June 09

People Who Knew Me by Kim Hooper

This is such a clever book I found it hard to put down which, I must say, was a little surprising.  I did not expect to like it as much as I did but I happily ripped through it in a weekend and for those of us who love to read, you know what a […]

June 01

The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney

Siblings come with an innate sense of fairness. It starts with ice cream but extends to everything from who gets the most time with Grandma, help with homework, pocket money or lifts to school. Dammit in my household, I get in trouble for misallocating the length of my hugs. Now I’m no mathematician but surely sibling management […]

May 24

The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks

The Secret Chord is my golden trifecta of books. First up, it’s a historical novel which is my absolute undoing – the older the better and it doesn’t get too much older than the tale of David and Goliath, right? (Well, maybe – but then I’d be reviewing  The Bible).  It is a grandiose tale that sweeps you along […]

May 04

Fever At Dawn by Peter Gardos

I was not prepared for how much I would love this book. So quiet and unassuming, I shudder to think how easily I could have missed it. Peter Gardos (who is actually a Hungarian filmmaker) tells the true story of how his parents met and found love at the end of WWII. To be fair, […]

May 02

Between a Wolf and A Dog by Georgia Blain

Bitter experience has proven to me never judge a book by the reviews – especially those  squeezed onto every spare bit of book real-estate, each one screaming ‘read this’.  More than once I answered those siren calls, and after some pretty big disappointments  I had decided – once and for all – my ego simply couldn’t take picking up these kinds of best sellers […]

April 21

A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson

If there was an award handed out to someone taking the longest time to finish a book,  I’d win it hands-down. I have been beavering away at this one for m.o.n.t.hs! Poor Ms A has been galloping through her books while I could only reply to her inquisitive emails about my progress with ‘nope, still going’.  I don’t know who’ll […]

April 15

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

Helen Oyeyemi is a bit of a British literary indie sensation with awards left, right and centre and an ability to interview as beautifully as she writes. Just Google her and you will see what I mean. Suffice to say, I had to read one of her books to see what all the fuss was […]

March 28

The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood

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. […]

March 22

The Women’s Pages by Deborah Adelaide

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 15

The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida

Like a pig that can sniff out a truffle, I reckon we, Ms A and Ms K, can sniff out a book that is ripe to be made into a movie.  Big call I know but we do have a track record, Readheads. Lots of those book-to-movie titles that pop up at your local Hoyts, yep, we sniffed those […]