A friend of mine recently asked for some recommendations of holiday reads. I love choosing holiday reads. I generally like to go for a balance of something serious, something light, something I’ve been meaning to read for ages, something quirky, a good history and so on. However, when I started this foolhardy challenge to read … Continue reading
It was Henry James, dear reader, that drove me to it. I was in such a rage after struggling through that book that I needed something calming to read before bed. What, thought I, could possibly be the biggest contrast to Henry James that I can find on my bookcase? The answer was clear and … 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
Like a planet forced by gravity to continue in endless orbit, so too do we find ourselves facing the inevitable prospect of having to read another Star Trek book. I’ve decided to continue reading the Deep Space 9 series, so we will now return to the world of the brave Captain Sisko, his errant son and … Continue reading
Awake! For morning in the bowl of night Has flung the stone that puts the stars to flight: And Lo! The Hunter of the East has caught The Sultan’s turret in a Noose of Light I bought this book in a second hand book sale in Wyoming. I think it appealed to me mainly because … Continue reading
Few industries can rival the antiquity of Cornish mining, and still fewer have excited such fascination among economic and social historians. I do love a bold claim and a niche history book. Here we are with both! This is the start of a two part in-depth look at Cornwall. Today we focus on history, and … 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
Race, religion, love, gender, good and evil, justice and poetry – this book has it all. It also has a range of characters that draw you in, as much as you find them all maddening, and you ache for the pain they are causing each other. Set during the Raj, the book is written against … Continue reading
Following my first attempt at reading Star Trek, in which I was notably baffled throughout, E and I have conferred and agreed that it is probably best to take the advice of the immortal Julie Andrews and start at the very beginning. So, here we are with book one of the third series. It isn’t … 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
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