The Lie Detector.

Book Review for “Only May” by Carol Lovekin. Summary: "Listen. The bee walks across my finger, slow as anything and I can see through the gauzy wing, to the detail of my skin. 'You aren’t looking in the right place.' If you look her in the eye and tell a lie, May Harper will see … Continue reading The Lie Detector. →

TCL’s #NovNov 1 – Purring Predilections.

Book Review for “The Writer's Cats” by Muriel Barbery, Translated by Alison Anderson, Illustrated by Maria Guitart. Summary: "Muriel Barbery, via her feline friends and co-conspirators, takes readers into her atelier, offering them a behind-the-scenes peek into her process and problems, joys and disappointments. The tale is told from the perspective of one of the … Continue reading TCL’s #NovNov 1 – Purring Predilections. →

TCL’s #DNF Friday #7 – Unlucky Number Seven.

Why I can't write a Book Review for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” by J. K. Rowling. Summary: "It's no longer safe for Harry at Hogwarts, so he and his best friends, Ron and Hermione, are on the run. Professor Dumbledore has given them clues about what they need to do to defeat the … Continue reading TCL’s #DNF Friday #7 – Unlucky Number Seven. →

Everything and Nothing.

Book Review for “Cloud Cuckoo Land” by Anthony Doerr. Summary: "Thirteen-year-old Anna, an orphan, lives inside the formidable walls of Constantinople in a house of women who make their living embroidering the robes of priests. Restless, insatiably curious, Anna learns to read, and in this ancient city, famous for its libraries, she finds a book, … Continue reading Everything and Nothing. →

#NovellaNovember – Torday’s Fantastical Tale – #ShortStorySunday

Book Review for “Theo: A Novella” by Paul Torday. Summary: “John Elliott is the recently appointed vicar of St Joseph's - a dilapidated church with a congregation of sixteen and a leaky roof. Having entered the Church more by default than through any great calling, he struggles to inject some life into his ailing parish. … Continue reading #NovellaNovember – Torday’s Fantastical Tale – #ShortStorySunday →

Nine Times Naughty Atwood

Book Review for “Stone Mattress: Nine Wicked Tales” by Margaret Atwood According Harper’s Bazar’s the blurb on the back of this book, “Stone Mattress, a collection of nine, acerbic, mischievous, gulpable short stories, addresses themes that will resonate with anyone familiar with Atwood’s writing. Atwood’s gimlet eye and sharp tongue are turned on the ageing … Continue reading Nine Times Naughty Atwood →

Mysterious Models

Book Review of "The Miniaturist" by Jessie Burton The blurb for this book reads as follows: "On an autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman arrives at a grand house in Amsterdam to begin her new life as the wife of wealthy merchant Johannes Brandt. Though curiously distant, he presents her with an extraordinary wedding … Continue reading Mysterious Models →

A New Christmas Carol

Review of The Deal of a Lifetime: A Novella by Fredrik Backman The protagonist of this novella is a father who is wealthy, successful and famous. He also has cancer, but so does the adorable five-year-old girl he meets in the hospital. Both of them are going to die eventually. The question is, does it … Continue reading A New Christmas Carol →

The Eves of Winter Stories

Book Review of "A Snow Garden & Other Stories" by Rachel Joyce In this collection, Rachel Joyce connects seven stories spanning from just before Christmas Eve through New Year's Eve. Joyce not only arranges these tales chronologically, she also links them with other elements. The stories here are: Faraway Smell of Lemon - Binny wasn't … Continue reading The Eves of Winter Stories →

Perfecting your Good-bye

Book Review of "And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer" by Fredrik Backman. Stock up on tissues folks, because Fredrik Backman is BACK! This time, Backman gives us a perfectly formed, exquisitely developed novella (whose title is almost longer than the book itself) about a man slowly succumbing to dementia and his … Continue reading Perfecting your Good-bye →