Possibly book-review-purists would claim that personal context shouldn’t shape your thoughts about a book – where you are, how you feel etc etc shouldn’t influence a review. I beg to differ. Where I am, how I’m feeling, do have an impact, so since I’m currently recovering from a strenuous mountaineering …
I first read this book in 2004 when I solo-trekked to Everest Base Camp. I remember loving the book at the time, swept up as I was in the immensity of making it alone to EBC, never mind the mountain itself. I read everything I could lay my hands on …
It’s been a long time since I raced through a book as quickly as “You are Here”, loving every single word, laughing out loud, sometimes feeling a tad weepy, all while dreading the end of such a super story. This is a gorgeous, funny, touching love story of two lonely …
Although thrilled to discover that the talented Mick Herron has written another series besides the fabulous Slough House books, I was nonetheless a tad embarrassed to find out that “Down Cemetery Road” was actually published in 2003. Before the Slow Horses series. I mean, for crying out loud, where have …
Confession time. I’d completely forgotten that I’d read (& reviewed!!) this book 6 years ago, and it wasn’t until I was several chapters in, that I realised. Checked my review. Ah, hadn’t really enjoyed it. Wondered should I stop right there, or should I give it another go and see …
What an amazing book to kick off my 2026 reading. ”None of this is true” is gripping, more than a bit scary at times, “twisty, twisty, twisty” as one reviewer accurately put it – and truly unputdownable. There are so many twists and turns as the story progresses, forcing the …
What an absolutely fascinating book this is, and paradoxically it is about two absolutely awful people. Mr. Lownie has spent years researching the life and lifestyle of a man who, at the time of the book’s publication in August 2025, was styled Prince Andrew. Just a few weeks later, at …
After being very under-whelmed by the previous Cormoran Strike book (The Ink Black Heart), this 7th novel in the series was an absolute joy. As clichéd as it sounds, it was gripping. An absolute page-turner. And my faith in the wonderful J.K. Rowling (aka Robert Galbraith) was fully restored. It’s …
Sadly, I only really clocked that Stella Rimington was such an acclaimed novelist when I read her recent obituary. What a waste, not to have read her spy novels over the years, but I’ve made a start, and am hooked. ”At Risk”, her first book in the Liz Carlyle series, …
