A tale of murder, madness and The Oxford English Dictionary. Such is the full title of Simon Winchester’s intriguingly titled ‘The Surgeon of Crowthorne’, a book all about, well, murder, madness and the OED, though there’s more on the latter than the former. What’s it about? Lexicographer James Murray is attempting to compile the first […]
Self-editing is definitely the most difficult kind of editing. Recently I reviewed Lynn Shepherd’s excellent novel ‘Tom-All-Alone’s’, a literary murder mystery with its roots in Charles Dickens’ ‘Bleak House’. I had a lot more to say about it than could comfortably fit in one post, so below are some more thoughts about the narrative style […]
If you like murder mysteries, detective stories and mock Victorian fiction, Lynn Shepherd has a treat for you. Meet Charles Maddox, an honourable man fighting for truth and justice in a world where money means power and lack of either can be deadly. What’s it about? London, 1850. Charles Maddox has been forced to leave […]
Sometimes there is no safe place. So begins the blurb for Tana French’s fourth novel, ‘Broken Harbour’, in which it gradually becomes clear that a family’s house and their relationship with it has played a significant role in their murders. What’s it about? A family of four have been found slain in their own home. […]
It’s totally normal to plan your holidays around books, right? My husband fancied going away somewhere this Easter and since he has an actual proper job while I just “look after” our children* and therefore have masses of downtime, (by which I mean that occasionally they have naps At The Same Time, also known in […]
Some books are comforting diversions from reality. Recently I spotted Jill Mansell’s ‘The One You Really Want’ on my ereader and remembered that I used to enjoy her books sufficiently to have purchased several. Despite this not featuring on my current TBR list, it jumped to the top of my Actually Reading list due to […]
Sometimes you see a book and just know you’re going to love it. That’s how I felt when I spotted ‘Gooseberry’ by Michael Gallagher on Librarything. The fact that I had yet to read either Wilkie Collins’ ‘The Moonstone’, which is the inspiration and touchstone for Gallagher’s novel, or anything previously written by Gallagher himself, […]
Recently I was lucky enough to see Dave Gorman live at my local theatre. His current tour, ‘Dave Gorman gets straight to the point…the PowerPoint’, is a treat for anyone who enjoys chasing down oddities to their logically absurd conclusions, and I thoroughly enjoyed the show. Afterwards he was selling and signing some of his […]
There is never enough time. I wanted to write something about National Poetry Day, but by the time I had put half a blog post put together, it was over for another year. I wanted to write about World Book Day, but I never managed to write more than an opening line. I thought, never […]
“The Rolling Stones? They won’t last.” I’m pretty sure that the knowing smirk invited by comments like the one above is the only reason I occasionally read historical fiction. ‘Kiss Me Quick’ is set in 1960s Brighton and features mods, rockers, gangsters and a massively corrupt police force, so there’ll be drugs, violence, fighting and […]