If you have not encountered the incomparable Miriam Margolyes in the past, I don’t know how to describe her to you other than to say that she is a truly singular personality. She is a British dramatic legend who has spent most of her adult life on stage, in front of the camera or READ MORE
Category: Sunday Review
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | HENCH – NATALIE ZINA WALSCHOTS
This book was a fascinating reversal of our usual superhero tale. This one is not only told from the perspective of the villains of the piece, but, even more interestingly, from the perspective of one of their henchwomen. In this story, henches are often contract employees. The story starts with Anna, a novice hench, READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE KNITTING CIRCLE – ANN HOOD
I love knitting, and I also love the idea of a craft – particularly one that is traditionally women’s domain – offering both solace in and of itself during difficult times, and also an opportunity to connect with other women while learning and practicing the craft. Ann Hood is the editor of a couple READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE AIR RAID BOOK CLUB – ANNIE LYONS
When this book starts, Gertie Bingham has just lost her beloved husband. She still has the bookstore that they ran together and her lovely dog, Hemingway, but she’s foundering. She’s lonely at home, adrift in her life, and can’t engage with the bookstore as she did when Harry was alive. When she’s there she’s haunted READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | LEGENDS & LATTES – TRAVIS BALDREE
I doubt there’s a single one of you reading this who has not heard of this book. It has to be one of the most popular, widely discussed books on the bookish internet in the past year – not just in the circles who read fantasy books, but amongst everyone. I’m not one for READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | HAPPILY EVER AFTER & EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN – DEBBIE TUNG
Relationships are tricky. Each one is different, and all are full of ups and downs, lovely moments and the most frustrating personal habits you’ve ever encountered. It’s all a mix, and it’s never perfect. But when you love someone enough, those quirks and oddities can be (mostly) endearing. You know, to a point. I READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE SKYLARK’S WAR – HILARY MCKAY
I’ve read many books that deal with the second world war – it’s usually the only historical time period that I’ll actively seek to read about – but this book is set earlier, before and during the first world war. And yet, it felt familiar in the way that WWII narratives feel familiar, because READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE LITTLEST LIBRARY – POPPY ALEXANDER
I don’t normally jive with romances, as you all know by now, but once in a while I do enjoy picking one up if it has other things that appeal to me about the story. Being an admitted bibliophile, any book that is about readers will automatically pique my interest, and if the story READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | HOW HIGH WE GO IN THE DARK – SEQUOIA NAGAMATSU
Another BookTube Prize selection for 2023, this was not a book I even had on my radar, let alone my TBR. And it was not at all what I expected, based on the very little I read before picking it up. Rather than a true novel, this book takes the form of a series READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | YOUNG MUNGO – DOUGLAS STUART
I read this for The BookTube Prize in the summer of 2023, though it wasn’t one I had planned to read otherwise. I read Shuggie Bain in 2021 for the same reason, and while I found it difficult going – of course – I was also glad I read it. It was dark, being READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | SON OF ELSEWHERE – ELAMIN ABDELMAHMOUD
This was the first book I read in 2023. If I’m honest I’ve been putting off writing this review – not because I didn’t like it (I really, really did), but because I’m still not sure what I want to say about it. I don’t have a proper explanation for it, but this book READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | A THOUSAND WAYS TO PAY ATTENTION – REBECCA SCHILLER
Minds that work differently are seen as outliers – and that’s if they’re seen at all. Those of us who are neurodivergent (especially those of us who aren’t aware of that important piece of our identity) spend our lives being told we are – in various ways – not right. We don’t fit in, READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | DEMON COPPERHEAD – BARBARA KINGSOLVER
Is there anyone out there in bookland who hasn’t heard of this book? It feels like it has been taking the reading world by storm over the past year, and being discussed by… well, pretty much everyone. It co-won the Pulitzer Prize and won the Women’s Prize for Fiction – which saw Barbara Kingsolver READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | COMMUNITY BOARD – TARA CONKLIN
This was another random library find, one that caught my attention because of the cover and because I vaguely remembered hearing about The Last Romantics when it came out years ago (but never read). It’s an interesting concept. Darcy Clipper is dealing with some personal issues in the form of a cheating ex-husband and career READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE DIARY OF A BOOKSELLER – SHAUN BYTHELL
I mean, let’s face it, if you’re on this blog reading this review, this book is going to be your cup of tea. It’s really that simple. After all, which one of us hasn’t dreamed about what it would be like to be a bookseller? To be surrounded by books all day, every day? READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | WE ARE NEVER MEETING IN REAL LIFE – SAMANTHA IRBY
So apparently I have been living under a rock, because I didn’t really know much about Samantha Irby. I’d heard of her books when they came out, and I had been vaguely interested (I think I have a copy of one of her other titles buried in a pile of books somewhere around here READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | MY MESS IS A BIT OF A LIFE – GEORGIA PRITCHETT
This was yet another random discovery I made while perusing audiobooks, and thought I might as well give it a go. I knew nothing going in. Not what the book was about (other than what’s on the cover), not who Georgia Pritchett is, not how the book would be structured. Nothing. But you know READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | EVERYTHING IS OK – DEBBIE TUNG
**Trigger Warning: This book and this review deal with and discuss mental health issues – depression in particular. If you are sensitive to or triggered by this topic, please take care of yourself and skip this review.** I discovered Debbie Tung last year when I was looking for graphic novels, and books that READ MORE