18) The Last Mile by David Baldacci It's fair to say this won't be winning any literary prizes anytime soon. For some reason, I was in the mood for some trashy page-turning nonsense that woudn't tax my brain, and this popped up in the Kindle. Baldacci is one of those machine-like James Patterson creatures who… Continue reading Year 2 / Book 18: The Last Mile
Author: nicktemple1
Year 2 / Book 17: Black Night Falling
17) Black Night Falling by Rod Reynolds I like a bit of hard-boiled crime writing as much as the next reader, so I was looking forward to this: I'd read lots of glowing feedback about this and its predecessor by Reynolds. But I left it a bit underwhelmed and wondering quite what the fuss is… Continue reading Year 2 / Book 17: Black Night Falling
Year 2 / Book 16: My Name Is Lucy Barton
16) My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout I'll be honest with you: I'd never heard of Elizabeth Strout until this Christmas (or was it the Christmas before?) when I was reading those pre-Xmas 'authors recommend their books of the year' articles, and this book got mentioned more than any other. So excuse ignorance, but… Continue reading Year 2 / Book 16: My Name Is Lucy Barton
Year 2 / Book 15: The Dry
15) The Dry by Jane Harper I heartily recommend reading Laura Wilson's monthly crime/thrillers round up in the Guardian: a great route to finding authors and books you might otherwise not run across. I regularly read through, pick ones that sound interesting, add them to a Wish List for future reference, and then buy one… Continue reading Year 2 / Book 15: The Dry
Year 2 / Book 14: The Power
14) The Power by Naomi Alderman Have you ever wondered what a world in which teenage girls and then women are the ones with the power and the strength? And what might become of society? Or felt a little burst of lightning between your finger tips? Well, wonder no more. Naomi Alderman's near-future dystopia is… Continue reading Year 2 / Book 14: The Power
Year 2 / Book 13: A Thousand Cuts
13) A Thousand Cuts by Thomas Mogford This is the fourth (or possibly fifth) Spike Sanguinetti mystery by Thomas Mogford, and I think this is one of the best. What raises them above the average or the norm for me is the setting on Gibraltar, which is a place I don't know at all (apart from… Continue reading Year 2 / Book 13: A Thousand Cuts
Year 2 / Book 12: Devices and Desires
12) Devices and Desires by PD James Busy times tend to mean more crime in reading terms for me, and there are few better at the top of the game than PD James in her pomp. She is as quintessentially English as her main detective leading man, Adam Dalgleish - and incredibly adept at bringing… Continue reading Year 2 / Book 12: Devices and Desires
Year 2 / Book 11: Zeitoun
11) Zeitoun by Dave Eggers I don't really know where to start when talking about this book. For reasons that I hope become clear. The simple facts are that it is a non-fiction book by Dave Eggers (one of my favourite authors) on what happens to a family both pre- and post- Hurricane Katrina in New… Continue reading Year 2 / Book 11: Zeitoun
Year 2 / Book 10: Sirens
10) Sirens by Joseph Knox God bless the community book share at Acton Central. This is a recently released thriller with lots of favourable reviews, and I had mentally consigned it to the "wait till it comes out in paperback" list but then found an uncorrected authors proof at Acton station. If you work in… Continue reading Year 2 / Book 10: Sirens
Year 2 / Book 9: Men Explain Things To Me
9) Men Explain Things to Me & Other Essays by Rebecca Solnit 'Mansplaining' is one of those terms that has rapidly become known, used and accepted into language - largely because everyone instantly understands what it is and how often it happens. Apparently the first essay in this book by Rebecca Solnit was partly responsible… Continue reading Year 2 / Book 9: Men Explain Things To Me
Dog-eared Man: a book a week 