(image via Tor Books UK; I was going to photograph my own cover but all my enthusiastic reading left some of the letter a little less than glossy)[/caption] It is a conundrum almost as old as time itself – do the ends always justify the means? It’s one of the Continue Reading
Books
Book review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
“The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in local newspapers. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.” So begins the only novel that has ever made me to want to run off and join the Continue Reading
Re-stacking the shelves: The 10 books I loved most in 2014
I have always loved to read. But somehow in the last few years I lost the habit, partly because I was frantically busy at work and barely had time to watch the TV shows I love and movies I wanted to see, but also because somehow, and I have Continue Reading
On the 6th day of Christmas … I read the holiday romance collection Let It Snow
It has oft been said, most notably by songwriters Edward Pola and George Wylie in 1963, that Christmas is “the most wonderful time of the year.” In its most romantic sense that’s probably true – how can you not be beguiled and cheered by chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Continue Reading
Want a book from the fabulous Amy Poehler? YES PLEASE!
I am fairly certain … no wait, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt in fact … that Amy Poehler is the funkiest, coolest, funniest, female entertainer on the planet at the moment. * It stands to reason then that if you have achieved that exalted status, and Continue Reading
Book review: Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht
The two most charming things about Téa Obreht’s assured debut novel The Tiger’s Wife, a captivating mix of real life and the delightfully fantastical set in what was once Yugoslavia, are revealed almost immediately by the evocative, descriptively-rich opening paragraph: “In my earliest memory, my grandfather is bald as a stone Continue Reading
Book review: The Girl With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey
Melanie, according to the invitingly brief dust jacket blurb of The Girl With All the Gifts (based on the Edgar Award-nominated short story Iphigenia in Aulis), “is a very special girl”. And the novel of which she is the moral and emotional core, is extraordinary too, a highly original take on Continue Reading
On the 12th day of Christmas 2013 … I read (and wrote about) Twas the Night Before Christmas
Christmas eve. It’s one of the most magical nights of the year, with Christmas so tantalisingly close you can almost taste it – unless you’re a child impatiently waiting for Santa Claus to arrive in which case it’s the longest night of the year – replete with all kinds of Continue Reading
Judging a book by its cover #6: “Rosewater and Soda Bread”
The object of this series, which I am running in conjunction with my wonderful friend, Elle, who blogs at Inkproductions.org (well-written, entertaining and thoughtful articles on all things writing and blogging-oriented) is to grab a long-neglected unread book off our shelves, speculate on what we think the book’s about based solely Continue Reading
Judging a book by its cover #5: “Existence” by David Brin
The object of this series, which I am running in conjunction with my wonderful friend, Elle, who blogs at Inkproductions.org (well-written, entertaining and thoughtful articles on all things writing and blogging-oriented) is to grab a long-neglected unread book off our shelves, speculate on what we think the book’s about based solely Continue Reading