When I started this blog, I made the active decision that I would only write reviews of books I recommended even when I did not personally like them. The reason for this is simple: I am an author, and although I consider it my own fault if I read any reviews I may one day... Continue Reading →
Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Sutanto
Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Sutanto is the freshly published sequel to the award-winning Dial A For Aunties: the Auties are back, and this time it's Meddy's wedding that's on the brink of chaos. After bonding over the corpse-hiding shenanigans of the first book, Nathan and Meddy are getting married. Okay, so her... Continue Reading →
The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman is not the kind of book I thought I'd enjoy - I don't really read crime, cozy or otherwise, plus I'm generally left a bit cold by any books that do numbers. A bestseller is a book that appeals to the people who read 5 books a... Continue Reading →
Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov
Andrey Kurkov is probably Ukraine's best-known writer, and Death and the Penguin is probably his best-known work. Originally published in 1996, it is the slightly odd story of an obituary writer and his pet penguin, Misha.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Being both old and rural, YA slightly passed me by. I'm of that generation that went straight from Sweet Valley High and Point Horror to Stephen King. By the time I was 18, my local library had a shelf devoted to books for 14-19 year-olds, but it appeared to be curated by somebody who'd never... Continue Reading →
Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler
Most of Anner Tyler's work can be reviewed with a single sentence: If you enjoy Anner Tyler, you will enjoy this Anne Tyler book. I do like Anne Tyler - I like the small details of her character's lives and their frustratingly human actions, so I'm really pleased to see the marketing push around her... Continue Reading →
Dial A For Aunties by Jesse Sutanto
Dial A For Aunties by Jesse Sutanto has the distinction of being possibly the only book in existence whose US cover I consider to be better than the UK one. The UK one - pictured here - is fine, I guess: a worried-looking Asian girl makes a phone call on a rotary phone. The US... Continue Reading →
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
UK Cover of Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan Small Things Like These has been quietly receiving critical accolades galore since its publication and has been shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio prize. I, however, am a person of extremely poor taste and discernment, because I neither liked it, nor understand what's supposed to be... Continue Reading →
4 Great Books About Ukraine
I am not Ukrainian, but my Great Uncle was. He was born into what was Poland, fought against the Soviets, was forcibly conscripted by the Nazis, and came to the UK after WW2 as a displaced person who could never return home for fear of being arrested and killed by the new regime. He was... Continue Reading →
Loveless by Alive Oseman
I am not generally a big reader of contemporary YA - I am an old lady who doesn't understand the yoofs and their tick tocks and their relentless enthusiasm for life - but Loveless by Alice Oseman has been bobbing around on my radar pretty much since it was published. Although I'm not the main... Continue Reading →