Category: Book Reviews

The Long War, Stephen Baxter, Terry Pratchett

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I do not like wars. If you cast your eyes over my posts, I think the only war related entries you'll find are books I've had to teach: Strange Meeting by Susan Hill. I groan audibly when the kids try to put on war films. Much to their annoyance! So The Long War... I was… Continue reading The Long War, Stephen Baxter, Terry Pratchett

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

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Ahhh, Eleanor Catton's Man Booker winning The Luminaries. It's certainly not a quick read! It took such a time to read it - and admittedly my reading coincided with a stroppy baby and a hectic few weeks at work - that the beautiful cover started to wear off! The M of LUMINARIES on the front… Continue reading The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

Room, Emma Donoghue

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This book had been on my to-read list since it was listed for The Booker Prize. The copy I had was electronic and just stopped about 20 pages in... And I never got round to replacing it. Until it cropped up whilst I was browsing on Audible. This was a perfect book for an audio… Continue reading Room, Emma Donoghue

Words Of Radiance, Brandon Sanderson

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Fantasy is a difficult genre to keep fresh. Tolkien looms as an edifice; George R. R. Martin, similarly. Sanderson is a fresh voice within that genre: like Martin, he eschews the vague mystical nature of Tolkien's magic and fantasy races; unlike Martin, the magic is a central facet of his world-building and he eschews the… Continue reading Words Of Radiance, Brandon Sanderson

Roof Toppers, Katherine Rundell

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It's that time of year again: the Carnegie Medal Shortlist is announced! Much joy! Genuine excitement! Much fretting over how to juggle reading the Shortlist with doing work, marking, planning ... and, this year, entertaining the baby! And Roof Toppers was a lovely way to start the Shortlist ... Which I finished today by reading… Continue reading Roof Toppers, Katherine Rundell

Strange Meeting, Susan Hill

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I do not generally choose war books. In all honesty, had I come across this book with this cover in a shop or library I would probably have skipped over it. I like Susan Hill; I dislike war. I am particularly hesitant about The Great War novels written recently: I'm uncomfortable with the glorification of… Continue reading Strange Meeting, Susan Hill

Harvest, Jim Crace

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I loved this book, for so many reasons!! It is the story of a week in an unnamed village in an unspecified part of England at an unspecified period. And I loved the timelessness of Crace's prose: his narrator's language is lyrical and deeply informed by the landscape but not archaic or faux-authentic. If we… Continue reading Harvest, Jim Crace

Blackout, Mira Grant

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I'm not going to write much about this book: it doesn't really warrant it! This is the third in Mira Grant's post-zombie-apocalypse political thriller Feed trilogy - so I have that glow of satisfaction of completion having read it - but it is a trilogy that should never have been. The first book, Feed was,… Continue reading Blackout, Mira Grant

The Golem and the Djinni, Helene Wecker

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There are some books - most books probably - which I read, finish and review pretty much straight away. They are like those meals which are fine, tasty and enjoyable but which you move on from. Some, however - stretching the metaphor perhaps to breaking point - I like to savour more, to digest, before… Continue reading The Golem and the Djinni, Helene Wecker

The Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion

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Well, that was a quick read! I was browsing various book lists with a view to spending some Christmas money and The Guardian's Independent Bookshop review of 2013 cropped up with this book. It is, at heart, a romance novel which is certainly not a usual genre for me. The main character, Don Tillsen in… Continue reading The Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion

The Twelve, Justin Cronin

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It's a strange thing with books. You can start one - particularly a lengthy one like this - and things get in the way of you finishing it. That's not the strange thing. That - I imagine - is familiar. Maybe you put it down because work has become hectic or your baby is born… Continue reading The Twelve, Justin Cronin

Raising Steam, Terry Pratchett

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You can't go wrong with Pratchett: he never fails to offer up decent stories with a sparkle of wit, a smattering of engaging characters and a bucketload of humanity - in all its various forms and species! And Raising Steam continues the pattern: here, Ankh-Morpork's journey towards modernity is quite literally driven by the arrival… Continue reading Raising Steam, Terry Pratchett

