Reviews 

Another from P (I can’t decide what to read at the moment so am piggy backing on her choices). This was brilliant, I thought. A...

P’s book of the year so far, but not mine. The memoir of a woman who has a daughter with cystic fibrosis, who goes to live in France with...

This has sat on our bookcase since October 1977 unread. It seems to be quite a famous book, but it is pretty poor. I don’t know who...

Don’t think I have ever read any Doris Lessing. This struck me as both ponderous and dated. A middle aged woman discovers that motherhood...

Bought in February 1977 from the 2nd hand book store in the town where we then lived, but never as far as I can tell, read until now. One...

A library book via P, although probably a ‘woman’s book’, I loved this, beautifully written with a really well constructed plot – would...

I think this guy is good. Hard to summarise this thematically, as there a multiple strands – Richard I’s attempt to recover the Cross...

I hated this at first; to say that Zola is prolix is unjust in the context of Knausgaard. The first 200 pages seemed to be a tedious...

Fond though I am of Patrick Gale, I didn’t like this much; too much gay proselytising, although he explains the genesis of the book (a...

As it is a library book, due back 5 September, I thought worth another read. It is actually quite an old fashioned novel, reminded me at...

What a wonderful title! And a wonderful book, possibly highlight of the year so far. The story of a family, largely a man, spanning the...

This is another good book, but nothing like as good as no.327. It may be quite autobiographical (at least in its settings) and lacks the...

If I had to pick my favourite novel, I think this might be it. It is absolutely brilliant (I have put Jane Siberry on to type this up,...

The first in the huge cycle of novels about this family and their antecedents. Thematically, this is the end of republicanism and...

Best serious holiday read so far. Never read any Faulkner before, but this, although difficult was very good, especially part two (out of...

I wouldn’t have chosen this, but it is very difficult to navigate a Complete Works on a kindle. This is an odd book, about a widow with a...

I read the first half of this thinking it was a novel with a rather slow start. It is difficult to say what sort of book it is – lots of...

The final book in the quintet; I wouldn’t have read this straightaway but had to spend four hours in the hospital waiting room yesterday...

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...

Book 2 of the above. This focuses sporadically on three of the daughters, Louisa, Polly and Clary. Louisa, who is a little older, has...