Apologies in advance to all the Margaret Atwood fans out there and to the beautiful friend who gave me a copy of her latest book. This review isn’t pretty. After just finishing The Heart Goes Last (a massive personal achievement that cannot be understated) I am getting off the Atwood express and calling for a worldwide derailment. […]
Category Archives: Book Club Fodder
March
22
The Women’s Pages by Deborah Adelaide
posted by Ms K
There is a particular walk I get when I leave a shop with a newly purchased book I can’t wait to read…..it’s part jaunt, part quickstep with an occasional sashay – and it must look very odd to passersby I grant you. But when I picked up acclaimed author Deborah Adelaide’s new offering, my ‘new-book walk’ […]
March
03
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
posted by Ms A
Who’d have thought Barak Obama’s favourite book of 2015 would start with a sex scene? I’m talking about a green bikini, sand dunes and a couple of newlyweds – literally first page. Beyond the beach, Fates and Furies is contemporary literature at its best with language that is original, multi-layered and downright clever. Add characters that are strong, […]
February
23
Never Mind by Edward St Aubyn
posted by Ms A
I’m suspicious of the word “masterpiece” on the cover of a book. Just like the word miracle on a moisturiser, I should know better by now. In this case I was persuaded by a trusted and highly enthusiastic assistant at one of my favourite bookshops. I don’t want to name names but I am pretty sure […]
January
26
A Guide to Berlin by Gail Jones
posted by Ms K
Fact is, I read this book a couple of months ago now. It has taken me a while to review it because I could argue December happens, Christmas happens, life takes over. You know. But if I am honest, I didn’t know where to start with it. This book has haunted me since I finished it. It’s good, […]
January
19
Brave Enough by Cheryl Strayed
posted by Ms K
And how did it become 2016 exactly? I don’t know about you, but I feel like there I was just minding my own business in July 2015 and somehow, in the blink of an eye, I end up here! 2.0.freakin’1.6! So what do you do when you feel life is travelling at the speed of […]
December
27
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
posted by Ms A
This is the first book I have ever read with its own Instagram account. I stumbled on it after I’d finished all 800 pages and got a glimpse into the cult status the novel now has, particularly in the USA. A Little Life is bleak, emotionally demanding fiction but it is also a page turning […]
November
04
The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood
posted by Ms K
Charlotte Wood has done it again. No-one does grit quite like this woman and her new book is a corker….but it is not for the faint of heart so consider yourself warned. Ever heard of dystopian fiction? Embarrassingly, I hadn’t. It means writing about an utterly horrible or degraded society that is generally headed to […]
October
28
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
posted by Ms K
BIG MAGIC has made me a stalker of Elizabeth Gilbert. BIG TIME. My adoration for her is not a new thing mind you, but this new book has certainly stepped things up a notch. I have pretty much read everything she has written and published. I’ve watched the Ted Talks, and more. I actually had Eat Pray […]
October
19
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
posted by Ms K
I have not read anything by Anne Tyler since The Accidental Tourist, and let me tell you, after finishing this book, I am the emotionally poorer for it apparently. I have been seriously missing out and therefore want to race out and buy everything she has ever written. My bank balance is about to take […]
Readhead 