My twelve year old son loves a good conspiracy theory and, whilst I like to listen to him share whatever ‘story’ he has found online or heard at school, I suppose that I have always been pretty dismissive of such things and the adults who propound them. The events of 9/11 are never far from […]
Every now and then a writer comes along that really excites you because she, or he, is just so amazingly different. It doesn’t always have to be a high-brow reading experience that challenges conventions of grammar or story construction. Sometimes it can just be a writer that is fun to read and hard to put […]
I think that the last time I wrote about a Lisa Jewell book I felt exhausted. A little worn out after having read so many of her novels in a relatively short period of time, a few of which had made me feel profoundly sad. When I picked up Watching You I felt that I […]
Recommendations are funny things. I’ve talked about this before, how more often than not, I steer clear, nervous of the unsolicited suggestion. I’m currently in a period of personal turmoil, as The Husband and I are splitting after nigh on twenty years and two children together. It’s a hard and unhappy time. Nothing in life […]
If you want to read something unusual then pick up My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh. I bought this novel completely blind, as is so often the way, tempted by a clever cover. I’d seen it in the UK over the summer, but when I visited my local bookstore in the fall, […]
A few years ago, probably decades in the land of celebrities but a heartbeat ago to the rest of us, Charlize Theron dated Sean Penn. You probably don’t really care, after all, what are the lives of celebrities to us mere mortals, but for a brief period of time they were an intriguing ‘it couple’, […]
Three Women by Lisa Taddeo is one of ‘those’ books. The kind of tome that we are told we must read, that we are told is important, that as women we have a duty to buy. I don’t really believe in that kind of twaddle about books, but I do believe in Lisa Taddeo. Three […]
There’s a fighting chance that this week’s book review should actually be part of last week’s because they’re by the same writer and I read them in quick succession. Please don’t worry, I’ve now read everything Abbi Waxman has written, so there won’t be a follow up (although secretly, or not, I really wish that […]
There are some books that are like a warm, comforting blanket when you read them. They wrap themselves around you and immerse you in their world. It’s a happy place, somewhere that you like and want to be. These are the books that we want to take on holiday or recover with, the books that […]
There are certain books that you read which are impossible not to find profoundly disturbing. I’m not talking here of murders stories or supernatural tales, but the rather more mundane. The novels where you find yourself questioning whether something so simple is actually possible? The problem being that, if you believe it is, then could […]
Nutshell Book Reviews 