Tag
The Map of Bones (The Fire Sermon, #2) by Francesca Haig This is the sequel to the outstanding (if disturbing) Fire Sermon. Unlike a lot of sequels which assume you to have intiminate knowledge of (or have only just read)…
Continue readingIn Darkling Wood by Emma Carroll A lot of the books that feature can portray as either mischievous and evil, or flights of fancy and fun. This book is neither. When Alice is sent to stay with a grandmother she…
Continue readingSwallowdale by Arthur Ransome I remember reading this as a child and loving it even more than the original Swallows and Amazons, maybe because it was even more Titty’s story than the first. When John’s recklassness leads to the sinking…
Continue readingSwallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome This was the first full-length novel that I read on my own as a boy (much to the disappointment of my Mum) and I have read it periodically ever since. It is, to me,…
Continue readingSwallows & Amazons has always been, and has remained, one of my favourite books through my life. Maybe its because it was the first full-length novel that I read on my own (I still remember my Mum’s disappointment when she…
Continue readingThe Other Alice by Michelle Harrison If 13 Treasures was the story that brought Michelle Harrison to us as a storyteller, and Unrest was the book to show how powerful, scary, and disturbing a storyteller she could be, then her…
Continue readingThe Pier Falls by Mark Haddon Mark Haddon writes honest, often uncomfortable, but faultlessly accurate portrayals of how human nature is. This collection of short stories is no different. However anthologies of short stories are by their very nature a…
Continue readingThe Outrun by Amy Liptrot I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this book – the autobiography of a young woman struggling to overcome her alcholism. Within the first few pages I was proved wrong. This is a…
Continue readingThe 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 readingYesterday, after finishing our epic 12½ mile walk, Emma and I went with Helen, Nick and Lily for lunch at the new Wee Bookshop and Cafe in Chinnor. It’s purpose is to raise money and awareness for bladder cancer but…
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 readingYesterday I ventured through many equisitely pretty villages (including Eastington, Addsworth, Bibury, Bamsley, and not forgetting the town of Tetbury) to the very other side of The Cotswolds to participate, as an author, in the second annual Hawkesbury Upton Literary…
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 reading
