Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie Opening sentence: “‘Do I remember the Crale case?’ asked Sir Montague Depleach. Today would have been Agatha Christie’s 128th birthday, so it’s only fitting that I post about one of her marvelous books! Five Little Pigs sees legendary detective Hercule Poirot take on an interesting case. He gets a visit from Carla […]
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Published in 2017 by Walker Books / 288 pages Opening sentence, “Adam would have to get the flowers himself.” At the Greenwich Book Festival I had the pleasure of hearing Patrick Ness in conversation with authors Angie Thomas and Katherine Woodfine. He spoke about how his new book, Release was inspired by Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway (the […]
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I had a little reading blip in the middle of July, starting a few books and not feeling them, so kind of languishing for a few days, but the pull of a muchly anticipated read certainly helped me get over this. When an email popped into my inbox saying a copy of the new Sophie […]
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The Craftsman by Sharon Bolton Opening sentence: “On the hottest day of the year, Larry Glassbrook has come home to his native Lancashire for the last time, and the townsfolk have turned out to say goodbye.” Mix a good old-fashioned murder mystery with elements of witchcraft and yes, I’m going to be interested. I heard […]
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How Not to be a Boy by Robert Webb Opening sentence: “‘If I get this right, Tess Rampling will definitely want to have sex with me.’” Not that I’m usually too swayed by gushing book cover quotes, but when said quote is from J.K Rowling (‘I (genuinely) cried. I (genuinely) laughed out loud. Profound, touching, […]
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First Love by Gwendoline Riley Opening sentence: “I used to look at houses like this one from the train: behind the ivy-covered embankment, their London brick, sash windows.” I generally really do like books that are character focused rather than plot driven, which this is, but sadly it didn’t do anything for me, because I […]
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The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. Book One in the Chaos Walking Trilogy. Opening sentence: “The first thing you find out when yer dog learns to talk is that dogs don’t got nothing much to say.” Published in 2008, quite a few people have recommended this book (the whole trilogy in fact) […]
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