of 20 Books of Summer Winter.Another calendar season has been and gone, and what do I have to show for it?I certainly didn't even go close to completing this year's 20 books challenge for starters. Although, if I had included picture books for children, I would have romped it in! Last year I easily read and … Continue reading The End…
Teen romance, The Gravity of Us never quite reached the stars it was aiming for. It took me ages to finish this cute story about budding online journalist Cal and 'astrokid', Leon. The romance was sweet, tender and funny and the stuff about NASA's astronaut program that both families were caught up in, was fascinating too, but … Continue reading The Gravity of Us | Phil Stamper #TeenFiction
A Testament of Character is book 10 in the Rowland Sinclair Mystery series, and really, if you haven't dipped your toes into this series yet, you really don't know what you're missing! While my love for the Maisie Dobbs series (see previous review) has waxed and waned a little, my love for Rowly and his … Continue reading A Testament of Character | Sulari Gentill #CosyCrime
The White Girl by Tony Birch was my August book club choice. I'm always a little nervous when it's my turn to pick the book in case it turns out to be a book universally disliked, poorly written or just one of those duds that doesn't spark any kind of joy in anyone. Thankfully, that … Continue reading The White Girl | Tony Birch #AUSfiction
What does one read during a pandemic that has changed the way we all live our lives? The Plague (La Peste) by Albert Camus of course! This existentialist (or absurdist, depending on who you talk to) classic from 1947 presents us with the day to day changes that occurred in a small city in Algeria … Continue reading The Plague | Albert Camus #ReadtheNobels
I had to remind myself of the exact definition of elegy as I was reading Ayad Akhtar's latest novel, Homeland Elegies: A Novel. In a promotional video on the Little Brown publishing page, he mentioned this book was not only about that longing for the home country that his parent's generation felt, but an elegiac … Continue reading Homeland Elegies | Ayad Akhtar #USfiction
Humankind: A Hopeful History is more than just a popular science book that hits the right note during this unsettling time in our human history. For starters, Bregman uses a LOT more footnotes than one usually finds in a popular science book. He has obviously spent a lot of time researching, questioning and thinking about … Continue reading Humankind: A Hopeful History | Rutger Bregman #NonFiction
A big part of the reason I love reading Maigret's so much is the glimpse into life in Paris in the middle of the 20th century. Maigret and the Killer opens with Mrs Maigret and her man, dining out with friends discussing the merits of the Madame Pardon's 'unparalleled boeuf bourguignon...filling, yet refined', provincial cookery … Continue reading Maigret and the Killer | Georges Simenon #ParisinJuly
My journey with The Parisian has been a labour of love. I started reading it the week before Australia went pear-shaped with Covid-19 back in March. I was really enjoying it, but it's a thoughtful read and I struggled to give this book the attention it deserved during those early, weird weeks of Covid confusion. For … Continue reading The Parisian | Isabella Hammad
I recently read an interview with Ann Patchett where see was asked about hard it was to scrap a piece of writing that wasn't working and to start again. The interviewer thought it might almost be like a little death to let go a hard-won piece of writing, but Patchett was more pragmatic. Her reply … Continue reading The End of the World is Bigger than Love | Davina Bell #AWW
The rave reviews are the hardest, aren't they? It took me a few chapters to fall into this story, but when I fell, I really fell! The Dutch House turned out to be one of those wonderful, rich reading experiences that you wish would never end. Part gothic fairy tale and part psychological study of two … Continue reading The Dutch House | Ann Patchett #20BooksofWinter
This is how it happens.Barely a week into 20 Books of Summer Winter, with only two books from the list half started, my lovely Penguin rep hands over a September new release and says, "I defy you to read the first chapter and not want to read the rest."Challenge accepted!Given my predilection for cosy crime, … Continue reading The Thursday Murder Club | Richard Osman #CosyCrime
