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Tag: Costa Novel Award

The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey

23/07/2021

When I was a child I had an illustrated book of fairy tales. I became obsessed with the story The Little Mermaid. I remember a picture of the prince enfolding the beautiful red-headed princess in his arms and the mermaid looking on, crying, alone. Possibly it fascinated me because the mermaid didn’t marry her prince … More The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey

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Every Man For Himself by Beryl Bainbridge

20/03/2020

Hubby and I spent a week in France last summer to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. 30 years! Where did they go? When you’ve no kids, you live in a Peter Pan-like bubble where you never seem to get any older and time doesn’t seem to pass until…bam! A significant anniversary hits and it’s hard … More Every Man For Himself by Beryl Bainbridge

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10 Best Novels of the Decade: 2010 to 2019

05/01/2020

The 2010s were the first decade of my blog. Well, almost – I began whatcathyread in 2011.  I’ve read a lot of great books in that time, although I certainly can’t claim to have read everything that was published! But looking back on the books I did manage to read that were published in the … More 10 Best Novels of the Decade: 2010 to 2019

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Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor

20/12/2019

At midnight when the year turned from 1989 to 1990, hubby and I were in a pub in the Scottish village of Crianlarich (“the gateway to the Highlands”). ‘Auld Lang Syne’ was sung and there might have been fireworks, although what I remember most about that New Year, our first together as man and wife, … More Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor

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Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

24/08/2018

One summer holiday, as a ‘project’, I decided to research my family. Not my family tree, you understand, but my family. I was ten, I think; eleven at most. I devised a list of fifteen questions and then interviewed all my immediate family members, parents, brother, sister, cousin, aunts, uncle, granddad. (As children go I … More Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

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Docherty by William McIlvanney

20/07/2018

My dad was a short man with a short fuse.  Mostly affable, he could explode into violent rage at the smallest of provocations. As a child I witnessed him throw stuff in the air, hurl stuff to the floor, bang his fist on tables, and lash out at whichever unlucky sentient got in the way: … More Docherty by William McIlvanney

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How To Be Both by Ali Smith

23/06/2017

Sundays were slow days when I was growing up.  The shops were shut, and there were no computers, no internet, no dvds, and no on-demand tv. When the weather was good we played outside and when it was wet there were books, cards, dominoes, chess, draughts, jigsaws, a family games compendium and, when nothing else … More How To Be Both by Ali Smith

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The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell

18/02/2017

Once bitten, twice shy? If you’ve read my earlier review of O’Farrell’s Instructions on a Heat Wave you’ll know it wasn’t for me.  Still I’m all for second chances, and having been told by a member of my book group that The Hand That First Held Mine was better – it won the 2010 Costa … More The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell

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A God In Ruins by Kate Atkinson

07/01/2017

“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

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Reviews

  • The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
  • Continent by Jim Crace
  • The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
  • Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree
  • Mr Wilder & Me by Jonathan Coe
  • Some of the books on my reading list for 2023…
  • Quarantine by Jim Crace
  • Spies by Michael Frayn
  • The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
  • Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope
  • Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
  • The Kids by Hannah Lowe
  • The Promise by Damon Galgut
  • Learning to Talk: short stories by Hilary Mantel
  • English Journey by J B Priestley
  • At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop
  • Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
  • The Sacred and Profane Love Machine by Iris Murdoch
  • Miscellanea
  • Dracula by Bram Stoker
  • The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
  • Injury Time by Beryl Bainbridge
  • Twopence to Cross the Mersey by Helen Forrester
  • The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld (translated by Michelle Hutchinson)
  • The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey
  • Elegies by Douglas Dunn
  • The Children of Dynmouth by William Trevor
  • The Volunteer: The True Story of the Resistance Hero who Infiltrated Auschwitz by Jack Fairweather
  • The Chip-Chip Gatherers by Shiva Naipaul
  • The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
  • The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel
  • Love Is Blind by William Boyd
  • Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi (translated by Marilyn Booth)
  • Music and Silence by Rose Tremain
  • The Destiny Waltz by Gerda Charles
  • The Bird of Night by Susan Hill
  • Footnotes – A Journey Round Britain in the Company of Great Writers by Peter Fiennes
  • The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
  • Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo
  • The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
  • Every Man For Himself by Beryl Bainbridge
  • The Accidental by Ali Smith
  • The Reservoir Tapes by Jon McGregor
  • 10 Best Novels of the Decade: 2010 to 2019
  • Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor
  • Emily Dickinson – poems selected by Ted Hughes
  • The Cut Out Girl by Bart Van Es
  • Hopeful Monsters by Nicholas Mosley
  • Milkman by Anna Burns
  • Somewhere Towards The End by Diana Athill

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