This was a pleasant enough way to round of my half term: decently written in the engaging and practical voice of Lady Trent, this book conjures up a Regency style world with echoes of Austen. With dragons. The opening sections of the novel are the most Austenesque - if that's even a word. Isabella… Continue reading A Natural History of Dragons, Marie Brennan
Category: Historical Fiction
All The Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr
I am no historian and my knowledge of World War Two is pretty much skewed by literature as much as my knowledge of World War One is skewed by poetry. But literature of World War Two seems to have waited. Almost as if it were too horrific, too traumatic to digest. Much of the literature… Continue reading All The Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr
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The Buried Giant, Kazuo Ishiguro
When I was an impressionable teenager, which feels a long time ago now, I imbibed a lot of Arthurian legends. Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Gawaine, Bedivere, Ector, Cai, Pelias, The Fisher King, Tristran, Iseult, Mordred, Morgana La Fey. And from there, at University, a unit on Medieval Literature reunited me with Gawain in Sir Gawain and The… Continue reading The Buried Giant, Kazuo Ishiguro
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Cuckoo Song, Frances Hardinge
This is a remarkable novel. Of the three CILIP Carnegie nominees I've read, this is my clear front runner. And I'm saying that having read Patrick Ness! Before I review it, however, I'm going to play a game with my sixteen year-old stepson, whose birthday it is today. Despite his protestations, he is going… Continue reading Cuckoo Song, Frances Hardinge
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Tinder, Sally Gardner
This is the first of my reviews of this year's CILIP Carnegie Medal nominees. Well, my second. Patrick Ness' More Than This I read back in August - see here for my review - six months before the shortlist was announced. And to be honest, it will take some beating!Anyway, this is my first knowing CILIP Carnegie read. And… Continue reading Tinder, Sally Gardner
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My Swordhand is Singing, Marcus Sedgwick
Sedgwick has been on my radar for a few years now, creeping into the shortlists for the Carnegie Medal regularly. I'd previously read his White Crow, and Midwinterblood. The first of those I had thoroughly enjoyed, bouncing between time zones; the second was breathtaking, tracing echoes of a story back through generations and encompassing wartime escapes,… Continue reading My Swordhand is Singing, Marcus Sedgwick
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The House Of Silk, Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Horowitz, for me as an English teacher is almost synonymous with his teenage spy Alex Rider. Although probably with fewer helicopters, assassins and explosions. And more writing. The series is a very boy friendly, speedily paced series of novels which are one out go-to series for reluctant boy-readers. So it was with some surprise… Continue reading The House Of Silk, Anthony Horowitz
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How To Be Both, Ali Smith
I find with this blog that some books can be reviewed almost from the moment you finish them. Others, I need time to ... ruminate. To cogitate. To digest. To reflect on. This book, Ali Smith's Man Booker Shortlisted How To Be Both, definitely falls into that latter category. It is beautiful. It is thoughtful.… Continue reading How To Be Both, Ali Smith
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Lamentation, C. J. Sansom
I do love a book with a map in its cover! I must confess I'm not entirely sure what this map adds to the book, but at a personal level, I used to live pretty much where Shardlake's house is! Inside Lincoln's Inn. Abutting Chancery Lane. And that, pretty much, sums up the appeal of… Continue reading Lamentation, C. J. Sansom
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Mister Pip, Lloyd Jones
Many things about being a teacher vex me: longer hours than the public realise, pay, governmental meddling. Paperwork. Ofsted. As a teacher of English though, the lack of imagination in exam boards' choices for set texts is pretty high on the vexing-list. Really, Of Mice And Men, again? An Inspector Calls as modern drama? Don't… Continue reading Mister Pip, Lloyd Jones
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Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs
Woohoo my first finished novel of 2015 and a start to my Reading Challenge! This book was not what I expected. There was something very evocative and intriguing about both the title and cover - as well as the photographs inside. Almost all of which, according to the note appended to the novel, are genuine… Continue reading Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs
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The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving
I feel as if I've known of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow for ever. The Headless Horseman. The midnight ride. The pumpkin. I knew that - however much I loved it - the Tim Burton and Johnny Depp film took massive liberties... And even more liberties in the Fox network series Sleepy Hollow which was… Continue reading The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving
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The Paying Guests, Sarah Waters
There is so much to admire about this book that I feel almost guilty that I didn't love it. And I feel I might struggle to explain why without losing sight of the fact that it is a great book and beautifully written in places. As you'd expect from Waters, The Paying Guests inhabits a… Continue reading The Paying Guests, Sarah Waters
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History Of The Rain, Niall Williams
Books appeal to me in a variety of different ways.Some are intellectually challenging; some have intricate or gripping plots; some tug on the heart strings; some create whole worlds inside me; some create characters who live on inside my mind and imagination.And some sing to me. They breathe under my fingers. They live. And this was one… Continue reading History Of The Rain, Niall Williams
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Half A King, Joe Abercrombie
I've been meaning to get round to reading Joe Abercrombie's The First Law trilogy for a while but haven't managed to find the time recently. Work. Children. Babies. Goatee growing. You know: the things that take up your time. But with the summer holidays coinciding with a new book, Half A King, I thought I'd… Continue reading Half A King, Joe Abercrombie
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The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton
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
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Roof Toppers, Katherine Rundell
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
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Strange Meeting, Susan Hill
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
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Harvest, Jim Crace
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
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The Golem and the Djinni, Helene Wecker
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
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Intertextuality in the The Woman in Black
Intertextuality is a strange idea. It's reasonable and intuitive that texts refer both backwards and forwards within themselves: how many stories and tales begin and end at the same place and setting? Detective fiction is built on the importance of small early details turning into clues to be resolved later. Anton Chekov went so far… Continue reading Intertextuality in the The Woman in Black
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A Tale For The Time Being, Ruth Ozeki
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
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The Testament of Mary, Colm Tóibín
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
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Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke
Fantasy is my (not so) secret (not so) guilty pleasure in reading. Fantasy introduced me to reading through The Hobbit and Tolkien. Fantasy was my escape from teenage tedium ... my family was far too middle class to have angst! And I still enjoy a healthy dollop of fantasy, as readers of this blog will… Continue reading Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke
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The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack, Mark Hodder
Some books are born great. Some books achieve greatness. Some books have greatness thrust upon them. This book is not one of them. It's not great. It's not beautifully written. It's not literary. But it is immensely fun! Mark Hodder propels us into Victorian London: the search for the source of the Nile, Stanley, Livingstone,… Continue reading The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack, Mark Hodder
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