Perspectives - Laurent Binet

59%

04.03.26

I tend to avoid translated novels as they're usually sterile and stilted, but this was the opposite - smooth, fast-paced (for an epistolary novel - recounting a police chase by letter is an eccentric choice) and fascinating. Apparently, its cheeky take on Renaissance figures is controversial among those who know the period, but I don't, and it got me looking up most of the characters in Wikipedia. And I laughed out loud when the murderer turned out to be [x] because... of course it was.
 

All Passion Spent - Vita Sackville-West

59%

10.12.25

Although the style and much of the subject matter is dated, you could bump into many of the characters today. Everyone was eccentric in their own way - sometimes charmingly and sometimes obnoxiously but always vividly. And the message of women's sacrificing their individuality for men and family is still, sadly, relevant.

Back Trouble - Clare Chambers

59%

23.10.25

Wry humour, sharp observation and a strong sense of place and time - yes, it's a Clare Chambers novel. I have a few to read and this was engaging and interestingly structured, if not ultimately memorable or profound.

The Frozen People - Elly Griffiths

59%

13.06.25

Griffiths' depictions of North Norfolk have always been fanciful, so perhaps it's no surprise that she's gone full sci fi with her new time-travel series. It made no sense, the characters were poorly developed and the plot full of unresolved (worm)holes but it was a lot of fun - the culture-clash scenes set in Victorian London were particularly engaging.

Voyage of the Damned - Frances White

59%

05.03.25

A fun, Agatha Christie-style murder mystery set in Fantasyland. The narrative was rather confused and confusing, and I found the main character intensely irritating, but the style was engaging and the worldbuilding fairly strong.

Sweetness in the Skin - Ishi Robinson

59%

27.02.25

This was sweet in all sorts of ways, including the 'sour' and 'bitter' variety. Set in a a vivid 1990s Jamaica, this was strongly imagined and characterised, although the story was a little oddly paced, which made you less invested in what happened.

The House in the Cerulean Sea - TJ Klune

59%

29.12.24

The three Klune books I've read this year (see also The Extraordinaries and Wolfsong) are different in many ways - but all are gently humorous queer fantasies emphasising the power of found families. Which is, of course, a lovely message, but this particular story was rather like being bludgeoned with a rubber kitten - sweet and annoying at the same time.

The Queen of Nothing - Holly Black

 59%

17.07.24

And the last of my holiday reads was also the last in this intriguing trilogy. For a romantasy author, Black doesn't shy away from politics and power and the ways they can be manipulated by those who have power and those who don't (yet). And her main character is, interestingly, both skilled in scheming and clueless in relationships. But it was still a bit 'chuck everything at it and see what sticks', and there were a few elements about the ending that didn't quite work.

Circus of Wonders - Elizabeth MacNeal

 59%

17.06.24

Proper literary fiction, this - meticulously written*, carefully layered and a bit depressing. The settings were well researched and vividly described, as was the complex plight of those who were 'different' in Victorian times. But the characters never really came alive, and most of them were so passive that their actions didn't seem to be conscious decisions.

*Although perhaps the editor got distracted three-quarters of the way through, when endless comma splices and a general lack of gerunds became very distracting.

Hell Bent - Leigh Bardugo

 59%

09.04.24

Since this was on offer, I thought I'd read it before I forgot what happened in the first book. Just as well, as it was even more confusing. Still well written and intelligent, with unusual care and thought given to character development, and not afraid to confront the ugliness of life, but the actual story was still muddled and oddly paced. 

Also, the dead rabbit on the cover? Not all that significant.

Sorrow and Bliss - Meg Mason

 59%

04.01.24

Towards the end of this book, the protagonist (and simultaneous antagonist) comments on her 'striking unlikeability and attention-seeking punctuation'. Both these things are true, although we are apparently supposed to believe she is an unreliable narrator, safe in the unquestioning love of her family and (second) husband. The structure was circular and meandering, presumably like the narrator's mind, but that didn't bother me as much as the entitled middle-classness of it all.

The Space Between Us - Doug Johnstone

 59%

30.12.23

The last book of the year and it was a pretty good one - although I've deducted marks for the incessant comma splices that made it a struggle to read - I wouldn't have liked to have been the copy editor having that argument with the author. But the story - Scottish sci-fi road trip - was fun (if emotion-free) and raised some interesting metaphysical points. I even liked the open ending - perhaps a bit of a cop out but it could go anywhere from here.

Listening Still - Anne Griffin

 59%

12.04.23

I quite enjoyed this, and its theme of communication (or lack of it), but it could have been... more. Some readers didn't warm to the main character, and it's true she spent most of the book crying, but my problem was more with everyone else - the awful husband and boring love interest, the token autistic brother, the obligatory quirky yet supportive best friend, the played-up Irishness that didn't really ring true. (I can imagine the publisher urging the writer to 'make it more Irish'.) The details about the undertaking of undertaking were interesting - although I presume the dead don't normally chat so much. 

Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir

59%

22.01.23

Beyond all the tediously detailed science (which I mostly skipped) and the ultimately pointless backstory (which I mostly skimmed), this is a sweet story about an unlikely inter-alien friendship that saves two worlds. I didn't warm to Weir's rather amateurish writing style, and would have liked to know much more about the journey to where they ended up, but it gets points for the lovely interactions between the two main characters.

The Carer - Deborah Moggach

 59%

16.10.22

The beautiful cover is probably the most memorable thing about this story. Fluently written by an experienced author, yes, but... the characters were clearly supposed to be complex but they weren't, and certainly none of them were sympathetic - it was just more rich people drama. Admittedly, I didn't see the double twist coming but the rest of the book bent itself into unlikely knots trying to explain it - and the lack of introspection that followed from the apparently intelligent characters just didn't ring true.

Interestingly, I gave Tulip Fever, the only other Moggach novel I've read, the same score 19 years ago.

The Grand Sophy - Georgette Heyer

 

59%

18.03.22

This Heyer at her jolliest, with a clear nod to Austen in its spirited (and frankly rather tiring) Emma-like heroine. Featuring the rich characters and vivid Regency world-building you'd expect, if typically formulaic, although cousin-as-love-interest is a little too 19th-century for my comfort.

(So many covers to choose from but I liked this rather unconventional one best.)

Shadowplay - Joseph O'Connor

 

59%

20.02.21 

Well, it was a confidently written reimagining of the relationship between three very interesting (real) people that got me checking their achievements on Wikipedia. The possible influences on the development of 'Dracula' were cleverly handled. It was also on the wrong side of pretentious and went on even after the main story had ended. And on. And on some more. 

The Girl in the Tower - Katherine Arden

59%

09.11.20

Beautifully written on a sentence-by-sentence basis, and fascinating from an historical/folklore viewpoint but, even more than its predecessor, also rather fractured and confused, with characters it's hard to care about.

Strange Sight - Syd Moore

59%
03.04.20

I grabbed this off the shelf just before the library closed down - the fabulous cover and quirky premise caught my eye. It turned out to be the second in a series but that didn't matter much. It was simply a fun read, if a little creaky in places.

Bellman & Black - Diane Setterfield

59%
26.01.20

If I'd read this before Once Upon a River, I don't think I'd have read Once Upon a River. This was just very strange and detached, with a lot about rooks and a lot about mourning and not much insight about anything, really. Beautifully written, though.