Guards! Guards! by Terry PratchettMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
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Sunday, 10 May 2020
Sunday, 3 May 2020
Saturday, 25 April 2020
Thursday, 16 April 2020
Review: A Gentleman in Moscow
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor TowlesMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
A book about a man living life to the full while under house arrest feels like pretty much essential reading in these times. Mind you, he does have the run of a posh hotel - so has a lot more space to kick about in than most of us at the moment.
Not too sure how tolerant I would be of the underlying message that friends and family that make our life rich rather than worldly experiences if I wasn't living in a lockdown situation. Not that it is a bad, or untrue, message, it is just that I suspect I would find it a bit simplistic if wasn't preoccupied by a pandemic. Do now feel the need to read something a bit more cynical.
But if you need a feel-good book to get you through not being able to leave the house, you could do worse than pick this up.
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Sunday, 22 March 2020
Saturday, 18 January 2020
Review: Girl, Woman, Other
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine EvaristoMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
Each of Evaristo's 12 characters are well drawn, from the (on the surface) uptight Shirley to the non-binary Morgan. They are all believably flawed yet sympathetic individuals in their own ways. Some of the male characters come across as a bit one dimensional but that actually makes for a refreshing change to the gazillion of books out there that have one-dimensional female characters.
Not going to say anything about the book's examination of what it means to be a black woman in Britain because, well, I'm not black. Therefore, I don't really have the right to say anything other than I probably need to listen more.
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Friday, 6 December 2019
Review: Olive Kitteridge
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth StroutMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I really struggled to get through this - in fact, I skipped the penultimate chapter. Part of the issue is that it's a series of short stories (with Olive as the interconnecting theme) rather than a straightforward novel. I found keeping track of the different characters hardgoing at times (wasn't always clear if there were two characters with the same name or one character at different time points).
That said, I can't fault the writing or how well drawn the characters were. Even if a character only featured in one chapter, they were fully realised.
Oliver herself is difficult to be around. She is deeply unlikable at times but, to be fair, also relatable. So relatable that I'm not absolutely sure that I won't find myself picking up the sequel (Olive Again).
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