Death at Fakenham Races - Ross Greenwood

45%

17.09.25

I'm not much of a Greenwood fan but how could I resist a story set in my oft-ignored home town? Unfortunately, the town didn't feature at all and so the very occasional mention of local businesses - plus the use of the actual names of many racecourse staff - were the only high points in this poorly written and deadly boring (ha!) police procedural, where there were more police officers than suspects.

Girls and Their Horses - Eliza Jane Brazier

65%

31.08.24

I thought this would just be throwaway fun but it turned out to be one of the best things I've read this year. Well enough written that the exposition didn't seem forced, serious enough for the funny parts to be very funny, and a vivid enough insight into a weird wealthy world to be educational and entertaining. The 'murder mystery', such as it was, hardly seemed necessary.

Kane - Dick Wybrow

 53%

27.05.24

This was good fun. If it had been anywhere near an editor, it might also have been a good book.

Remarkably Bright Creatures - Shelby Van Pelt

 62%

09.02.24

This was just as ridiculous and inconsistent as other books I've read recently and yet I am much more willing to forgive its flaws. Why? I think because, unlike Cockleberry Bay or Lessons in Chemistry, it wasn't cynical. The characters were actually people you might want to spend time with, and the antagonists were not people at all - they were time and grief and the pressures of everyday life. It was very silly but also very engaging, and that's a win for me.

Cat Lady - Dawn O'Porter

 46%

01.10.23

'An absolute joy'? 'Laugh out loud'? 'Hilarious'? Only if you think an irritating narrator with unresolved trauma and possible neurodiversity dealing badly with more trauma is funny. I'm all for dark humour but this wasn't funny - or well paced or feminist or based on any sort of reality (owning a cat is not in itself quirky and weird). After a slow and laboured three-quarters, the ending was rushed, with the emphasis on all the wrong elements.

My Friend the Octopus - Lindsay Galvin

 61%

07.04.23

I happened to be in Brighton and visited the very aquarium featured in this middle-grade novel, so thought I'd read it. The story was well researched and engaging, with, refreshingly, no attempt to soften the darker aspects. But the author tried to squeeze in rather too many unrelated strands, which made it feel a bit padded out. Much better than many adult novels, though!

Soul Eater - Michelle Paver

56%

28.06.22

More vivid worldbuilding, thorough research and well-rounded characters but marred by the muddled story and too much emphasis on fantasy over history.
 

Spirit Walker - Michelle Paver

 

61%

14.03.22

The second in the series is just as evocative and well-researched as the first, and a much lighter read than 'Clan of the Cave Bear', which I'm sporadically attempting. But the story itself was pretty forgettable. Great cover, though.

Wolf Brother - Michelle Paver

 

69%

11.02.22

A new acquaintance asked me what book I'm reading at the moment. I probably didn't make the best impression when I said it was a children's book about a Stone Age boy who can communicate with his wolf friend. But it was better than anything else I've read recently - exciting storytelling, impeccably researched and with excellent world-building. Since I got all six books in the series for a total of 99p, there will be more to come.

Brazzaville Beach - William Boyd

54%
05.02.20

This confident book was so busy trying to be clever that it became confusing and ever-so-slightly dull. The cold and detached 'heroine' commands three separate narratives that are probably meaningfully linked if I felt engaged enough to analyse them.

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Joan Aiken

60%
18.09.18

I read this kids' classic to screen it for my daughter, who was nervous of the eponymous wolves. Turns out they're zombie prototypes, though sadly their significance becomes merely metaphorical as the story progresses into Jane Eyre/Lemony Snicket territory. Readable enough, if rather odd.

H is for Hawk - Helen Macdonald

Didn't finish

I persisted with this book as the author does with her hawk, hoping I'd get on with it if I just tried harder. But there comes a point when you have to admit you're bored and unengaged and you just need to fly free.

The Bees - Laline Paull

68%
18.05.15

Dystopian science fiction? Political fable? Over-researched anthropomorphised animal story? Well, yes, all of those. Which is quite an achievement. Even more of an achievement is that it's also a good story - I had to wrench my library copy off my mum and buy her one for herself. Overall, I'm not entirely sure what to make of this odd novel with its improbably near-immortal multi-skilled bee heroine but I think I enjoyed it.

We are All Completely Beside Ourselves - Karen Joy Fowler

56%
02.08.14

There was something about the knowing tone of this that undermined any emotional engagement with the subject matter. It displayed its research and its endless metaphors so obviously that, while the story was interesting in itself, it never really rang true.