I’ve heard wonderful things about Max Porter’s last novel, Grief Is the Thing with Feathers. It wasn’t a story that appealed to me, but I was curious about Porter’s writing because all the rave reviews talked about his linguistic ability. Lanny has started to generate similar praise, bolstered now by the book’s inclusion on READ MORE
Category: Book Review
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | LOCKING UP OUR OWN – JAMES FORMAN JR.
Let me begin with the one thing I want you to take away from this review: You need to read this book. I don’t care who you are, what your background is, whether you live in the USA or whether you are even interested in this topic. You need to read this book. It READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | DEAR MRS. BIRD – A.J. PEARCE
This book intrigued me because it has a couple of the things I generally perk my ears up when I hear: WWII home front account of women’s lives during the war, and a young woman trying to carve out a career for herself as a journalist. Plus it’s set in London, so bonus! I READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | MY LOVELY WIFE IN THE PSYCH WARD – MARK LUKACH
I’ve had this book sitting on my shelves pretty much since it came out. I was drawn to it because it’s about a woman suffering through some serious mental health issues, which strikes a chord with me, but also because it’s not written by her – it’s written by her husband. This is a READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | DAISY JONES & THE SIX – TAYLOR JENKINS REID
Everyone and their dog, I’m pretty sure literally, has been raving about this book. On the face of it, it didn’t seem that different from any other book marketed to women set in the 20th century. This one is set in the 1970s and centres around a fictional band that split mysteriously after playing READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | PATIENT – BEN WATT
I came to this book after reading two of Tracey Thorn’s books – Bedsit Disco Queen and Naked At the Albert Hall. She and Ben met in college, and not only went on to create one of the hit bands of the ’90s, Everything But the Girl, but build a life and family together. READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | SMALL ANIMALS – KIM BROOKS
I feel like I’m taking my very life in my hands writing a review of this book, fraught as the topic is with judgement, opinions and our certainty that our own viewpoint is the correct one (if you want to see what I’m talking about, check out the comments on reviews of this book READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | BIRDS, BEASTS AND RELATIVES – GERALD DURRELL
Birds, Beasts and Relatives is the second book in Gerald Durrell’s Corfu Trilogy, a series of stories about the time his family upped sticks and moved from drizzy, depressing England to the Mediterranean island of Corfu. I read the first in the series, My Family and Other Animals, last summer (though I believe it READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | KID GLOVES – LUCY KNISLEY
As a new(ish) mom, I’m always on the lookout for books that share the intimate and less rosy parts of becoming and being a mother. This book is focused on the pregnancy itself, and promised to do just that. I’ve never read anything by Lucy Knisley before, though I have a couple of her READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | ON THE COME UP – ANGIE THOMAS
Unless you reside under a particularly large and heavy rock, you will have heard of Angie Thomas’ first book, The Hate U Give, which came out in 2017. If you haven’t heard of it, please do yourself a solid, stop reading, go buy it or borrow it or steal it (okay, maybe not that READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE SILENCE OF THE GIRLS – PAT BARKER
I didn’t want to read this book. Not because I didn’t think it would be good – I’ve heard mainly positive things – but because I don’t love mythology, I’m not big on re-tellings, and I just finished reading Circe, which is both. But I’m so close to finishing the entire shortlist for this READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | DEAR FAHRENHEIT 451 – ANNIE SPENCE
I adore the concept of this book. Before I even opened it I was half in love, and ready to fall all the way. It’s a book of letters from an avid reader and librarian to the various books she has loved or hated most, books that are being removed from circulation, and books READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | NAKED AT THE ALBERT HALL – TRACEY THORN
If you read my review of Tracey Thorn’s first book, Bedsit Disco Queen, you’ll know that I’m an all-around fan of hers. I read this directly after finishing Bedsit, and mostly because I just couldn’t bear for it to be over. This isn’t a memoir, so it’s not a continuation of her first book. READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE KISS QUOTIENT – HELEN HOANG
Who knows why, after the failure of One Day In December I chose to read another romance story, but I guess I don’t have to make sense. In my defense, I didn’t really realize this one was straight up romance when I got myself into it. I thought it was more like The Rosie Project – READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE WIFE BETWEEN US – GREER HENDRICKS & SARAH PEKKANEN
I went into this with very high expectations. I’d seen it discussed by everyone who reads thrillers, it was one of the nominees for Goodreads’ best thriller of the year, and Lala from Books and Lala, who read all the Goodreads’ nominees, chose this as her favourite and talked about how surprising the twist READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | CIRCE – MADELINE MILLER
Greek mythology is not my thing. I’ve never read any of the original myths, nor have I had much exposure to movies or re-tellings based on them. I’m not quite sure why – I know some of them are rippingly good yarns – but they just don’t appeal to me. Perhaps a little too READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | ONE DAY IN DECEMBER – JOSIE SILVER
I don’t normally read romance, but this winter I just felt at a possibly all-time low, and I wanted something light, something hopeful, something happy, something easy. This book was making the rounds, had been picked for Reese Witherspoon’s book club (not that I follow that, but a few of her other picks appealed to READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | BEDSIT DISCO QUEEN – TRACEY THORN
I adored this book. Let me say that straight off. Here’s why. First of all, you have to know who Tracey Thorn is. She is possibly the voice of my adolescence, being that hers was the one I loved most. Though she is best known as the singer for Everything But the Girl, that’s READ MORE