In the past I have been critical of novels written in reverse chronology. Last summer I devoted a chunk of time to reading The Rocks by Peter Nichols and when I sat down to write a review of the book, I simply couldn’t. The story was great, engaging in fact, but the chronology was all […]
You by Caroline Kepnes is the very definition of creepy. It’s the kind of book that leaves you wanting to give yourself a good scrubbing after you read it. It’s the kind of book that makes you pretty sure you are never giving your children a phone, a computer, access to anything online ever again. […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Nutshell Book Reviews 