More than a decade ago my sister bought me The Modern Library: The 200 Best Books Written in English Since 1950 (Carmen Callil and Colm Toibin, Picador, 1999). There are lots of books of the same ilk and any ‘best’ list is bound to be subjective. So it mostly sits untouched on the bookshelf next … More The Secret History by Donna Tartt
My RE teacher relished moral dilemmas. She’d take a Commandment, thou shalt not kill, or thou shalt not bear false witness, say, and then question us to explore their outer limits. Would you murder one person to save the lives of many? Would you lie to hide a painful truth? Faith Sunderly, the teenage heroine … More The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge
When I go to a bookshop, I’m like a magpie in a field full of shiny things. My cousin is the opposite; she buys books one at a time. Last time we went to a bookshop together, of all the books that caught her eye she plumped for the longest on the grounds that it … More The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
Murder mystery isn’t normally my genre of choice. Not sure why not, because invariably I enjoy it on those rare occasions I read it. But, hey, I was spending 12 days in sunny Corfu so in keeping with the spirit of holiday as being a break from the norm, I downloaded Sharp Objects, Gillian Flynn’s … More Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
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