Dawn

This novel made me so hungry!! It should have come with a recipe book as a bonus. But flippancy aside, it is a well crafted novel which intertwines the stories of two Nigerian and their mother across decades and around the world.
The shifting timelines are deftly woven creating anticipation without causing confusion. The characters are realistic and flawed and, by the end, I genuinely cared how they fared. An excellent debut novel.

Not up to the standards of The Martian by a long shot. The storyline was pretty fun but the characters had little depth. The female protagonist wasn't that believable, I mean maybe in the future moon-ladies will have reverted back to being 90s ladettes but I really hope not. Everyone else was a one dimensional plot device, swept aside and bobbing in Jazz's wake. Disappointing.

Great fun piece of fast-moving action nonsense, never went totally over-the-top to become ridiculous. Indiana Jones meets Tomb Raider with lashings of Lauren Bacall and brief moments of '50s Sci-Fi horror (not enough of this and definitely not enough of the super-powered Nazi backstory). I want more!

A 3.5 read that started intriguing but towards the last 3rd fell away.
There's not much to like about our protagonist - a vapid, female, Patrick Bateman but apparently with more motive. It's a fairly enjoyable read but not dark, twisted, funny, clever or gory enough to be truly great or awful.

Such a cute little graphic novel, beautifully illustrated and delightfully queer. Great characters, good story, absolutely nothing not to like. Will definitely be looking out for more by the same author and illustrator.

Absolutely insane, some fantastic artwork and also some pretty grotesque stuff too. Goes a bit weird (as in even weirder than usual) when Hewlett and Martin actually join the cast. Great but of escapism.

I didn't laugh, smirk or even smile once during reading this. I may have grimaced a couple of times but that's about as much emotion that it provoked. Acaster's scrapes were pretty banal (excluding the car crashes - how he's still alive and driving I do not know) and his writing was fine, satisfactory but not particularly engaging. I enjoy him on the telly and Off Menu podcasts but this just left me cold. Although I do have an urge to cabbadge someone...

This volume has Nick and Charlie learning more about each other and becoming a stronger couple. There are more serious tones than in the previous books, touching on the effects of homophobia and mental health, but the focus is on help and support.
As ever Oseman's work is inclusive and welcoming - she's a literary comfort blanket and I'm fast becoming a fan.

A “fairy tale” in the classic sense of a fable or a warning (as so much of Orwell's writing is). I first read this as a young teen when all it was to me was a tale of an animal uprising that spiralled out of control.

Turns out it's actually a thinly veiled commentary on communism in Soviet Russia with major animal characters reflecting the lives and ideals of major players in the Russian Revolution. I learnt this from Bradbury's introduction, Davison's notes and the appendices - including Orwell's original preface - all of which appeared in this copy adding context. If you want to know more there are plenty of articles available going into Orwell's critiques of communism, the historical events mirrored in the plotlines of the novella or even his apparently condescending attitude to the workers as uneducated followers unable or unwilling to fight back as their comrades become their leaders (not my view, just paraphrasing a critic for balance).

But don't let that put you off, you don't really need to know any of that. Its core message is just as relative today - power corrupts.

A quick read and a weird one. Basically 6 short stories that are linked by more than just the therapist. It's not great but it did keep me reading and I'll probably read the rest of the trilogy too. I'll also probably regret it!

Gorgeouser and gorgeouser (as Alice never said - but she would have, had she read this). A simply perfect book, feel-good, happy, winsome - hell, I just wish this had existed when I was young. I'm sure I'd be a better person. You're doing yourself a disfavour if you don't read these books.

As a parent to a non-binary young person and sibling to a trans man, I needed this book! I'm proudly queer but still struggled to understand exactly what they were going through. This was the lightbulb moment for me - now I get it all. It made me look at my own questions around gender: how I feel about my body; the androgeny of many of my crushes; the freedom of acting male characters in the theatre; enjoying when people are unsure if I'm gay or straight, female or male. My ideal word was created by Iain M. Banks in Consider Phelebas where one can change gender and sexuality as they wish throughout their life - this stuck with me way beyond the plot of the novel. Perhaps I'm a little Gender Queer too?

Another enjoyable romp through the alternative Wonderland with Alice and her friends/foes. Again I could do without her falling for everyone around her - she's like the stereotypical horny teenager. Some surprises but I think I see where this is going... I'm unlikely to find out though as my local library doesn't have the next book and I'm not desperate enough to buy it!

The most beautiful, sweet, perfect thing I think I have ever read. Gorgeously simple illustrations and an adorable tale of strangers becoming friends and falling in love. Everyone should read this as is just makes you feel warm and fuzzy and makes the world a better place.

