What I read… Lily and the Octopus

I knew I’d end up crying when I picked this book up. Lily and the Octopus is is a charming piece of magical realism from Steven Rowley. The story is about a gay writer called Ted and his dachshund, Lily. Lily is everything to Ted – they hold long conversations, have very set routines and……

What I read… Confronting the Classics

As I mentioned at the start of the year, one of my new year’s resolutions was to read more non-fiction books. We’re almost halfway through the year and I am way behind on my target. This book is at least partially responsible for that. I love Mary Beard. She’s a Professor of Classics at the……

What I read… Life After Life

OK so this book has taken me ages to get through. According to Goodreads I first started reading this in January 2016. That’s well over a year ago and I’ve not long finished it. Was it really so hard or boring that it takes a normally prolific reader 12 months to read? I’d say no. It’s……

What I read… The Palace Job

Gosh it’s been a while since I dabbled in reading fantasy. I’m so wary of books that have stories that span over 14 books (Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson I’m looking at you) or where you have to wait so long for the next installment to be published that you completely forget what was going on and……

What I read… The Secret of Nightingale Wood

The Secret of Nightingale Wood by Lucy Strange was a book I bought for my mother for her birthday. She seemed to like it (she gave it 5 stars on her Goodreads anyway) and gave it back to me to read, which I did, on the train to Liverpool one weekend. Firstly let me just say,……

What I read… A Head Full of Ghosts

Anyone looking at my Goodreads profile will see I’ve read a load more books than I’ve been reviewing. Honestly it’s because I was slightly behind on my targets and I needed to churn through some easy reads. That said there’s also a couple of books that I really don’t have the energy to review as……

What I Read… Still Alice

Today’s review was a bit of a tough one. I’ve been hearing a lot about Still Alice by Lisa Genova and the subsequent film adaption starring Julianne Moore. The book examines the mind of a 50 year old linguistics professor who develops Early Onset Alzheimer’s disease and how that affects her life and relationships. This was……