Book thoughts
I read a ridiculous number of books, and always have a huge TBR pile! My favourite genre is crime fiction, but I also love general and historical fiction and read some non-fiction, sci-fi and fantasy if I come across something that looks good.
In Freak Like Me, Malcolm McLean recreates the 90s as I remember it, without sugar-coating the aspects that weren't so good.
Imagine how much I'd read if I didn't need to sleep quite so much.
In My Name Is Why, Lemn Sissay blends official documents and personal recollections and reflections to create a devastating narrative and damning indictment of the systems that failed him growing up. I found myself considering the nature of autobiography, and what makes this one particularly unusual and compelling.
The quicker I write this, the sooner I can get back to reading.
The three instalments of the Eliot Chronicles succeed in being both old-fashioned and surprisingly modern and relevant.
I will review a book series this month. I've made notes and everything.
Still rather slack on the review front.
It's my website, and I'll eschew full-length reviews if I want to.
Everything I intended to read, and more.
Pulp is the exciting but bittersweet story of a fascinating 1950s teenager, and a present-day teenager who is... kind of dull.
A coming-of-age tale set in 1930s Suffolk, All Among the Barley manages to be both timeless and time-specific.
My eyes continue to be bigger than my brain.
The Thirteenth Tale is a solid story full of mysteries and surprises, but its commentary on storytelling captivated me even more.
Everything apart from the books I planned, apparently.
The Cut Out Girl is just the kind of history book I've come to love.
I read 11 non-fiction, crime and thriller, fantasy and historical fiction books in February, yet my TBR list never gets any smaller.
In The Wych Elm, Tana French has created a small, self-contained universe full of paranoia, suspicion, and game-playing, and raised questions about the reliability of memory and what makes someone 'good'.
The Library Book is like libraries themselves: it's wide-ranging, full of life, and you get a hell of a lot out of it.
Darling is rich, timely, unpredictable and unputdownable.
January felt like such a long month, so I'm not surprised I managed to fit in 11 books!
You Were Gone is thrilling, emotional, and genuinely scary.
Conversations with Friends isn't something I'd normally read, but it's pacey and well-written, and gave me a lot to pick over.
Milkman is like chocolate fudge cake. It's rich and satisfying, but you have to pace yourself.
It has to be a good sign when your first read of the year gets five stars, right?
What better way to start a new blog than with a round-up of the books I loved in 2018 and the ones I'm looking forward to in 2019?
As promised last week, this week’s blog is about the ‘Storying the Past’ session me, Helen Rogers, and Simon Briercliffe ran at the Social History Society conference, concurrently with a Twitter conversation.
Having missed the last Storying The Past Twitter discussion due to teaching commitments, I was keen to get involved in this month’s conversation about Threads, by Julia Blackburn
It’s been quite a busy week for me, not that I’m complaining. As well as having two new classes to teach, I joined in an online book group discussion and transcribed an early modern woman’s recipe book alongside 88 others.