I discovered this in a disability display of books at my local library. I’d never heard of it before – I’d never even thought about looking for a book that shared stories about the intersection of disability and parenting. But once I saw that it existed, it was one of those moments of instant recognition. READ MORE
Category: Sunday Review
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | FAMOUS LAST WORDS – GILLIAN MCALLISTER
I really enjoyed Gillian McAllister’s thriller Wrong Place Wrong Time when I read it last summer. But then I read Just Another Missing Person, and it was good, but nowhere near as good. So when I saw Famous Last Words, I went back and forth. Would it be another okay but not fantastic one? Would READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | WILDFUL – KENGO KURIMOTO
This was one of those impulse library books I saw on a display shelf and grabbed on my way to the counter. I had no idea what it was about, didn’t read the blurb, just liked the cover and figured I’d take it home and give it a try. But it turned out to be READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE FARMER’S WIFE – HELEN REBANKS
I first noticed this book because of the picture on the cover and the name of the author – it turns out Helen Rebanks is the wife of James Rebanks, also a writer. His books have been on my radar for a while since he writes about life as a farmer in the Lake District, READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE TWAT FILES – DAWN FRENCH
Dawn French has been responsible for many laughs from me in her time – my favourite of her work being The Vicar of Dibbley, which I still re-watch when I’m at a low ebb. But I also enjoy her podcast, Titting About, which she has recorded for six years with Jennifer Saunders, her friend and READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | RAISING HARE – CHLOE DALTON
I knew nothing about hares when I began this book, not even that their young are called leverets. But I quickly learned that, and so much more as I read Chloe Dalton’s fascinating account of finding a stranded leveret and bringing it home with her. It turns out this was no simple matter – starting READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | GABRIEL’S MOON – WILLIAM BOYD
I was excited about this one when it came up on my BookTube Prize Quarterfinals judging pool. I love stories of intrigue and espionage ( MI-5, or Spooks, is one of my all-time favourite shows), and I liked the twist that this one features a writer who kind of accidentally becomes entangled in the world READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | LONG ISLAND – COLM TÓIBÍN
I’ve only read one other Colm Tóibín book, The Magician, which I also read for The BookTube Prize in 2022. I admired the writing style, even if the story was a little dense for my liking. This one is a sequel to one of Tóibín’s most famous books, Brooklyn. I’ve not read Brooklyn, so I READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | SIPSWORTH – SIMON VAN BOOY
I knew I’d like this one. I had already purchased it before it came up in my BookTube Prize quarterfinals reading list, so I was excited to read it. (Plus it helped that Sue had recommended it to me several times!) It’s a small book, but with one that tackles some big topics. It’s a READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | BEHIND YOU IS THE SEA – SUSAN MUADDI DARRAJ
This was one of the books I read for the BookTube Prize Quarterfinals judging this year. I hadn’t heard of it before, and probably wouldn’t have picked up otherwise. But I’m glad I did, because it was a very interesting book, both in content and structure. This book is told in individual chapters, each more READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | I’LL JUST BE FIVE MORE MINUTES – EMILY FARRIS
I’m always on the lookout for books about ADHD, particularly first-person accounts by women who were late-diagnosed like I was. Having gone the better part of my life having no idea that my brain is scientifically and measurably different from the average person’s, I’m now hungry for the stories of other people who have lived READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | IN ASCENSION – MARTIN MACINNES
This is one of those books I just don’t get. I was vaguely interested in it when I first read the blurb – I like the idea of marine biology and discovering organisms we didn’t know existed. That part was somewhat interesting. But the rest… I guess I didn’t read it too closely. So I READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | ALL FOURS – MIRANDA JULY
This book has been getting a lot of attention since its publication last year. It’s been called the first great perimenopausal novel, and women have been picking it up looking for something that has been notably missing from the literary landscape – stories of what it means to get older in a female body, but READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | GARLIC AND THE WITCH (AND GARLIC AND THE VAMPIRE) – BREE PAULSEN
This is another wonderful graphic novel I discovered thanks to my kid, who is becoming a connoisseur of the genre. It’s the story of a witch who has brought her vegetables to life because she desperately needed help in the garden. One of these, Garlic, is facing a difficult transition – she might be developing READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | GOOD NIGHT, IRENE – LUIS ALBERTO URREA
This is the story of two young women, Irene (who is fleeing an abusive relationship) and Dorothy (who just wants to get away from her farm and do something to help the war effort). They both join the Red Cross in the US during WWII and get sent to Europe to drive vehicles that were READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE PARIS WIDOW – KIMBERLY BELLE
Another of the books I borrowed from the library to satisfy my thriller craving! I think I’d just read The Paris Apartment, and I’d enjoyed both the thriller storyline and the atmosphere of the setting. I was hoping to re-visit that feeling again in another Parisian-set thriller, only this time with an entirely different kind READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | EIGHT PERFECT MURDERS – PETER SWANSON
I was intrigued by the premise of this book, partly because I’m a book blogger, and partly just because it involves books and a bookstore. It’s about a a bookseller, Malcolm (Mal) Kershaw, and a blog post he wrote years ago in which he listed the top eight books featuring a perfect murder. It was READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | I FOUND YOU – LISA JEWELL
I picked borrowed this from the library after reading We Were Never Here and The Paris Apartment and enjoying the fast pace of thrillers. This one was a little slower than those, but in a good way that I enjoyed. It all begins when Alice, a single mum who has her own struggles paying the READ MORE