driven novel. This isn’t high literature, but if you want a hapless hero, plots within plots and a dose of mathematics/magic then this is the novel for you. The story begins when hapless Henry Barnett, middle-aged, … Continue reading
Ah, Holly Golightly, you ephemeral charmer. And poor Fred, you stood no chance of pinning her down. I started this book in bed with a headache and by the end I was right as rain. It could be down to the paracetamol, but I think it is more likely that the power of good storytelling … Continue reading
I was addicted to Roald Dahl as a child. Matida, the BFG, Esio Trot, Danny the Champion of the World – every one a classic and a fond memory. Snozzcumbers, anyone? My parents have a memory of looking back into the backseat of the car on a very long journey when it had been ominously … Continue reading
For me, the question that this book raises, but does not answer, is whether the fear of losing someone you love is worse than actually losing them. This haunting fear runs through all of the main characters in this compelling book as they lose relatives, security, belonging and friendship, constantly having to start again and … Continue reading
I recently wrote a review of Mrs Dalloway that was far from flattering. A number of people strongly disagreed with my view that it is a totally boring book. Indeed, some felt so strongly that the article prompted the first nasty comment on bloggingaroundmybookcase! One of the things I most love about the book blogging world is the … Continue reading
From now on I want to be known as Chonderlos De Laclos. What a lovely name. It just rolls off the tongue. Speaking of tongues, this is a wonderful tale of lascivious debauchery, rampant treachery and scurrilous letter writing. This is another of E’s books but was given to her by the same friend that gave … Continue reading
In the town of Cicely, Alaska, everyone is awake. In fact, nobody can sleep and, indeed, nobody wants to. The cause of this mass insomnia seems to be sunspot activity and nobody knows how long it will last. In the meantime, with all those extra hours in the day, the residents have taken up letter … Continue reading
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog is made up of a series of vignettes, apparently loosely autobiographical, that follow young Dylan from childhood to early adulthood before he moved to London. They are beautifully written and absolutely draw you into the life of a young boy and through him to gain a flavour … Continue reading
Dear Mrs Dalloway, could you be more dull?? You’re such a slender tome and yet so tedious. How can you be on lists of ‘top 100 best novels’ when you are so full of nothing happening so very, very slowly? I have been trying to read you for months. I keep picking you up, getting bored, … Continue reading
This is not a book that would pass the Bechdel test. Set in Nigeria, the book revolves around Baba Segi, his four wives and their children. It begins with Baba Segi’s frustration that his fourth (and only educated) wife, Bolanle, has not yet borne him a child. Segi’s sense of masculinity is so tied up with … Continue reading
My very good friend’s daughter is obsessed with owls. E and I are going to visit next week and were trying to think of good owl related gifts when E remembered that one of her favourite books as a kid had been the Two Hoots. It soon became apparent that there would be tears before … Continue reading
The last time I tried to read the Kite Runner I made it as far as page 41 which ends with the line “…that was the winter Hassan stopped smiling.” at which point I decided that the rest of the story was clearly downhill from there, decided to cut my losses and went in search … Continue reading
Please don’t be put off by the, frankly awful, cover; this book is actually worth reading. It is quite a fun book about a bereaved almost graduate who flees his finals and ends up accidentally part of a circus. It is full of quirky insights into circus life – the wide gulf between performers and … Continue reading
I think the phrase “rollercoaster of emotion” was invented specifically for this book. As I write these words, having just finished the book, I am a bit of an emotional wreck. I was given this book for free as part of World Book Night in 2011 and, although I had started it, I had never … Continue reading
I’m currently trying to read A Fine Balance, on FictionFan’s request, but it is quite a wide book with very small print, so, in the interim, here is a quick review of a very profound book we own called Eeyore’s Little Book of Gloom. Packed full of bons mot, nuggets of insight and some of your … Continue reading
