Sports
I’m not a runner. At least not currently one so how a book about running could hook me in was pleasantly surprising. Our author, Mark Atkinson, takes us on his running journey from his first short run to joining the 100 Marathon Club. With tongue in cheek humour he is upfront about his not quite perfect health in the beginning and the humour stays with…
(more…)Crime / Murder Mystery
A murder mystery on a closed off location, in this case a remote island off the west coast of Ireland, rarely fails to elicit our interest and The Guest List is no exception. The remoteness, the difficult accessibility by boat, the island’s past history, all come together to create an atmospheric backdrop for our characters who are all thoughtfully and carefully…
(more…)Military History
In this in-depth and well written history of Operation Barbarossa (the invasion of the Soviet Union by Germany in 1941) we are taken not just through the key events and military movements that occurred at the front but also through the background leading up to Barbarossa and the political decision making behind the scenes. It would be so easy to make…
(more…)Horror
The master of horror’s first published book, Carrie, was introduced to the world in 1974. In it we are introduced to the titular character Carrie White, a lonely high school girl who starts to become aware of a strange and unknown power growing within her. It’s a destructive horror story exploring themes of bullying and repressed emotions which serve as…
(more…)Historical
Hilary Mantel takes past events and places from the days of Henry VIII and tells them in the form of a story from the viewpoint of Thomas Cromwell, a man who would rise from the son of a blacksmith to be the chancellor of England. It’s a powerful and gripping story set predominantly during the turbulent days leading up to and after King Henry’s divorce from…
(more…)Non-fiction / Science and Nature
I teetered on the edge of giving this a four instead of a three but it’s not quite there. Still a fascinating book and you won’t look at an octopus the same afterwards. The author takes us on an exploration under the sea to explore the private lives of the octopus (and to some extent cuttlefish and squid). From their bizarre behaviour of hand-holding to lightbulb stealing we…
(more…)Humour / Time Travel
Now this is a curious one. I rarely see quite such a divisive book as this one but I must add myself onto the “liked it” side. Our low fantasy world for this novel: A main character who’s a pilot in WW2 is spirited away by a time travelling musician to various points in time in order to shake off certain pursuing individuals and rescue King Richard Coeur de Lion (yes, the Lionheart). The plot is as ridiculous as…
(more…)Sci-fi
Exceptional world building opens this novel off paired with Philip K Dick’s excellent writing. Our world is as follows: Earth is suffering in increasingly unbearable heat. More and more people are sent to the colonies on Mars and Venus to try and eek out an existence but with a hard and desolate life facing them many turn to…
(more…)Thriller
It feels almost sacrilege to give this book a score of 3 given how it spread like wildfire but here we are. Without any big spoilers, the story starts with the disappearance of Amy, the wife of Nick who soon falls under suspicion of her murder. As the story progresses we find out more of Amy and Nick’s past together and various twists and turns and revelations lead us to…
(more…)Non-fiction / Humour
What if for a period of time you said yes to every opportunity that came your way? In this uplifting social experiment Danny Wallace does exactly that. After a chance encounter with a man on a bus he embarks on a “yes” crusade, accepting all that comes his way leading to all kinds of new experiences from handing out leaflets for veganism to travelling to the north of England for a party to spending a holiday in the Netherlands. We’ve all seen…
(more…)Mystery / Thriller
In a London art gallery a shocking discovery is made. A famous piece made by a recently deceased artist is found to contain a fragment of something that should absolutely not be there. Questions are raised and the matter has to be investigated by our protagonist, the curator of the late artist’s work. Inevitably this leads him into confrontation with the current owner of the works, and also with…
(more…)Non-fiction / Military History
I like to read everything and anything that falls into my lap. So one day I found myself reading Agincourt by Juliet Barker. It’s a fascinating piece of history and details events leading up to, during, and after the famous battle. The writing style is good, and particular note must be given to the research which clearly had a lot of effort put into it. It is also refreshing to see that…
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