Reviews of Books
Posted in Fiction, Recommended on May 22nd, 2013
I do like Munro’s short stories – here, here and here. Here is the blurb … Alice Munro captures the essence of life in her brilliant new collection of stories. Moments of change, chance encounters,the twist of fate that leads a person off the accustomed path and on to a new way of thinking and [...]
Posted in Fiction, Recommended on May 7th, 2013
I have been meaning to read this novel for a long time. I keep a list of interesting books in Evernote for whenever I am out and about and feel like buying a book and this one was very near the top. I finally bought a copy from the book depository when they sent me [...]
Posted in Fiction, Recommended on Mar 25th, 2013
I read a review in The Australian and then a friend recommended, so I had to read it. And I am glad I did – it is hilarious! Here is the blurb … Meet Don Tillman. Don is getting married. He just doesn’t know who to yet. But he has designed a very detailed questionnaire to help [...]
Posted in Fiction, Recommended on Mar 4th, 2013
This novel has been sitting in my tbr pile for a very long time and I finally decided to read it – I was looking for something fun. There were a few laugh out loud moments and the tractor history was quite informative (I learnt about the dust bowl crisis in America – caused by [...]
Posted in Fiction, Recommended on Feb 18th, 2013
I’m a Anne Tyler fan – a review here and here - I like how she can make the ordinary extraordinary. I picked this one up from the library and it was quite an easy read (shorter than other Tyler novels). Here is the blurb … Anne Tyler gives us a wise, haunting, and deeply moving [...]
Posted in Memoir, Recommended on Jan 10th, 2013
This was recommended to me a while ago and I wasn’t interested, but then it was selected by my book club and I am glad it was I really enjoyed it. I think what gave me the most enjoyment was Mr De Waal’s writing style – he has a lovely personal anecdotal style. 264 wood [...]
Posted in Fiction, Recommended on Dec 22nd, 2012
I saw the movie and was very keen to read the novel. Although having now read the novel, I can say the novel and movie are very different. Not that is necessarily a bad thing, but it was unexpected. Here is the blurb … This is the story of Dr Alfred Jones, a fisheries scientist [...]
Posted in Fiction, Recommended on Dec 10th, 2012
I haven’t read any of Charlotte Wood’s work and this is a good starting point, quite short and easy to read. Here is the description from Charlotte Wood’s website … A sharply observed 24-hour urban love story that follows Stephen Connolly – a character from Wood’s bestselling novel The Children – through one of the [...]
Posted in Fiction, Recommended on Dec 9th, 2012
I haven’t read any of Pat Barker’s novels. I always intended to, but somehow never managed it. I am glad I finally read something! Here’s the blurb … Toby and Elinor, brother and sister, friends and confidants, are sharers of a dark secret, carried from the summer of 1912 into the battlefields of France and [...]
Posted in Fiction, Recommended on Nov 13th, 2012
I had to read this for my Victorian study group. I liked it, but it was long – definitely a marathon reading event. It was serialised and that always makes for a long novel (it’s like being paid per word!) Here is the entry in Wikipedia. This novel is timeless – it [...]