Reviews 

Didn’t plan to read another Zola, but finished no.356 unexpectedly in bed and needed something else to read. Zola is a terribly prolix...

This is a very grim book, in the vein of 'La Terre', but set amongst the Parisian working class. The central figure is Gervaise, who has...

I suppose a pre-cursor of Middlemarch, this centres on the 1832 general election, which seems to have post-dated some electoral reform....

And now for something completely different, Paddy’s aeroplane reading, rather classier than mine. I haven’t read this for years and my...

This was excellent as well, although the ending disappointed me, and again totally different. Heavily framed by orthodox Judaism, about...

This is the fourth, and I think she planned final book in the quartet. They do get better as you progress through them; the characters...

The only other Zola book in the house, although I have since invested something like £1.69 in Amazon to buy the complete works for my...

Possibly the best book I have read this year. Zola completely turns 19th century fiction on its head and writes a book in which the...

I quite enjoyed this, although it took ages to get going (around page 300!?). One of my problems was that none of the characters were,...

Thriller with two parallel time lines; modern day Canada and the Highland land clearances in the mid 19th century. The two plot lines run...

Chose a long serious(?) book after all the Håkan Nessers, although it is hard work to read a book this long when not on holiday. Did I...

If I have read Thomas Mann before, it was 'Death in Venice' 40 years ago. This, especially the first half, was a wonderfully stately...

A proper story at last. I hadn’t realised how early in the 19th century Balzac was writing; 1820’s/30’s. So there is lots of classicism,...

Extraordinary. Long and difficult (although ultimately very simple) book, simply about human life. Very un-glorified. The characters are...

Another A level text, but I loved this on re-read after it must be 40 years. The complicated love story between Jude & Sue was so...

This was an A-level set text, and I read my old copy from the time, which is almost ruined by asinine adolescent observations. I will get...

I did find an easier Trollope, and read 'The Warden'. I found the first half sentimental and annoying but the second half took off for me...

Bought this in 1976 and don’t think I have ever read it. It is bloody good. Quite simple, short, and beautifully compressed tale of...

Not certain whether I have read this before; certainly seen it on TV with Warren Clark and (?) Hayden Gwynne. What struck me is how...

By way of contrast, a book I have never read before and a real shock at that. Not a comedy of manners, nor a US/European culture clash as...