Did I think that reading The Ensemble by Aja Gabel might make me smarter? That culturally speaking it would be an education? Well, yes. When I lived in London my friend Mr. M and I would sometimes visit the Royal Festival Hall together to hear the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra play. We were both philistines when […]
On the last day of work before Christmas break, one of our much-loved colleagues was retiring and each of us was asked to provide a couple of book recommendations. Choosing novels was simple enough, after all, I had just finished The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, but as I sat there, trying to think how […]
I have never viewed myself as much of a Halloween person. I tend to see it as a bother, rather than a seasonal celebration, but this year I missed it. In some ways, I went through the rhythms of the season; a trip to the pumpkin patch, my friend’s – socially distanced – pumpkin carving […]
Ever since The Husband left there’s been one particular aspect of life that I’ve been struggling with: technology. The Husband, who worked for Google, loved everything to do with modern technology and what you could do with it around the home. From when I first met him, he would stare at me with incredulity when […]
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo had been sitting on my bedside table ever since I finished Daisy Jones and the Six. Daisy Jones had really enthused me about the writing of Taylor Jenkins Reid and I wanted more. The weird thing is, that once I bought this book, I let it languish. I had […]
In what currently feels like a lifetime ago, I discovered Nina Revoyr and her wonderful novel about life amongst the super elite in LA, A Student of History. It opened up to me an LA that I had no idea existed and that has fascinated me ever since. Although I hadn’t exactly forgotten Revoyr recently, […]
The last few weeks have posed a reading challenge, and part of that has been caused by meeting the right book at the wrong time. As you may already know, I live in the lovely coastal town of Santa Cruz, California. About three weeks ago now, we experienced the most spectacular electrical storm. It was […]
Over the last week or so, I’ve been struggling with quite what to write about The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall. It’s not really like anything else I have read and yet, in some fundamental way, it’s just like everything I read; really good modern fiction. What makes it different, is that it’s also about […]
Robert Galbraith is a fantastic crime writer. Maybe it’s because he’s a she and she’s JK Rowling. Yes, the very same and yes, Harry Potter. Now that’s over with, and in case you were in any doubt – which frankly you might have been if, like me, you ever tried to read Rowling’s The Casual […]
It has been roughly twelve months since The Husband and I parted ways and in that period of time I feel like I have done nothing but try to start over. In my reality, this doesn’t mean romantic entanglements, so much as emotional upheaval, jobs and taking care of teenage kids. It has been a […]
Nutshell Book Reviews 