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The Killing Files by Nikki Owen For anyone who has read the first book in the Project Trilogy, The Spider in the Corner of the Room (now Subject 375), it is not a surprise if this is the very next…
Continue readingFingers in the Sparkle Jar: A Memoir by Chris Packham This is a stunningly written memoir from one of the finest wildlife presenters and naturalists working today. This is a book that flits forwards and back through memory, mixing encounters…
Continue readingFamily, Friendships, Landscapes: Rex Whistler: Inspiration by Hugh Cecil This small book is an amuse-bouche to Hugh and Mirabel Cecil’s 2012 book, In Search of Rex Whistler, the publication of which coincided with a fantastic exhibition at the Salisbury Museum…
Continue readingDay of the Vikings by J.F. Penn It wasn’t until I started to read this novella that I realised it was the fifth part in J.F. Penn’s Arkane series. Not that this matters as it is a standalone story in…
Continue readingThe Spider in the Corner of the Room (The Project, #1) by Nikki Owen I was recently fortunate enough to share a platform with Nikki Owen at the Hawkesbury Upton Literary Festival. As well reading from our books, we both…
Continue readingJess the Goth Fairy by Jess Hiles, Jo Allmond, Emily Daly (Illustrations) I was priviledged to sit on a panel discussing ‘difference’ in fiction at the Hawkesbury Upton with the authors of this book, Jess Hiles and Jo Allmond, and…
Continue readingFly by Night by Frances Hardinge When I first heard about Frances Hardinge’s books I went to my local bookshop determined to find this, her debut, novel. They didn’t have it and so I bought one of her later books,…
Continue readingWhen the Floods Came by Clare Morrall I heard the author talking about how the idea for this book came to her after imagining what a waste motorways were on cars, and how such wide, level, often-elevated roads would be…
Continue readingWar and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Richard Pevear (Translator), Larissa Volokhonsky (Translator) War and Peace is one of those books that I think everyone thinks they ought to read, and probably means to read, but never gets round to it….
Continue readingAn English Country House and Garden: A Fine Art Colouring Book For Adults by Arthur J. Penn I’ve been wanting to have a go at some of the colouring books that are so popular to choose from, and there are…
Continue readingSo this year is the year that I shall finally read War & Peace. Spurred on by the current BBC TV adaptation that is currently showing, its going well. Not that I haven’t read part of it before. After several…
Continue readingAlice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll Hard as it might be to believe, but I don’t think I have ever read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland before. It is one of those books and those…
Continue readingThis was my second full year of getting the bus to work and reading lots, and lots – another 45 books in all. That said, I also did a 100-day walking challenge with work during the summer which shortened my…
Continue readingOld Pakefield and Kirkley by Elizabeth Freeman and Jason Freeman I may have been born in the peaks of Derbyshire, but I spent my whole childhood growing up in the east coast town of Lowestoft, and in particular the former…
Continue readingSlade House by David Mitchell Narrow, tall-sided alleys are made for stories, and it is in just such a narrow, tall-sided alley that this dark fantasy/magical realism story starts. Don’t be put off by the ‘horror’ label that seems to…
Continue readingA Winter Book by Tove Jansson This book is impossible not to like. The only reason why I gave it four stars and not five is because, being a collection of short stories, whilst there are many that are outstanding,…
Continue readingThe Summer Book by Tove Jansson This was one of those unexpected finds. I had seen Tove Jansson’s A Winter Book advertised in a bookstore window, and enticed by the promise of the cover and a collection of short stories…
Continue readingThe Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell This is a beautiful book by just about any measure that you look at it. In a generation of ebooks and audiobooks there are some stories that deserve to be read in their printed…
Continue readingThe Girl Savage by Katherine Rundell I loved Katherine Rundell’s Rooftoppers with its simple genius and originality. I remember looking at her debut book, Girl Savage and not being sure about it. Indeed I only bought it when I did…
Continue readingThe Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer “It didn’t really come from nowhere. Nothing comes from nowhere.” I didn’t so much as pick this book because of the cover, but because of the cover designer, who I know. The…
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