I’m enjoying one of the most fantastic things life has to offer, the ‘excellent book roll’. To date this summer has been glorious, as I’ve moved from The Nightingale to The Perfect Stranger, on to the Magpie Murders, from there to How to Stop Time and then to Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. Oh Eleanor! […]
I have a degree in Ancient History. I always feel like a bit of a fraud for mentioning it nowadays, as I’ve never really used it in any constructive way. I find that most people I meet in America are so much wiser and less esoteric in their life choices than the Brits. I chose […]
I am very fortunate to have a family filled with readers. We may not live in geographical proximity to each other and our preferences may at times be wildly different, but we are able to hit each other up for a good book recommendation from time to time. My sister-in-law, Dr A, often enjoys a […]
I love the way The Drowned Detective, by Neil Jordan, is written. It just feels so incredibly oblique and dreamlike, which works well in the confusion of the story itself and our inability as reader to tell the difference between what is real and imagined. Does the title of the book refer to the fact […]
The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper, by Phaedra Patrick, is just the most gorgeous novel. I read it at a time when I really wasn’t happy and when I most profoundly needed an emotional lift. It tells the story of Arthur Pepper a sixty-nine year old man, living in York, England. A widower for nearly […]
There are times when we have all toyed with being terrible parents, tempted to do the wrong thing. For most of us however, the angel on our shoulder kicks in, reminding us of our parental obligation and ensuring beyond a shadow of a doubt that our child or children are taken good care of. Not […]
The Husband knows all too well that the words ‘science fiction’ and ‘fantasy’ are like a like a death knell for me. Nothing fills me with greater dread than stories set in a different world or in the future. Something in me dies a little when asked to make a leap into a story about […]
I believe that there are points in every person’s reading cycle, where you just have to take a break and read some fluff for a while. For me this time came recently when I was feeling swamped by the kids, by work, by trying to get the blog up and running and by all those […]
It’s very seldom that I bother to finish a book that I don’t think is any good. I’ve never been a believer in persevering with things you don’t enjoy and I’m not clear why people take an attitude towards books that they wouldn’t take towards a meal or a movie. For example I’ve never known […]
If you have pesky commitments like a day job, mortgage, kids, then picking up The Widow by Fiona Barton, is probably not your best idea. Some books, the best kind, demand to be read from the second you pick them up and The Widow is one such novel. Jean Taylor is the kind of woman […]
Nutshell Book Reviews 