For the last two years I’ve been tracking my reading and book buying habits. Why?Well, really in response to a tweet from someone (I forget who) in publishing, an idle enquiry that got me thinking. Could I really justify buying as many books as I did? How did my reading ambitions fit with reality? I… Continue reading The never decreasing TBR pile
Tag: fiction
Review: Beyond Kidding by Lynda Clark
A disclaimer to start the review with – Lynda Clark is a friend of mine, we used to work together at a branch of a well-known bookselling chain. Aha! You say, you may have some exciting author insights? Well, not really no. My overriding impression of Lynda was how well she wore wide legged trousers,… Continue reading Review: Beyond Kidding by Lynda Clark
Review:The Woman in the Photograph – Stephanie Butland
I thought the opening to this book was as engrossing as anything I’ve read in a while, with an intriguing set up, historical notes and a heroine off to do her own thing in the face of her father’s and fiance’s disapproval. Veronica Moon is a photographer, one who rose to fame in the heady… Continue reading Review:The Woman in the Photograph – Stephanie Butland
Review: Somewhere Close to Happy by Lia Louis
How exciting to review a book by someone I know. (To clarify, I do not actually know Lia but we chat on Twitter – she posts about food, parenting, exhaustion and Bon Jovi, and who am I to diss any of that?) Somewhere Close to Happy is Lia’s debut novel and has the loveliest cover… Continue reading Review: Somewhere Close to Happy by Lia Louis
Review: The Beekeeper of Aleppo
Oh, this is a simple and lovely book. And a timely book, also. It is told by Nuri Ibrahim, the titular beekeeper of Aleppo who has had to flee Syria with his wife Afra. Nuri and Afra are in a bed and breakfast in Brighton with several other refugees, all waiting to see if their… Continue reading Review: The Beekeeper of Aleppo
Woolf Works: my month of reading Virginia Woolf
My reading group’s choice for March was The Waves by Virginia Woolf. I have a lot of Woolf on my shelves but haven’t got round to reading very much so I was glad at the choice. Until I picked it up and tried to read it. It’s well known as her most challenging work and… Continue reading Woolf Works: my month of reading Virginia Woolf
Review of 2018
Woah! I read a LOT in 2018. 91 books so far and a week still to go. I’m not quite sure how I fitted all of this in, except that I’ve stopped cycling to work and now have tram time. To be fair, two were novellas in flash, one was a short story in a… Continue reading Review of 2018
#BookReviewGift The Goldblum Variations
Jeff Goldblum rocks. You know it. Helen McClory thinks so. So she wrote a bonkers pamphlet containing poems, flash fiction and bingo all about Jeff and alternate versions of him in other universes. You can buy it now with a yellow cover but mine is colour your own, adding more fun to the mix. It’s… Continue reading #BookReviewGift The Goldblum Variations
A childhood in books
As promised, I wanted to write about a childhood in books with a few featured. I have also decided to commit to blogging and reviewing every day in December and tagging authors to give them a boost about how much we appreciate them. (You can find out more about this here on Twitter – do… Continue reading A childhood in books
Review: How We Remember by JM Monaco
Today I’m hosting the blog tour for JM Monaco’s how We Remember, a debut novel of dark family secrets and their after effects. Jo O’Brien, Irish-American professor of Art History living and working in London, returns home after her mother’s death and, in the process of clearing out her mother’s diary and papers, is reminded… Continue reading Review: How We Remember by JM Monaco
Susan E Barsby 