I haven’t read any Jonathan Coe before, but I have a few of his books on my shelves because they’ve caught my attention. So when this book turned up in my round for the BookTube Prize I was excited to have a reason to pick it up. Technically this book is third in a READ MORE
Category: Book Review
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | WOMEN TALKING – MIRIAM TOEWS
This is a book I have been hearing about everywhere since its release two summers ago. At first I wanted to read it – Miriam Toews’ book All My Puny Sorrows is a favourite of mine – but then when I heard what it was about I wavered. I find it difficult to relate READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | LONG BRIGHT RIVER – LIZ MOORE
This was my first Liz Moore book, but I had heard wonderful things about her previous book, The Unseen World. This one appealed to me because at its core it is a thriller, and yet it has that literary leaning I’ve been enjoying in my thrillers of late. This book centres around a young READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE BOY, THE MOLE, THE FOX AND THE HORSE – CHARLIE MACKESY
I have been seeing this book everywhere for months now. It was particularly popular around Christmas, and I actually got it as a Christmas present. It’s a small book. Short, full of pictures, light on words. It doesn’t have a linear plot, nor do you get much in the way of characters. It’s more READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE INNOCENTS – MICHAEL CRUMMEY
This was the first book I read from my assigned reading for the BookTube Prize. It’s one I’d had on my radar – Crummey is a prominent Canadian author, after all – but that hadn’t grabbed me. I doubt I ever would have gotten to it if it hadn’t been for the prize. It’s READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | GOOD TALK – MIRA JACOB
Every once in a while I come across a book that is so much more than I expected. This was one such book. I had heard good things, and I’d read part of Jacob’s previous book and admired her writing style, but I went into this without too much in the way of expectations.On READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | PUMPKINHEADS – RAINBOW ROWELL & FAITH ERIN HICKS
I picked this book up for a quick read and a bit of a light relief. I hadn’t read any Rainbow Rowell books in years, but I really enjoyed some of her novels, particularly Eleanor and Park. I look to her for an entertaining story, but also characters who are, in one way or READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | RED AT THE BONE – JACQUELINE WOODSON
I read Another Brooklyn a couple of years ago and was completely blown away by the delicacy of the prose and the insight Woodson imbued her characters with. So when Red at the Bone came out, it was high on my TBR. It did not disappoint. The story is a simple one – it READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | SUCH A FUN AGE – KILEY REID
If you have any interest at all in books (and of course you do – you’re here), you have heard of this one. It was released just as the clocks turned to 2020, and has been talked about everywhere since. It has been getting positive reviews by everyone from The Guardian to The Atlantic READ MORE
TOP TEN TUESDAY | CHARACTERS I’D FOLLOW ON TWITTER
I follow a lot of people on Twitter, so many that I have no idea anymore who, exactly, I’m following. But there are always a few accounts that stand out. That either inspire me, inform me or just make me feel like fuck, yeah, you get it. You know what I’m talking about. We READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | OLIVE KITTERIDGE – ELIZABETH STROUT
I have to be honest, I didn’t really want to read this book. But the sequel, Olive, Again, came out this year and I knew there was a good chance it would show up on the list for the BookTube Prize. I am trying to read some of the books I think either will READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | JUST MERCY – BRYAN STEVENSON
This is another of those books that I want to review simply by saying it’s a vital read, and you should go pick it up. End of review. Of course I will try to go into more detail, because that’s not very persuasive. But it’s hard to know where to start. This book is READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | BLUE NIGHTS – JOAN DIDION
Blue Nights picks up pretty much where The Year of Magical Thinking leaves off. When The Year of Magical Thinking was published, Joan Didion’s daughter had passed away, but she had not written about it in the book. The book dealt, instead, with the loss of her husband who died of a heart attack READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | MY NAME IS WHY – LEMN SISSAY
I first heard of Lemn Sissay in a YouTube video. He is a poet, and I was very impressed with his eloquence and thoughtfulness. He briefly mentioned a bit about his childhood – the restrictions put on his reading by his parents, his relocation into state-run institutional homes at the age of twelve, and READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING – JOAN DIDION
I went into this book knowing it was going to be difficult. It’s Didion’s memoir of her husband’s death, but more importantly, of what came after. This book has gathered praise and acclaim for being an unflinching exploration of grief that tells Didion’s experience with an honesty rarely brought to the topic. That’s exactly READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | MRS. FLETCHER – TOM PERROTTA
I have had this book on my shelves for a long time, but finally decided to pick it up for two reasons: 1) the television show has just come out and I wanted to read it before watching and 2) I wanted something light and entertaining. This is a story about a middle-aged woman READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | RAISING DEMONS – SHIRLEY JACKSON
Raising Demons is the sequel to Life Among the Savages, which I read last year. Both are memoirs of Shirley Jackson’s experiences as a mother to four boisterous and rowdy children. In this book the kids are a bit older, but other than that, it’s a lot like the first. It’s a series of READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | BREAKING & MENDING – JOANNA CANNON
Most of you probably know Joanna Cannon’s name from her works of fiction, The Trouble With Goats and Sheep and Three Things About Elsie (longlisted for this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction). What you might not know about Cannon is that she is also a doctor – specifically a psychiatrist. That insight is part READ MORE