The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley - Sean Lusk

58% 

17.07.23

This was well meaning and well researched and pretty well written. But I didn't connect emotionally to the story or characters - it seemed rather box ticky - eccentric ahead-of-her-time aunt, eccentric distant-but-loving father, eccentric allegorical-and-rather-dull hero, and queer elements that felt a bit shoehorned in.

Less - Andrew Sean Greer

72%
13.10.18

It would have been so easy to find this book and its hapless, Sterne-inspired hero annoying, for it to have fallen on the side of pretension rather than invention. It could have been trite and predictable - and it very nearly is. But it's not. It's really rather wonderful - funny, sharp, warm, wise and (secretly, subtly) clever and complex.

Once Upon a Time in the North - Philip Pullman

56%
17.02.18

A mini-tale of the wonderful Lee Scoresby and Hester, presumably to give them a little life before their memorable deaths. This being Pullman, it's exquisitely written and produced, but ultimately a little too much is going on in the background to give it a relevant focus.

The Tropic of Serpents - Marie Brennan

58%
28.07.17

Much of the same, really. Notable mostly for its detailed, self-contained alternative world.

A Natural History of Dragons - Marie Brennan

59%
29.06.17

The fabulous cover artwork sums up the ethos of this series - a 19th century steampunk world like - but not quite like - our own. A feisty heroine finding her place in a male society, wild dragons determinedly different to those of Naomi Novak's books and derring-do galore. Even if, on reflection, not much actually happens...

The Road to Little Dribbling - Bill Bryson

60%
18.08.16

Bill Bryson is one of the very few authors to make me laugh out loud and bore anyone around me with choice phrases. After lending this book to my mum and her partner, it seems I'm not the only one. But it did seem a rather a filler between more meaty volumes (though after writing the history of the universe, it's unclear how much more meat is available to Bryson), and a little incoherent - but great fun and slightly insightful all the same.

The Enchanted April - Elizabeth von Arnim

73%
17.08.15

Enchanted, indeed, and witty and charming and delightful. Of its time (1923) but none the worse for that, and extraordinarily well written for what is at first glance a superficial story about the transformative powers of a holiday. I shall recommend this to anyone who needs a bit of cheering up.

Greyhound - Steffan Piper

64%
24.01.15

My student journeys on National Express were never this action-packed. An interesting enough, well-researched story with strong characters but a poor copy-edit missed too many inconsistencies, undermining the narrative world.

Are We Nearly There Yet? - Ben Hatch

68%
15.11.11

It's a brave author who seeks me out as a book blogger to review his work. Particularly if previous reviews are less than glowing (my husband isn't convinced that I actually like reading). But Ben Hatch is braver than most - not many people would be keen to take on the challenge of driving 8000 miles around Britain with his young family to review tourist attractions for a guide book. He also seems like a nice bloke in real life (and self-deprecating in his book). So, though my reviews are blunt, my heart is not of stone and I was happy to join his Twitter publicity campaign. Not that he really needs it - 35 five star Amazon reviews can't be wrong, can they? It's usually just my lone voice whining in the wilderness.

So how fortunately that it's such a rewarding read. It helps, of course, that I can identify with the craziness of toddlers, the terror of Watership Down, the stress of merging on motorways. But it's also highly readable: a story well told, very funny in places and very moving in others. Balanced with the comedy and occasional disasters of the trip is a parallel tale of Ben's father's terminal illness. By examining his complex and often contradictory reactions to his dad's rapid decline, the book is given a greater depth. In the end, it's a convincing case for the importance of family - they might disagree with you, irritate you, embarrass you and disapprove of you but that's exactly why you love them.

In the interests of fairness, I will add that it could do with a second copy edit, and a proofread to pick up the usual formatting errors on Kindle. But hey, here's one for the reviews: I've given it the same score as "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "The Great Gatsby".

The Mango Orchard - Robin Bayley

57%
05.06.11

Half-travelog and half-family history, a pleasant enough read but it would have benefited from being one or the other. The author has some vivid adventures in Latin America, meeting local characters and soaking up the atmosphere. Then he discovers the Mexican side of the family. Then there's a bit more travelling and a rather abrupt ending. I found myself wanting more context and detail - which could be regarded as both a good and a bad thing.