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Normally to be found in South Wales or Ireland. An unhealthy obsession with literature & the musicals of Stephen Sondheim has led to a very happy 33 years on this planet.
Currently reading
I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan
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Pride and Prejudice
Bad Science
There's really nothing original to say about this book. So I'll keep it short. Re-reading this after many years was like kicking off a pair of high heels and putting on some comfy slippers. Pure relaxation.
Fun, bawdy and occasionally a little disturbing. Semi adult fairy tales for the vaguely twisted. Part of the 'classic loves collection'.
I picked this up because of it's seeming parallels with the fabulous The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Most of the books that claim to be along the lines of Secret History have always somewhat disappointed me. This one however was different ....This is possibly one of the truest comparable books to Secret History I've encountered. It's very 'classily' written and has a slightly sinister undercurrent which pulls you in nicely and the ending was unexpected AND didn't disappoint me. The main reason this lost a star for me was it simply took too long to lure me in. I was just under half way through the novel before I got to the 'couldn't put it down' part. Well worth a read.
I'm in a good mood hence the four stars (Really it's about a 3 1/2). The story is well written, reasonably well placed and just creepy enough to keep you interested. However, it seemed to be trying quite hard to be a lot creepier and it just didn't work. Well worth a read but not the haunting story I was looking for.
I had written an amazingly long and fabulous review for this but then I pressed the wrong button on my ipod and lost the whole thing. So, you'll have to settle for this ...This is a very interesting, funny book which comes (I think) at a crossroads for feminism. Moran may be saying nothing new but what she is doing, is saying it in a way that will be absorbed by young girls raised in a world of Heat magazine and Katie Price. While I don't agree with all of it, this book is funny, thought provoking, sometimes flippant but all in all it's a book that can only do good.
An excellent debut (I believe) by Liza Klaussman. An intriguing and often beautiful read. Set over 2 decades, events are revealed through 5 different character narratives. The book is not set chronologically but Klaussman pulls it off with absolute ease. My one complaint is that this book had many shadows of the incomparable Gatsby. Despite being set 30-40 years after Gatsby. It was something I couldn't shake off while reading it. I'm not sure if this was intentional by Klaussman or not. All in all, a very good novel. Worth a read. I look forward to what she produces next.
My life was on hold the second I picked this book up. What a mightily impressive debut. A series of ten short stories all set in one fictionalised, timeless city. While there are some shared threads between the stories, they are tenuous to say the least. As with all short story collections, the quality varies. The first couple are outstanding and 'The Song of Serelight Fair' (the second story), is particularly haunting and completely hypnotic. The two weakest stories in my opinion are pastiches of classic pulp fiction and a Sherlock Holmes style whodunit. These are both very cleverly written but (like Ben Dutton says in his excellent review) after a few pages it started to wane for me. What I took most from Communion Town was a great hope for the future work from Sam Thompson. Clearly a very gifted writer and I for one can’t wait to see what’s next.
This could be seen as my first foray into classic Russian literature and all in all, I would say it's not a bad introduction. The book is wordy but not callenging. In fact I found the style surprisingly simple. I'm not sure if this was due to the translation I read, or Tolstoy just isn't as daunting as I'd built him up to be! What the book is, is long, but actually it works. You are fully immersed in this world and the pages fly by. I was also surprised at how little Anna Karenina and Vronsky are actually in this book. I found I was more drawn to the story of Levin and Kitty. All in all I was surprised and delighted with this book. Perhaps it won't take me so long to pick up my next Russian classic.
Rationally and succinctly expressed. A interesting look at the world, as we enter an age of morality without authority.
Ian McEwan is an author I have ambivalent feelings toward. I have loved his work, hated his work or found it totally average. So, you understand why I picked this up with rather confused expectations. Thankfully though, this is one of the good ones. More than that in fact, it's one of the great ones! Every word in Atonement is right. It's so wonderfully thought through. The narrative flows at exactly the right pace and the characters are fabulously sketched. One of the most evocative & considered books I have read in many years. One for the favourites list I think.
I believe I have to state that this book was a goodreads giveaway. It was, and I was very happy to receive it. This is an indepth, character driven, look at a family grieving, a year on from the loss of a brother. Henkin gives us a deep and thorough insight into how each family members copes (or doesn't) with such a loss. The book is beautifully written in parts and pulls you along nicely throughout. Henkin is clearly a very fine write and no minutiae is too small for his notice. I'll definitely be reading more by Henkin in the future. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review.
Good fun. Some genuine laugh out loud moments and a lot of irreverent humour aimed at London, Londoners, the MET and umm rivers. That being said I did find myself losing interest at moments. Particularly coming up to halfway point. It drew me back in after a while though. The book reminds me of the Jasper Fforde, Thursday Next series of books and while reading it I sometimes found myself wishing I was reading them. Will definitely be giving book two a go soon as I feel it has potential to be even better than this one.
This novel began very promisingly. It was charming and interesting and while that remains throughout the novel I found myself drifting away from it a little. About halfway through the book, it seemed to get bogged down by the biblical elements of the story. I'm normally a fan of theological meanderings, but this just didn't work for me. All in all I'd say this was just interesting enough to keep me reading and not much more I'm afraid.