Cool reads for hot days
What a joy this was – a journey through a working life, but so much more. At the start of his career outlined here, Burrows was working on TV shows that, though huge in America, meant little to me. In the midpoint and right through his career, though, he was in everyone’s house every week.…
April, May (if we’re lucky)
Confession: I didn’t enjoy the Jackson Brodie book before this one; I found it a bit bleak. No hint of that here – although like all the protagonists of crime series, Brodie has his demons. This is a wild romp through the genre, with humanity and good humour. Atkinson doesn’t shy away from the central…
March(ing) with books
I was in the mood for something slim. Something with pictures. A book with each page dedicated to a new topic. This really hit the spot. The format is limiting, of course, but sometimes boundaries are helpful, aren’t they? This book is the partner to a tv show of the same name. Giving the same…
Glad that’s over
The worst of the winter is behind us. January, what a month – lasts 7 weeks, all of them cold and overcast, and all the big events are disasters. February, short but bitter. Good thing we have books. This wasn’t a comfort read or comfortable, but highly enjoyable. Set in Kyiv in 1919 it concerns…
Words in Winter
This was the perfect winter read. Set on hot humid days (and nights) in New Orleans, the novel perfectly captures the dreamy, hazy, insubstantial quality of that place. The characters are charming, funny, doomed. The scale of the story is small, but the emotions and consequences are epic. The novel was published in 1997 but…
Falling leaves, turning pages
This is the month to snuggle up with easy reads and Fremlin won’t let you down – though she’s not a cosy companion. This is another reprint from the author of the terrifying Uncle Paul, a smash hit a few years ago (after being a smash hit many decades ago.) This is equally scary; gothic…
What I read on the beach*
*there was no beach I have a soft spot for Cally Taylor ever since I attended one of her writing workshops. She’s Bristol-based too, but the main reason to read one of her thrillers is the sheer ease with which you’ll slip through the pages. She piles the tension on and the characters will hold…
May
After visiting Gibraltar I thought I really ought to read more about what does still appear to be its defining characteristics – natural fortress, maritime haven, strategic treasure. This book romps along with tales of derring-do, heroism, idiocy and many many deaths. Rankin doesn’t hide anything away, and he carefully puts the human at the…
March into April
This book was fascinating and challenging but I felt excluded. The writer explicitly states she’s writing for women in their 40s and 50s so older women don’t form part of her analysis. The examples are chilling, but the last person I want to disagree with is another feminist. A good read though, well written, equally…
January
I’m not sure why I selected this book and having finished it I’m still bewildered by it. With a weirdly complicated and meandering plot and a large family of only mildly pleasant characters it held me in thrall despite myself. It was overwhelmingly moving at times and perfectly captured the haunting power of a favourite children’s book.…
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Suzy D Harris 