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
It’s 1 January 2017 when I’m writing this (Happy New Year!) although I actually read Theft in summer 2016. Life, in the guise of renovating a house, then moving house, then a significant birthday, then making good the old house, conspired to get in the way of book reviews. I acquired Theft from my hubby, … More Theft: A Love Story by Peter Carey
“A man is a god in ruins” Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature Kate Atkinson won the Costa Novel Award 2013 for Life After Life about the lives (yes, lives) of Ursula Todd. In 2015 she won it again with A God in Ruins, about the life of Teddy Todd, Ursula’s younger brother. Having read and enjoyed … More A God In Ruins by Kate Atkinson
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
“How long shall they kill our prophets While we stand around and look? Some say it’s just a part of it. We’ve got to fulfil the book.” Redemption Song, 1980 On 3 December 1976, two days before he was to appear at a free concert organised by the Jamaican Prime Minister, Bob Marley was shot … More A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
I’m 50 later this year and planning to have a small house party to mark the occasion. I want the night to be special, obviously, but not pretentious or over complicated. Even though it’s four months away, I’m already starting to worry about which date would be best, who to invite, what kind of event, … More Larry’s Party by Carol Shields
About 10 years ago hubby and I bought a run-down maisonette that made up the top two floors of a Victorian house, renovating it over five months before moving in. Three years later when the flat beneath came up for sale we snapped it up, did it up (spit and polish rather than a lavish … More The Watch by Joydeep Roy-Battacharya
Several years ago, out of the blue, my big sister got an e-mail from a man called Jim who lived in Australia and happened to be a second cousin we didn’t know we had. Jim was researching the Nesbitt family tree, and one of its branches led him to us in England. Other branches led … More Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
I’ll let you into a secret: when I was a teenager I accepted a lift from a stranger. I was travelling alone to visit my big sis’, a trip I’d made several times before with my mum but I had my nose in a book instead of my eyes on the road and contrived to … More Felicia’s Journey by William Trevor
Should I stay or should I go now? If I go there will be trouble. An’ if I stay there will be double (from The Clash’s single Should I Stay or Should I Go?) The Inheritance of Loss won the Man Booker prize in 2006. It opens in the remote Himalayan town of Kalimpong, where a retired … More The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
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