Various Haunts Of Men, Susan Hill

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I've enjoyed various Susan Hill novels: The Woman in Black and The Little Stranger in particular and so it was that I was looking forward to picking up on the Simon Serrailler crime series which I hadn't come across before. In honesty, I picked up A Question of Identity first which is the seventh in… Continue reading Various Haunts Of Men, Susan Hill

A Tale For The Time Being, Ruth Ozeki

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I have an opinion. Just the one, but an opinion nonetheless. And my opinion is this: that most writing is, at least in part and at least tangentially, about the writing process itself. Books about books, about creation, about reading, about interpretation. How much reading do we come across in books? Ozeki seems to share… Continue reading A Tale For The Time Being, Ruth Ozeki

The Testament of Mary, Colm Tóibín

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I was hugely looking forward to this novel - although at 100 pages, novelette may be a more apt title - which failed to win the Man Booker prize last night. It is the story of Mary. That Mary. Mother of Jesus, Bearer of God, Theotokos, the Madonna. Of all figures to try to give… Continue reading The Testament of Mary, Colm Tóibín

Broken Homes, Ben Aaronovitch

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This is the fourth in Aaronovitch's Peter Grant series - see previous blog posts for my thoughts on Rivers of London, Moon Over Soho and Whispers Under Ground. There is a different feel to this book from the previous ones and, to my mind, a welcome change. There is a greater focus on the quest… Continue reading Broken Homes, Ben Aaronovitch

The Woman In Black, Susan Hill

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Miniature review due to absence of Internet and wifi. In fact, only now possible because phone can - sometimes - get some reception... Somewhat uncomfortably, I finished reading this book this morning. At about 7:30. As my 12 week old daughter lay asleep in my arms. It made the final chapter particularly unnerving! This is… Continue reading The Woman In Black, Susan Hill

Zom-B, Darren Shan

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Miniature review due to absence of Internet and wifi. In fact, only now possible because phone can - sometimes - get some reception... I bought this for my son and wanted to cast my eye over it before he read it. He is only twelve and these are zombies. My ears still ring with his… Continue reading Zom-B, Darren Shan

The Long Earth, Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

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Miniature review due to absence of Internet and wifi. In fact, only now possible because phone can - sometimes - get some reception... I can imagine the genesis of this novel. It seems to have started as an idea, a concept. A damned good idea but very much an idea rather than a novel. I… Continue reading The Long Earth, Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

I am Pilgrim, Terry Hayes

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Miniature review due to absence of Internet and wifi. In fact, only now possible because phone can - sometimes - get some reception... There was quite considerable hype about this book online which led to my getting it: phrases like Bondesque and Bournesque appear to have been coined in order to describe it. It is… Continue reading I am Pilgrim, Terry Hayes

A Feast For Crows, George R. R. Martin

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Miniature review due to absence of Internet and wifi. In fact, only now possible because phone can - sometimes - get some reception... I teach. Summer holidays are great times to read. I expect to get a lot read so I thought this was an apt time for the next instalment of Martin's Song of… Continue reading A Feast For Crows, George R. R. Martin

The Ocean At The End Of The Lane, Neil Gaiman

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There is only really one word to describe this book. Perfect. Absolutely and undoubtedly, a perfect book. Powerful, moving, honest. A true book. A summary of the plot here will not serve to convey its power. Go out and read this book. In my own small way, however, here goes. The adult narrator returns to… Continue reading The Ocean At The End Of The Lane, Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman and mothers

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What is it with Neil Gaiman and mothers? I am in the midst of listening to the wonderful The Ocean at the End of the Lane - personally, I think that this book is going to be a clear favourite from Gaiman who is already one of my favourite authors! - read by Gaiman himself.… Continue reading Neil Gaiman and mothers

Deadline, Mira Grant

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In education, there is a chap by the name of Dylan Wiliam who espouses the theory that one shouldn't give grades out. Children look at their grade and either think "yeah, that's good enough" or they think "I'm a failure and there's no point in trying". Dylan Wiliam tells us that we should just give… Continue reading Deadline, Mira Grant

Feed, Mira Grant

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I'm a sensitive soul, me. I like books and words; I wear my heart on my sleeve. I cringe at the sight of gore and blood. So why have I been immersing myself in gore recently? The Passage and The Twelve by Justin Cronin and now Feed, book one of the Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira… Continue reading Feed, Mira Grant