This book left me with a lingering sense of loss and a burning desire to read Great Expectations. This is a book about the power of stories and the way great stories help us to understand the world. It is also about what makes people part of a community, and how communities behave when they … Continue reading
I’ve never watched Twin Peaks, so I have no idea if this book is true to the show, or in any way helpful to those who have watched it. To the uninitiated it is a quick, harmless read that will pleasantly pass an hour or so, but then immediately fade from your memory. So, before … Continue reading
There are few things worse than being a teenager, but one of them is clearly being a teenager living in Brookside Close. Beth’s journals contain melodrama by the bucket-load. Dollops and dollops angst, bad decisions growing on bad decisions. It was altogether quite an exhausting read! The story will be familiar to anyone who watched … Continue reading
In many ways, King Solomon’s Mines was the Star Trek of its day. A voyage into unknown lands, discovering mysterious, alien people, slaughter on an unimaginable scale and a strict adherence to British ethics and values: it has all the hallmarks of any good Star Trek book. The story begins with a chance meeting between … Continue reading
It is never a good sign when the nicest thing you can think to say about a book is that it isn’t quite as bad as Twilight. Dead Until Dark is the first in the series of novels that the True Blood tv show was based on and, while it is better than Twilight, it … Continue reading
I’m far too ginger to ever have languished on a beach reading a novel and working on my tan, but if I ever had, I imagine this is just the sort of book I would want to read while doing it. Partly set in the 1800s, partly in the modern day, this book explores social mores, … Continue reading
I really enjoyed about 50% of this book. Part of it was quite an interesting story of infidelity, relationships and struggling to do the right thing even if it hurts you. The other part felt like pretentious, self-indulgent waffle. Luckily it was also very short. It is really toward the latter part of the book, … Continue reading
For some reason, I wasn’t keen on reading Dance, Dance, Dance. I’ve started it before but don’t think I’ve finished it. Whimsical. Fatalistic. Reflective. Not my usual sort of book but I have to say I really enjoyed it. It mixes fantasy and reality so seamlessly you almost forget which is which and despite … Continue reading
This book is hilarious. If you have ever read a famous book you should read this. The premise is that characters from famous books (everyone from Medea to Ronald Wesley) are also texting each other. So you have Cathy and Heathcliff trying to outdo each others protestations of love, Hermione Granger explaining to Ron how credit … Continue reading
What a load of dull, pretentious twaddle. Dear reader, don’t ever put yourself through this book. Not only is it full of page after page of nothing happening, with unending angsting from cast of thoroughly dull and dislikable characters, but it is also full of sentences like this: She readjusted the poise of her black, … Continue reading
Finally. Finished. I was worried about this book from the start as it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and I quite regularly don’t enjoy Booker Prize winners. But the blurb on the back made it sound so exactly like the sort of book I would enjoy reading. Famous author Olive Wellwood writes a special … Continue reading
Dear readers, I have a confession to make. I have, for some time now, developed something of a fondness for a genre of books I call Teen Dystopia (possibly other people call it that too). I’m not proud, but there it is. Hunger Games, Divergent, you name it and I lap it up. It’s not … Continue reading
I awoke this morning needing a gentle start to the day. The after-party following my choir concert last night had been raucous and I was feeling somewhat fragile. I had been planning to read Emma’s War next, but couldn’t quite face a book based on a real war story. I also thought it wasn’t worth … Continue reading
Well, that was dismal. Beautifully written, fantastic characters, and as an exploration of love and hate – really powerful, but goodness, it was depressing. It is a slender volume, coming in only 202 pages, which was lucky because had it been much longer I might have lost the will. That said, I would really recommend … Continue reading
I thought I hated Kazuo Ishiguro. I thought I had read something by him at university and loathed it. How very wrong I was. Looking at his list of publications, I don’t actually think I’ve read a single one before. And I loved Nocturnes. I really loved it. I can only imagine that I’ve confused Ishiguro … Continue reading
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