Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng is both unbelievably good and almost unbearably sad. In looking at the lives of one mixed race family in Ohio in the 1970s, Ng cracks open many of the complexities that still haunt America today, whilst also writing one of the great “family” novels of our era. […]

The Hundred-Year House by Rebecca Makkai

I find reading about exciting book ideas incredibly thrilling and when I found a brief synopsis of The Hundred Year House, I was one hundred percent in. A book where the house is the constant through time, written in reverse, from the modern day into the past? Joy, joy, joy! A friend had warned me […]

An Accident in August by Laurence Cosse

As surely as every American of a certain generation knows where they were the night Kennedy died, the same can be said of every Brit on the morning the news broke of Diana’s death. Whether you were a fan or not and yes, public opinion on Diana was very mixed at the time of her […]

A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson

I want to start this review by saying that Life After Life also by Kate Atkinson is probably my favorite book of the last two years and may even be in my personal Top 5 of all time. It’s an epic tale of one woman, Ursula Todd, who is born over and over again into […]

Slade House by David Mitchell

A friend and I were recently discussing David Mitchell and just what a great career he has had. Her observation was that he was ‘a very male writer’, creative, logical and left of center. Although these characteristics are not only associated with male novelists, I could see what she meant. Many years ago, I read […]

Euphoria by Lily King

I picked up Euphoria, by Lily King, for the most superficial of reasons, I really liked the cover. I should know better, for how many books have I loved over the years with the worst covers? However, this time it worked. Often I read books and feel a great sadness when they end. This can […]

The Ice Twins by S K Tremayne

I am straight up going to say it. I loved this book. One of the single best things about my job is the summer holiday. Last Friday I had promised my children a bicycle ride, dog walk and other marvelous things, none of which they actually wanted. I was greeted that morning by Child Number […]

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Surely The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt must be one the the most reviewed and talked about books of the last ten years. Certainly it was one of the most anticipated. I had mixed feelings about it. I don’t know why, but from the very beginning the title bored me. The Secret History had been the […]

The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey

I have been duped and I really hate that feeling. M.R Carey’s The Girl With All The Gifts is the kind of book that I never and I mean NEVER read. Why? Simply put, it’s a zombie tale and I loathe zombie stories. In my mind, and I really do appreciate that readers everywhere will […]

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

Sometimes, when I feel nostalgic for home, The Husband and I will spend an evening or two watching UK TV together. This normally cures our need for outright sarcasm and the type of pithy humour or gritty drama that only the UK seems able to produce. One night we found ourselves watching Film 2015, an […]