There’s nothing quite like reading a book set in a city when you’re in that city. (Ouch, that’s clumsily phrased, but I trust you get the gist.) For context, I’m currently in Bangkok, and have thoroughly enjoyed reading the 2nd instalment in the Sonchai Jitpleecheep series, a detective series set …
This fascinating biography of Elizabeth Hawley, a Kathmandu-based American woman, is an absolutely riveting read. Elizabeth Hawley was an avowed non-climber who was, nevertheless, the ultimate authority and arbiter on all things Himalayan climbing and mountaineering. For decades she interviewed climbers as they passed though Kathmandu, grilling them in detail …
Wilting in Delhi’s fearsome summer heat and humidity, and still wary because of the pandemic, I am currently on a mountain reading binge, trying to imagine/will myself out of the heat and up into the hills. Of all the books I’ve read of late, this one might just be my …
Oh, the joy of “discovering” a new writer. Whoops, the slight embarrassment when you realise that everyone else in the world except you already knows about said writer. And so, having got that off my chest, let’s talk about Peter James. I was riveted by “Dead Simple” – published in …
No doubt about it, John Grisham is a cracking storyteller, and “The Broker” is a gripping read from start to finish. This is one of the least “legal” of Mr. Grisham’s novels (at least amongst the ones I have read) and even though the broker in question is indeed a …
“The Devotion of Suspect X,” the cult Japanese thriller by Keigo Higashino has at long last been translated into English. This story of murder and its consequences, set in modern-day suburban Tokyo, is (in the words of all good book reviews) a gripping page-turner. Seriously, however clichéd that description might …
Reading this funny, clever book about Venice and Varanasi, the two ultimate water-based dramatic, atmospheric, crumbling cities, whilst on holiday in Varanasi made the whole experience that much more fun. If not a little bizarre. Adding to the deliciousness of it all, I’d literally just read the incident in the …
The books I had taken on a holiday up in the mountains were finished, so I poked around on my host’s book-shelves. “Is this one any good ?” I asked, holding up a copy of “One shot”. “Um, don’t know, can’t remember. Let me have a look.” Re-reading the enthusiastic …
The Mary Russell series of whodunnits – also featuring her husband, one older gentleman named Sherlock Holmes – is a joy to read. Fun, ever so slightly irreverent, and good mysteries in their own right, regardless of the high profile husband and his famous friends. This novel takes us to …
