Weekly Round Up: 10th July 2018

This week sees a coupe of books finished and taken from my TBR pile! Jessie Burton’s The Muse grew on me as I reached the final sections and anticipated some of the revelations. I did find her language to be beautiful and sensual but her more contemplative moments a little awkward. I was, though, sad to…

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The Sleeper and the Spindle, Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell

There are times when I love my job. Some. On rare occasions. One of those times came today when I spotted a copy of The Sleeper and the Spindle on the side in the library and I was asked to have a read of it over night and see whether I thought it was suitable….

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The Muse, Jessie Burton

I adored The Miniaturist! It was one of those books which had stayed with me: the cold of her repressed Amsterdam, the sweetness of marzipan, the claustrophobic house. The hint of the supernatural. The difficult, prickly bond between the women. So it was with pleasure and anticipation that I began The Muse and it took…

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Weekly Round Up: 2nd July 2018

Exciting news this week! New blog features have arrived! Well, been made. By me. I’m not sure they quite work right, but as I’m seeking access to ARCs and am signed up to NetGalley and other blogging lists, I learn that a Review Policy is required. It sounds terribly formal and… binding. But if these…

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Weekly Round Up: 26th June 2018

As we continue to slog through exam marking, the time available for reading has alas dropped and the wakefulness and attention span when the time arrives is also limited! I am continuing to listen to Jessie Burton’s The Muse on the journeys into and out of work and enjoying the characters of Odelle and Olive. It isn’t…

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The Word Is Murder, Anthony Horowitz

Sometimes you want to like a book just so damn much that it feels like you’re the failure when you end up not liking it. So it was for me with this novel. Now there is no doubt that Horowitz can plot a cracking crime story: Midsomer Murders, Foyle’s War, Magpie Murders are all testimony…

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Weekly Round Up: 19th June 2018

Oh dear. Weekly Round Up. Weekly Round Up. After only two weekly round ups on the blog, I missed one already! *le sigh! Still, my blog, my rules… I’m not fretting about it! My reading over the last couple of weeks has primarily been focused on the unseen original genius manuscripts of teenagers, produced in a paltry…

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Within the Sanctuary of Wings, Marie Brennan

Sometimes we just need the familiar and the comfortable, don’t we? A warm cuddle of a book. The Natural History of Dragons series by Marie Brennan, of which Within the Sanctuary of Wings is the fifth and, it would appear final, installment, is one of those series. It’s not challenging; it’s a tad formulaic by…

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Crime and Punishment

Hmmmm…. So my Year 11s sat their GCSE English Language examination today: Paper One, Imaginative Writing. I wouldn’t normally comment on something like this but I am irked. The text given was a translation of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. A translation. Of a Russian text. In an English Language exam. I am concerned. The students have…

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Weekly Round Up 4th June

So, half term is over and we’re all back at work. As predicted, I didn’t find enough time to complete a book since the last round up so I’m still reading Sarah Schmidt’s See What I have Done and am warming to it much more. She has a gorgeous way of creating voice in her four…

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