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 […]
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 […]
I often tell people that the book that really made me the reader I am today is The Secret History by Donna Tartt. What I realized recently is that, for all the times I cite this book and its importance to me, I actually no longer remember the story clearly! Certainly I remember that it […]
Sometimes I can’t help but pause and wonder whether, as a reader, the books we read find us, rather than vice versa? This idea has been playing around in my brain over the last few days, as I finished two of the loveliest books, both of which provided much needed respite from the pandemic that […]
I just can’t seem to help myself, but I always end up coming back to Lisa Jewell. She’s the Cadbury Dairy Milk of authors in my mind. Reliably delicious stories that never disappoint, always hit the mark, leaving you satisfied and yes, wanting more. Chances are that if I don’t know what to read, perhaps […]
There was no way on God’s green earth that, having finished Mr Flood’s Last Resort, I wasn’t going to read another Jess Kidd novel. Her writing is too weird and wonderful to be missed and so, I bought myself a copy of Himself. Oh my goodness, it was even better that the previous read! More […]
There are some books that are just written to become movies and I have to say that, with the right casting, The French Girl by Lexie Elliott could be one of them! I chanced across this book whilst having a wander through Bookshop Santa Cruz, and yet again it was another simple case of liking […]
Nutshell Book Reviews 