Book Review Blog & Bookish Thoughts
Opening sentence: “My publishers remain very keen that neither they nor I go to prison as a result of my books.” For my festive read last year I went classic, reviewing Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie. For 2019 I’ve gone for something a little more contemporary, Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas by Adam Kay. […]
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Opening sentence: “When I think of my grandmother, it is thus: seated on a high stool, her stool, in the negligent but alert position of a nightclub singer.” I have the great honour of kicking off this wonderful blog tour for The Last Landlady by Laura Thompson. This book is sub-titled An English Memoir and […]
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Opening sentence: ‘The windows of a spaceship casually frame miracles.’ With this evocative opening sentence, Chris Hadfield begins his unique story. He was an astronaut for 21 years and has been into space three times; the final time for five months aboard the International Space Station, starting in December 2012. Space travel is something that […]
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Opening sentence: “I’m standing on the red railway car that sits abandoned next to the barn.” Educated is a new type of read for me: It’s the first time I’ve picked up a biography of someone I didn’t know (read: not a celeb.) I’d never heard of Tara Westover before, but her story is fascinating. Recommended […]
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Opening sentence: “I never thought I was a runner.” I finished reading Eat, Drink, Run last Sunday on the day of the London marathon and seeing as how it’s all about Telegraph journalist Bryony Gordon’s experience running that very race for the first time, that seemed quite serendipitous. (Perhaps randomly as a non-runner, this is […]
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When this heatwave started, I assumed we were looking at four days of warm weather – a week max. Six weeks later, and with no drop of rain on the horizon (at least not here in London) maybe we can just call it summer? How novel. One thing I have found is the warm, bright […]
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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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