‘Revolutionary Road’ – Richard Yates 1961.
Richard Yates must have had some truly destructive relationships in his life. No one could write with such melancholy about the disintegration of relationships ...
‘Deadline’- Mira Grant 2011.
‘Deadline’ is the second novel in the ‘Newsflesh Trilogy‘ of zombie novels by Mira Grant, and if you haven’t already read ‘F...
‘John Dies at the End’ – David Wong 2011.
This book was an odd choice for me, a whim really. It was mentioned in passing and the title intrigued me. Would I enjoy reading a book where the (presumed) mai...
‘The Great Gatsby’- F. Scott Fitzgerald 1925.
‘The Great Gatsby‘ is often referred to as a ‘Great American Novel‘, yet initially after reading it I was still not quite sure I underst...
‘Beatrice and Virgil’ – Yann Martel 2010.
It is rare that I actually dislike a book. I enjoy reading, enjoy narratives, and enjoy various styles of writing, even if I am not always convinced by the char...
‘Cold Spring Harbor’ – Richard Yates 1986.
While reading this book I realised that a very large number of the books I have been reading recently have been written in the 1930’s. This was certainly ...
‘The Windup Girl’- Paolo Bacigalupi 2009
‘The Windup Girl‘ is one of the most genuinely frightening dystopian novels I have ever read. While many dystopias are frightening for their sometim...
‘Dance, Dance, Dance’ -Haruki Murakami 1988 (English translation by Alfred Birnbaum 1994)
Murakami‘s novels are so unusual I find them very hard to describe. He is definitely one of my favourite authors, for a number of reasons relating to hi...
‘Cakes and Ale’ – William Somerset Maugham 1930.
Cakes and Ale is a rather biting satire of the life of various notable British writers, including Thomas Hardy, who were prolific in William Somerset Maugham...
‘Scoop: A Novel About Journalists’ – Evelyn Waugh 1938.
Evelyn Waugh is fast becoming one of my favourite writers. A few months ago I read one of his most famous novels ‘Brideshead Revisited‘ which I high...