Birds, Beasts and Relatives is the second book in Gerald Durrell’s Corfu Trilogy, a series of stories about the time his family upped sticks and moved from drizzy, depressing England to the Mediterranean island of Corfu. I read the first in the series, My Family and Other Animals, last summer (though I believe it READ MORE
Category: Book Review
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | KID GLOVES – LUCY KNISLEY
As a new(ish) mom, I’m always on the lookout for books that share the intimate and less rosy parts of becoming and being a mother. This book is focused on the pregnancy itself, and promised to do just that. I’ve never read anything by Lucy Knisley before, though I have a couple of her READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | ON THE COME UP – ANGIE THOMAS
Unless you reside under a particularly large and heavy rock, you will have heard of Angie Thomas’ first book, The Hate U Give, which came out in 2017. If you haven’t heard of it, please do yourself a solid, stop reading, go buy it or borrow it or steal it (okay, maybe not that READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE SILENCE OF THE GIRLS – PAT BARKER
I didn’t want to read this book. Not because I didn’t think it would be good – I’ve heard mainly positive things – but because I don’t love mythology, I’m not big on re-tellings, and I just finished reading Circe, which is both. But I’m so close to finishing the entire shortlist for this READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | DEAR FAHRENHEIT 451 – ANNIE SPENCE
I adore the concept of this book. Before I even opened it I was half in love, and ready to fall all the way. It’s a book of letters from an avid reader and librarian to the various books she has loved or hated most, books that are being removed from circulation, and books READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | NAKED AT THE ALBERT HALL – TRACEY THORN
If you read my review of Tracey Thorn’s first book, Bedsit Disco Queen, you’ll know that I’m an all-around fan of hers. I read this directly after finishing Bedsit, and mostly because I just couldn’t bear for it to be over. This isn’t a memoir, so it’s not a continuation of her first book. READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE KISS QUOTIENT – HELEN HOANG
Who knows why, after the failure of One Day In December I chose to read another romance story, but I guess I don’t have to make sense. In my defense, I didn’t really realize this one was straight up romance when I got myself into it. I thought it was more like The Rosie Project – READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | THE WIFE BETWEEN US – GREER HENDRICKS & SARAH PEKKANEN
I went into this with very high expectations. I’d seen it discussed by everyone who reads thrillers, it was one of the nominees for Goodreads’ best thriller of the year, and Lala from Books and Lala, who read all the Goodreads’ nominees, chose this as her favourite and talked about how surprising the twist READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | CIRCE – MADELINE MILLER
Greek mythology is not my thing. I’ve never read any of the original myths, nor have I had much exposure to movies or re-tellings based on them. I’m not quite sure why – I know some of them are rippingly good yarns – but they just don’t appeal to me. Perhaps a little too READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | ONE DAY IN DECEMBER – JOSIE SILVER
I don’t normally read romance, but this winter I just felt at a possibly all-time low, and I wanted something light, something hopeful, something happy, something easy. This book was making the rounds, had been picked for Reese Witherspoon’s book club (not that I follow that, but a few of her other picks appealed to READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | BEDSIT DISCO QUEEN – TRACEY THORN
I adored this book. Let me say that straight off. Here’s why. First of all, you have to know who Tracey Thorn is. She is possibly the voice of my adolescence, being that hers was the one I loved most. Though she is best known as the singer for Everything But the Girl, that’s READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | ORDINARY PEOPLE – DIANA EVANS
I came across this book last fall while browsing titles online. I loved the cover, and even more the description of the book. First of all, it’s set in London, and you all know how much of a sucker I am for that particular setting. Second, it’s about two young couples with young children READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | MY SISTER THE SERIAL KILLER – OYINKAN BRAITHWAITE
Though it’s a thriller at heart, this is one of those books that seems to somewhat defy categorization. This seems to be upheld by its recent selection for the Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist, a list that, in the few years I’ve been following it, hasn’t favoured the thriller genre. Before seeing it on READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE – TAYARI JONES
I’m not sure what made me choose this book when I did. I had just started using Audible, and I hadn’t yet built a library of books to choose from. This one wasn’t too expensive, and I remembered hearing good things, so I downloaded it. I was out walking to an appointment one day, READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | NORMAL PEOPLE – SALLY ROONEY
It has been a long time since I read this book, and in the intervening months, an odd thing has happened. When I read this book, I loved it and thought it was wonderfully written. I still think this, but the down time has put some distance between me and the reading experience has READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | FROM A LOW AND QUIET SEA – DONAL RYAN
Donal Ryan’s novel All We Shall Know got a lot of attention a couple of years ago – for its beautiful writing style more than anything. I tried to read it and found it just wasn’t the right book at the right time for me, but I figured From a Low and Quiet Sea READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | WARLIGHT – MICHAEL ONDAATJE
This was, I hate to admit, my first Ondaatje book. I’ve tried a few times in the past to read him, but I’ve never made it very far. I think this was due, in part, to having watched the film adaptation of The English Patient when I was about fifteen and a bit too READ MORE
THE SUNDAY REVIEW | LIFE AMONG THE SAVAGES – SHIRLEY JACKSON
I discovered this book thanks to Acacia Ives, who mentioned it in one of her reading wrap-ups. I’d heard of Shirley Jackson, of course, but since most of her stories are of the terrifying variety, and I am a wimp through and through, I discounted her as one of those authors I’d never be READ MORE