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Currently Reading…
How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran. It's funny cos it's true.
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. Stuck half way, but it's true, her eyes do change colour. Like David Bowie. Or a Blythe doll.
Recently read…
Gumble's Yard by John Rowe Townsend.
Noah's Castle by John Rowe Townsend.
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness. Grim, but brilliant kids' book.
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. Brilliant dystopian book for teens. The short prequel is a free Kindle download.
Seven Types of Ambiguity by Elliot Perlman. 607 pages, seven viewpoints of the same extraordinarily inter-twined events. Clever, full of good ideas but I didn't warm to the main character and didn't love it anywhere near as much as A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz.
The Fear by Charlie Higson.
Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson. I HATED this book - which was a surprise as I really liked the previous 3 Jackson Brodies, esp the previous one. Why? Too many characters I didn't care about. Not enough Jackson Brodie. And I know it's grim up North - but just too, too grim. Forced myself to finish it, but only because I bloody paid for it.
When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson. MUCH better than the TV adaptation, which I found very confusing. Very readable - some of the turns choices made by the main characters have had me going 'whaaat'? but it's all the more believable and enjoyable for them.
One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson. Good, but didn't enjoy it as much as Case Histories.
Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. Bliss.
Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi by Geoff Dyer.
Solar by Ian McEwan. Good holiday read but not stunning literature.
One Day by David Nicholls. I am officially the last person-but-one in England to read this. Loved it, though. Bastard.
Moonraker by Ian Fleming. Ah, another improbably-named young woman to see you, Mr Bond. (Like I can talk).
Obstacles to Young Love by David Nobbs. This lad Nobbs will go far. Funny, touching, very occasionally annoying, but a damn fine novel.
The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim by Jonathan Coe. Hated the ending. Sorry. Sure it's been done elsewhere. My first, and probably last, Coe.
Hungry the Stars and Everything by Emma Jane Unsworth. Delicious!
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber. It's Dickens with swear words. In a good way.
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. From 1949. Perfect. It's so good, I love it so much. Cannot believe I've never read this before.
Jar City by Arnaldur Indriðason - bit disappointed. Just a police procedural. Not that odd. No big DNA conspiracy.
The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford - I proof-read a neighbour's uni essay on this and had to read it. Bleak it is, so bleak - especially for a man of my age and circumstance. Almost gave up but half way through I 'got it' and glad I finished it. But grim. Grim.
The Game by Jack London.
The Man Who Went Up In Smoke by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. 2nd Martin Beck novel from the original masters of the modern (1960s) police procedural.
Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming. I enjoyed this WAY more than Engleby. Really good, flavour of Bond captured very well indeed.
Dead Man's Cove by Lauren St John. Great children's book, set in St Ives, Cornwall. If the Laura Marlin Mysteries continue like this, I might have to write my own Caitlin Ros Mysteries. (Geddit?!)
Sweet Desserts by Lucy Ellman.
Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming.
Engleby by Sebastian Faulks. My first Faulks - he's too damn popular with the ladies for my liking. I almost gave up on it on page 85. Luckily something happens on page 86. Blog post coming...
Street Kids by Chandrika Kaviraj. Excellent unpublished story for older children set in Pakistan and India during Partition.
The Sacred Art of Stealing by Christopher Brookmyre.
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming. My first Bond. It's just as I would have hoped and expected. And me oh my does Vesper Lynd remind me of someone.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. There's a stunning novel in here, struggling to get out. Just spare me the state of Russian agriculture, Leo, I beg you...
Nemesis by Jo Nesbø - this is shaping up very nicely, up there with The Snowman and The Redeemer.Calendar
Category Archives: literature
Potter Puppet Pals
I saw this on the CBBC show Chute! By the end I was laughing out loud.
Posted in internet, literature
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Another reading list
Here’s a good game… found on a blog called Never Judge A Book By Its Cover. “Someone” [she doesn't say who] reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed. It’s not the … Continue reading
Posted in literature
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What’s the point..?
Today I was killing time while my sons had their swimming lesson. I walked around the outside of the pool with my daughter. As we got ready to go back inside I heard a man say to his young son … Continue reading
Posted in children, family life, literature
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In watermelon sugar the deeds were done…
Just took my Richard Brautigan anthology off the shelf and it looks like I haven’t read it in a while. The bookmark is one of the strips of paper BBC World Service studio managers used to write their shifts down … Continue reading
Posted in BBC, fiction, literature, nostalgia, radio
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The Tree that Couldn’t Grow Leaves
(another short story, I’m afraid… look away) Winterlong the tall tree stood shoulder-to-shoulder with all the other trees beside the busy road that snaked through the forest. The tree spent the short days watching the ebb and flow of the … Continue reading
Posted in fiction
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An Imagined Affair – Part 3
PART THREE OF THREE Back in the cheap cafe. KEVIN: Hello. You’re late. MARTIN: Yes. Sorry. Very hard to get way some times. The editor is doing his nut for the summer issue, there’s a special pull-out section on… KEVIN: … Continue reading
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An Imagined Affair – Part 2
PART TWO A week later. Interior, fairly posh restaurant. Kevin is sitting alone at a table talking quietly into his mobile phone. KEVIN: …no, well I have to say it went very well. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by … Continue reading
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An Imagined Affair – Part 1
(A SKETCH IN THREE PARTS) Kevin is an out-of-work actor, Martin works in publishing. They are both in their late 30s. PART ONE Interior, cheap London cafe. MARTIN: Hello? Er, are you Kevin? KEVIN: Yes, that’s me. Always try to … Continue reading
Posted in fiction
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Ugly Bloke
(A short story. Sorry.) What is it with beautiful women and ugly blokes? You’ve heard that before, right – some stand-up or other? But it truly happens and it makes me crazy with fury and rage at the injustice of … Continue reading
Posted in fiction
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All Cornwall is latent and the remoter west
I read this fine passage from E M Forster today, on the train appropriately enough, and wished I’d spotted it in time to add it to my essay on train travel between Paddington and Slough. Somehow it is made even … Continue reading
Posted in grief, literature, travel
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