Shuggie Bain, by Douglas Stuart (2020)

Set in Thatcherite Britain in the early 80s this is the story of a young boy, raised by an alcoholic mother in the tenements and schemes of and around Glasgow. The story is, in part, autobiographical. At the beginning of the novel we are introduced to a young man who is working on a deli …

The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman (2020)

Richard Osman is one of those affable, gentle types who I'm sure started out somewhere in comedy and rose to TV ubiquity whilst I was on holiday or something. Since conquering TV-land I suppose the next logical frontier is publishing. So great is Osman's star that, I believe, a 6 or 7 figure bidding war …

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (1934)

Whilst at the end of a trip to Syria Poirot is called back to London on urgent business. He secures a compartment on the Orient Express and sets upon his long west-ward journey from Istanbul. The carriages are unusually full, so says the Director of The Train Operator, M. Bouc, friend and confidante of M …

Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell (2020)

Hope you're all sitting down because I'm actually going to review a book that creeps into this decade! So, a book club read - not one I would have chosen. You can imagine my dismay then when I saw the mountainous pile on the table. This is a vast book - something like over 500 …

Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie (1933)

Lady Edgware, the beautiful yet self-absorbed young wife of Lord Edgware, wants a divorce so she can marry and advance further up the social ladder. However, upon learning the unexpected news that her husband will grant her what she wishes, a scandal engulfs London as Lady Edgware is accused of murder when her husband is …

Year End Round Up: Part 1

Oh hi. You may remember me. I used to read books and share my half baked ideas with the world. After my rather fabulous trip to Europe (which I only got round to sharing half of - think there’s a pattern emerging) I got super busy with work and writing. And the house. We’re at …

Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian (1970)

Hi! Remember me? It's been a while and I thought I might bundle a few reviews together but this one was practically good to go, so here it is! This is a 'dad' book. Many years ago he suggested I read HMS Ulysses by Alistair Maclean (which I loved) and he also mentioned this one …

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward (2021)

This book made me sick. Honestly, the first few pages and I wasn't even sure how I was going to get through it all. The reason it made me sick was because of the gut wrenching, not sure where it's going and how it's going to end kind of a way. It's the same way …

The Mysterious Affair At Styles, by Agatha Christie (1920)

You know where you are with Ms Christie, let's call her 'Safe Hands'. Although I must confess I'm not sure I've read a tremendous amount of her books - an oversight I must correct of course. So, beginning with the first Poirot made eminent sense! Listening to these novels is an excellent way of ramping …

Belinda, by Maria Edgeworth (1801)

Published in 1801 this little tome is much the same as many other books that followed in its wake in terms of themes of marriage, friendships, family and coming of age. But then it's also quite different. Young Belinda Portman is sent, by her Aunt Stanhope, to stay with Lady Delacour in London. Lady Delacour …

The Last Tycoon, F. Scott Fitzgerald (1940)

From the Gilded Age, of the previous post, to the Golden Age of Hollywood, The Last Tycoon is the final, unfinished novel by the author F Scott Fitzgerald. Published posthumously in 1941, we are told the story of Monroe Stahr, one of the great movie producers of the golden age of cinema, through the eyes …

Vile Bodies, by Evelyn Waugh

Now, bear with me whilst it may seem that I'm starting off on a bit of a tangent (if that's even possible). By a quirk of fate I read recently a review of Paris Hilton's new Netflix series about her cooking. In a kitchen. I watched her first foray into this arena on Youtube and …

Art and Literature

The Doll Factory and Brideshead Revisted. On the surface there's not much to connect them. One is historical fiction, set in Victorian England and tells the story of a young woman on the fringes of a new art movement. The other is written just after the second war, set in the interwar years and weaves …

So much for that…and other stories

I've been on a bit of a reading spree in the past couple of weeks and so I needed to consult Goodreads to see what I've actually read. After Crime and Punishment I opted for some light reading - The Jane Austen Society (2020) by Natalie Jenner, The Big Sleep (1939) by Raymond Chandler, The …

Redemption (I’ve finished Crime and Punishment!)

**THERE MAY BE SPOILERS** It's been a while! In the millennia I've been absent I've moved, walked a lot and not read very much. I've also successfully relocated my cat, Edward and unpacked most of the boxes that have filled my life for...well, several months now. Life is more settled now so, hopefully, I can …

Intermission: Does Crime Pay?

I'm always quite curious to know about movie adaptations of books I'm currently reading - often it can be quite a diversionary interlude from the story if it's a little slow at any point. However, not so with Crime and Punishment although I have taken a little peek, in this case, to see how far …

Translations

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Where to begin? Well, most people would pick up a copy and turn to the first page. Not so simple in the world of Dostoyevsky, Russian literature and translations. What it seems to boil down to is how to capture the very essence of the writing. So, it's not …

India

More by accident than design I have embarked on some books this year which are set in, or refer to, this great continent. Miss Marjoribanks makes reference to Tom, Lucilla's cousin, who travels there to make something of himself. Despite Oliphant's extensive travels I'm not sure she made it to those shores herself. The second …

Miss Marjoribanks (1866), Margaret Oliphant

We meet Miss Marjoribanks at two periods of her life with an intermission of 10 years. In the first part of the book we arrive at the point her mother dies and she sets about making it her aim in life to be a comfort to her dear papa. A time limit of 10 years …

Author: Margaret Oliphant (1828-1897)

I was musing in my previous post about Margaret Oliphant's lack of visibility on the Victorian Author's Stage. We are so well versed in the stories of those female authors who died young, unwed and childless (an intentional sweeping generalisation) that there seems to be little room left for those authors who have the temerity …