What they say about it: In the spring of her final year, Madeleine Hanna has enrolled in a semiotics course ‘to see what all the fuss is about’. She falls in love with Leonard Morten – charismatic loner and college Darwinist – who introduces her to the ecstasies of immediate experience. Then Mitchell Grammaticus resurfaces, [...]
Filed under: Book review, Illness, Romance, Women | Tagged: Jeffrey Eugenides | Leave a Comment »
Fowler channels Simon Brett for the theatrical types peopling Bryant and May’s latest escapade and the classic ‘reveal’ after the cast members’ final performance: not that any theatre diva can rival Arthur Bryant for eccentricity and self-regard. Fowler also continues to develop his back-story with malign forces out to retire our chalk and cheese detectives [...]
Filed under: Book review, Crime | Tagged: Christoper Fowler | Leave a Comment »
What they say about it: Paris, 1937. Andras Lévi, an architecture student, has arrived from Budapest with a scholarship, a single suitcase, and a mysterious letter he has promised to deliver to Clara Morgenstern a young widow living in the city. When Andras meets Clara he is drawn deeply into her extraordinary and secret life, [...]
Filed under: Book review, Family, Romance, War | Tagged: Julie Orringer | Leave a Comment »
What they say about it: A jaw-droppingly cinematic, genre-busting debut that’s part virtual space opera, part classic coming-of-age story, part brilliant pop-culture mash-up What I thought: Ready player one is a fun, 80s reference-packed romp through time and space. I completely geeked out whilst reading it and I am guessing it will lend itself to [...]
Filed under: Book review, Culture, Fantasy, Science fiction | Tagged: Ernest Cline | 1 Comment »
What they say about it A lyrical and profoundly moving story of love, loss and civil war, set in Sri Lanka, London and Venice. What I thought about it Although I have been known to have a soppy moment I wasn’t expecting to find this as moving as I did. It had [...]
Filed under: Book review, Romance, War | Tagged: Roma Tearne | Leave a Comment »
What they say about it Charlie Howard, gentleman thief and famous crime-writer, has gone straight. But holing himself up in a crumbling palazzo in Venice in an attempt to concentrate on his next novel hasn’t got rid of the itch in his fingers. To make matters worse, an Italian beauty has broken into his apartment [...]
Filed under: Book review, Crime | Tagged: Chris Ewan | Leave a Comment »
What they say A music journalist suffers a crisis of faith in Miami. Young London goes hip-hop crazy circa 1988…Old friends make a belated attempt to reconnect disparate lives, and a social recluse finds an unexpected companion in a Victorian cemetery. Threaded with the constant pulse of music, A Book of Blues explores both physical [...]
Filed under: Book review, Music | Tagged: Courttia Newland | Leave a Comment »
What they say Katniss Everdeen is a survivor. She has to be; she’s representing her District, number 12, in the 74th Hunger Games in the Capitol, the heart of Panem, a new land that rose from the ruins of a post-apocalyptic North America. To punish citizens for an early rebellion, the rulers require each district to provide [...]
Filed under: Apocalyptic, Book review, Teen | Tagged: Suzanne Collins | 2 Comments »
What they say ‘Billingham produces an astonishing final twist to complete his most ambitious and accomplished book.’ (Sunday Telegraph) ‘..a twist that I guarantee even veteran crime fiction aficionados won’t see coming.’ (Evening Herald) What I say To me, the twist in the tale is so obvious I was beginning to doubt myself. This is [...]
Filed under: Book review, Crime | Tagged: Mark Billingham | Leave a Comment »
