The Perfect Golden Circle - Benjamin Myers

54%

14.01.26

This is lit fic at its most self-referential, like the crop circles it describes - carefully crafted and ultimately meaning whatever you want it to. 
 

Small Angels - Lauren Owen

 

62%

31.03.23

This could have been cringingly cliched. It was slow, so slow - creating more impatience than psychological tension - and the characters didn't behave like real people, and the introspection about storytelling was rather too meta, but the strong world building, clear sense of place and the fact that there was never any question that supernatural forces were at work made it feel like a surprisingly fresh take on gothic / horror / folklore.

Where the Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens

 

43%

13.07.21

I can't see the appeal of this much-hyped novel. I think what irritated me most was the fact it was all so unlikely. Unrealistic I can handle - if the world building and characters are strong enough you can happily suspend your disbelief - but this was just silly because it didn't ring true on any level.
And the poetry! Dear God, the awful poetry, which even one of the characters thought was bad. So why include it? This book just didn't know what it was or where it was going.

Creeping Jenny - Jeff Noon

70%

09.03.21

This was terrifically well written, entertainingly inventive and very, very weird. It's probably one of those 'love it or hate it books' - it is, after all, a silly satire on folk horror - but, as outrageous speculative fiction goes, I'm definitely inclining towards the love it.

The Hermit of Eyton Forest - Ellis Peters

56%
15.07.20

I hadn't read a Cadfael mystery for a while but the library has reopened (yay!) and this 14th in the series caught my eye (I don't think I've read 13, or the 12th for that matter, but they're all so similar it makes no odds). This had the usual creaky plot but these books are really about vivid characters and evocative settings.

Come to the Edge - Joanna Kavenna

51%
26.09.18

Not as funny or memorable as the cover reviews make out.

Arlo Finch in the Valley of Fire - John August

53%
13.03.18

John August has produced one of the best structured podcasts I've heard (and I've heard a lot of podcasts) in 'Launch', about the process of writing and publishing this book. He also has a pleasantly engaging and genuine manner. He's so keen and proactive that he may actually read this (unlikely, I know!) which makes it harder than usual to say that this could have been so much better. More focus on the plot, less unnecessary dialogue, more character development, less nostalgic ropecraft. It was just kind of... vague, more like the first third of a longer novel than the self-contained Book 1 in a trilogy. OK, I'm not the target audience so I'll pass it to my daughter and see what she thinks.

I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith

61%
28.09.16

I first read this years ago and apparently loved it so recently thought it would be a good audiobook to stop me from getting bored on a long car journey. Well, maybe I'm older and bitterer now but I couldn't decide whether it's indulgently twee or deliberately open to oppositional readings. I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt and suspect that readers don't have to be entirely sympathetic to this family of self-indulgent, narcissist idlers.

The Tortoise and the Hare - Elizabeth Jenkins

65%
28.09.16

I ordered this from the library on a whim, after reading several glowing reviews. It's certainly of its time (late 1940s/early 1950s) and, to modern readers, the main character can be maddeningly passive as her awful husband blatantly takes up with another woman. But modern minds could also view it as a fairly convincing account of emotional abuse that causes depression and loss of self-confidence. It is beautifully written (if oddly edited) and rather intriguing in its account of class behaviour.