The blurb had me thinking this would be laugh out loud, a dark twisted comedy mystery - Brookmyre meets the Coen brothers.

Instead, it was an alright read where I wasn't hugely invested in any characters. There was no mystery, just a series of unlikely events happening to some caricaturish people.

Passed the time but I don't think it even made me smile.

I'm still not quite sure what I've just read, a whodunnit... in space.... with necromancers.... and swordswomen/men?
Sometimes I felt I was just pushing through the words to get to the plot and at other times I just floated away in the prose.
I enjoyed it, I will read more, I just wasn't as enthused as I expected to be after all the rave reviews.

I remember really enjoying the first book in this series partly due to the novel plot (return of dragons but in a futuristic world) but mostly because of the grumpy old protagonist. This novel follows another of the Smoke Eaters as she continues the fight against the dragons but now finds a new nemesis in a seemingly undefeatable phoenix.
It was a good fun read although I'd pretty much forgotten everything from the previous book (note to self: do a pre-read re-read next time it's been over a year between books). Already ordered the third one, bring on the dragons!

I love James O'Brien's LBC show - probably as I'm a woke liberal lefty socialist snowflake - and this was basically just exactly the same. I could clearly hear him in my head as he outlined how to debate with people just as he does on a daily basis.

Obviously I'm not going to actually do it, I'll just shut up as usual and look vaguely uncomfortable until the other person stops talking. Expounding what one espouses is rather frowned upon in my line of work and I rarely put my head above the parapet in the tearoom.

Nevertheless it was an enjoyable and informative read. I'll hold onto the hope that if he can changes one person's mind on just one subject the world will slowly become a better place. Maybe I'll even get a little bit braver when an odious opinion is voiced on my next break and become another voice of reason in the wilderness.

Slightly different from the book, still strange and twisted. The voice actors were great and the spooky, atmospheric music really added to it all. Definitely worth a listen, a haunting horror tale that will stay with me for a while.
I'm glad I didn't look up the cast until after I finished listening because they don't look anything like they did in my head!
Bizarrely enough it's left me with a desire to read Middlemarch, thanks to the quotes after some of the episodes. Maybe I'll add it to my list!

Well, I didn't enjoy this nearly as much as the first one. There was little of the novel set in Develish itself instead we were mostly out on the road with Thaddeus and his gang. This was okay but then there was a loooonngg medieval court but that I really struggled to care about.

The writing was fine but it wasn't a gripping page-turner. There was little threat and the one “frenzied” attack lasted a mere paragraph. Overall, I was actually rather disappointed in lady Anne and Thaddeus for their deceit.

Once again, I'm not really sure I knew what I was reading. Not that I didn't enjoy it, I just often didn't really have a clue what was going on. The use of second-person narrative was extra weird - pulling you into the story, making you the protagonist when you (I) were floundering in the strange plot. But yet again, as it ended, I wanted more. Bring on Nona...

A beautifully written book full of antonyms: artist and scientist, doctor and patient, life and death. Kalanithi had searched for the perfect book to understand death during his life, inspired by his passion for both for neurosurgery and poetry. Perhaps, in this account of his cancer diagnosis and living with a terminal diagnosis, he has actually written that himself. A slight book, less pages than I expected, cut short as the author's own life was. Yet, somehow full to the brim of life, living, learning and so much love. Rounded out by a prologue from a much loved friend and colleague and emotionally summed up in the words of him bereaved wife.
A thoroughly recommended read.

Strange, beautiful, terrifying, final yet eternal. Ostensibly the life of two women, one who has disappeared/died and the wife she left behind who can't let go. But beneath this lies a ceaseless war in which their lives will become entwined.
I really enjoyed this book (so much that I've subscribed to the podcast and I've only ever listened to factual pods before) and I'm sure it will stay with me for a long time, at the edges of my mind.

“A life does not have to be satisfying or triumphant. A life does not have to mean anything or lead anywhere. A life does not need a direction or a goal. But sometimes a person is lucky enough to have a life with all that anyway.”

This was quite a read! Longer than I'd expected but I loved all the stories behind the people. Writing wasn't always as good as I'd have liked but overall - wow! If you don't hate the Amazonization of everything before you read this, you certainly will after! Made me want to grab a tent and a van and just head on out there...

Not my usual fare, not a bad read but not good - just fine. Satisfactory writing but I didn't engage with anyone. Perhaps this author is just not for me. I mildly disliked everyone and had no interest in their lives.
I assume the point was that we're all unpleasant weirdos who hate ourselves underneath - and I don't disagree - but I've read so many better books with this theme.
And then there was the sex, it probably wasn't a lot but it felt like far too much: being had, not had, discussed, implied... sigh
Doubt anything from it will stay with me, already their names are slipping away.