whatcathyread

‘Christmas is a Sad Season for the Poor’ by John Cheever (from his Collected Stories).

12/12/2025

If it wasn’t for my friend Sara, I might never have discovered this gem of a writer. Sara loaned me Waterlog: A Swimmer’s Journey through Britain by Roger Deakin. Deacon’s journey was inspired by Cheever’s short story ‘The Swimmer’. I wasn’t that fussed about Waterlog but was instantly captivated by the idea behind ‘The Swimmer’, … More ‘Christmas is a Sad Season for the Poor’ by John Cheever (from his Collected Stories).

Fools of Fortune by William Trevor

28/11/2025

In July, Hubby and I spent a week in the city of Cork, Ireland’s second-city (though with a population of only 300,000 it feels more like a large town). I love exploring new places. Aside from the joy to be had from the main sights, there’s the thrill of simply wandering around a strange city, … More Fools of Fortune by William Trevor

Heart Lamp Selected Stories by Banu Mushtaq translated by Deepa Bashti

24/10/2025

If you follow my blog you’ll probably realise that I mostly read prize-winning books. That’s not because I think prize winners are the only books worth reading (sometimes I don’t even rate them all that highly). No, I read the prize winners because I get to read books that I wouldn’t otherwise pick up – … More Heart Lamp Selected Stories by Banu Mushtaq translated by Deepa Bashti

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

26/09/2025

Earlier this year I was on a walk with my friend Hal when he brought up my blog post on Orlando. If you read my post, you might remember I confessed to not liking Woolf’s major novels, Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927) and The Waves (1931). (I did acknowledge I might have been … More To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

22/08/2025

If you’ve read my blog post about Bart Van Es’s biography The Cut Out Girl, you’ll know that during World War Two, The Netherlands (Nazi-occupied at the time) was so efficient at rounding up its Jewish population, that the death rate was the highest in Europe, higher even than in Germany. I highly recommend Van … More The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

American Pastoral by Philip Roth

25/07/2025

A couple of months ago (at the time of writing) Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer made a speech about how Britain risks becoming an “island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together” due to uncontrolled immigration. He later said he deeply regretted his choice of words, but it got me thinking about the … More American Pastoral by Philip Roth

Normal People by Sally Rooney

27/06/2025

The ancient Greeks had a theory about soul-mates. It was said the first humans were spherical and twice the size of present-day humans, and were cut in half by Zeus as a punishment for misbehaviour – literally cut down to size – splitting their souls between two bodies. A variation of the same myth said … More Normal People by Sally Rooney

Orbital by Samantha Harvey

23/05/2025

A couple of months ago I was in Madrid with my friend, Cath. It was a joy to visit Spain with her not least because she’s a fluent Spanish-speaker and knows a lot about the culture. In the Prado we lingered over the museum’s most famous artwork Las Meninas (the Ladies-in Waiting) by Velazquez, which … More Orbital by Samantha Harvey

Waterlog: A Swimmer’s Journey through Britain by Roger Deakin

25/04/2025

During the COVID lockdown, with all swimming pools shut like many others I took to the sea. I didn’t have to go far: only a few miles along the coast from my home there is a lovely, sheltered bay. Immersion was gloriously cold and exhilarating, and I loved it…but having a healthy respect for tides, … More Waterlog: A Swimmer’s Journey through Britain by Roger Deakin

Restless by William Boyd

28/03/2025

“False information can be just as useful, influential, as telling, transforming or as damaging as true information…how could you tell what was genuine and what was the product of a clever, devious and determined mind?” Barely a day goes by, it seems, without talk of fake news and disinformation, and services such BBC Verify exist … More Restless by William Boyd