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 […]
Category Archives: Grab it Now
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 […]
October
12
Someone by Alice McDermott
posted by Ms K
If you squint, you may see on the cover of this book to the left, a review by the Sunday Telegraph which simply says ‘A beautiful book’. I wondered about this right up to the last line, and it was then, only then, that I agreed. This is indeed a beautiful book. It is about life of the […]
October
12
The Girl with the Dogs by Anna Funder
posted by Ms K
If you are in the mood for quality but not quantity, this novella is for you. It is Anna Funder’s latest offering and it runs for just 57 pages. Penguin has published what is essentially a longer short-story (and you know how I feel about those if you have been following Readhead at all!) but […]
August
10
Six Bedrooms by Tegan Bennett Daylight
posted by Ms K
‘…the past is in us, and not behind us. Things are never over’ wrote Tim Winton in ‘Aquifier’. These words are the foreward of this collection of short stories and they set the tone from the get-go as the author promptly transports us back to our high school years. Yes, those teen experiences – wonderful and hideous and embarrassing – are explored in […]
July
19
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
posted by Ms A
Lila, Gigliona, Alfonso, Nino, Pasquale, Rino, Carmela and Ada are just some of the children of various ages featured in this book. Throw in their parents; Fernando, Nunzia, Alfredo, Giuseppina, Melina, Donato, Silvio, Manuela, Nicola, Assunta and the evil Don Achille and you pretty much have the village. These are the names of the friends and […]
June
16
The Wonder Lover by Malcolm Knox
posted by Ms A
This is a man’s book. Actually it is a multi – functional man’s book. First you can read it and marvel at what it tells you about male behaviour; then you can thump the nearest guy across the head with it. Written by Australian author Malcolm Knox (otherwise known for Jamaica, The Life and Summerland), this is a fictional equivalent […]
May
31
The Household Guide to Dying by Debra Adelaide
posted by Ms K
Ok, I know, I know. This might not be the most obvious choice for May Faves but given Barbara Kingsolver and Geraldine Brooks had already earned a place here this month, I simply could not go past this as one of my favourite books of all time. If you judge a book by how often […]
May
12
A Little Princess – Guest Review by Miss Ellie (aged 11)
posted by Ms A
“In the early morning smog I had him. But in the lovely lunch of my birthday I lost him.” A Little Princess is written by Frances Hodgson Burnett who also wrote The Secret Garden. Frances weaves a story about a rich girl with perfect manners and an extreme love of books. Frances tells this story […]
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