15) Twilight of Democracy by Anne Applebaum The subtitle to this book is 'The Failure of Politics and the Parting of Friends', which gives a more accurate sense of the territory it covers. Anne Applebaum is a journalist and historian, and this book is her attempt to understand the rise of populist (and far-right) political… Continue reading Year 6 / Book 15: Twilight of Democracy
Category: international
Year 6 / Book 14: The Cabin
14) The Cabin by Jorn Lier Horst This is the second in the 'Cold Case' quarter to feature the detective William Wisting, with whom Horst fans will already be well familiar (the first is The Katharina Code). This instalment starts with Wisting being called in to meet the Director of Public Prosecutions, as a leading… Continue reading Year 6 / Book 14: The Cabin
Year 6 – catch-up; Books 1-10 including Zadie Smith, Max Porter and Abir Mukherjee
As the more eagle-eyed or regular reader will know, Lockdown 1.0 featured of a baby for us which, it is fair to say, has had something of an impact on a) the whole book a week thing and b) keeping up with reviews. I have considered just moving this into a children's book blog, but… Continue reading Year 6 – catch-up; Books 1-10 including Zadie Smith, Max Porter and Abir Mukherjee
Year 5 / Book 22: The A26
22) The A26 by Pascal Garnier With apologies for the enormous break in book reviews (it turns out reading a book a week is incompatible with having a new baby around), I'm catching up a bit on what I have actually managed to read in the last few months. First up is this incredibly dark… Continue reading Year 5 / Book 22: The A26
Year 5 / Book 16: Hell’s Gate
16) Hell's Gate by Laurent Gaudé So this is a strange and intriguing novella by Prix Goncourt-winning French novelist Laurent Gaudé - it starts out with a sort of fairly standard-ish character on something of a mission to avenge someone or something. It turns out the death he is seeking to avenge is, well, his own… Continue reading Year 5 / Book 16: Hell’s Gate
Year 5 / Book 3: All My Cats
3) All My Cats by Bohumil Hrabal When the team were all putting up what they liked and didn't like ahead of Secret Santa in the office, I put 'Likes: books, cats', and so here we are: a book about cats. Although not quite as fluffy as one might be expecting. The only previous book I'd… Continue reading Year 5 / Book 3: All My Cats
Year 4 / Book 50: The Godmother
50) The Godmother by Hannelore Cayre In a strong field of good thrillers and crime books that I've read towards the end of 2019, this is right up there. It has won several prizes in France and Europe, and I can completely see why, as funny, sharp, and thrilling. It features the wonderfully droll Patience… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 50: The Godmother
Year 4 / Book 44: The Katharina Code
44) The Katharina Code by Jorn Lier Horst I've read quite a few of Horst's 'Wisting' novels, and I've liked his more gentle, cerebral, character-driven approach to Scandi crime for a while - generally, not understanding why he doesn't get as much attention as some of the others. But he does seem to be breaking through,… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 44: The Katharina Code
Year 4 / Book 38: The Spy and the Traitor
38) The Spy and The Traitor by Ben MacIntyre This was recommended to me while we were on holiday by our friends Claire and Matt, who said it was "as good as a thriller, except it's real". And how right they were. It's an amazing tale of the most famous Russian mole who spied for… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 38: The Spy and the Traitor
Year 4 / Book 34: Moonstone
34) Moonstone by Sjon Sjon is an Icelandic novelist, and this short and powerful novel is set in Reykjavik towards the end of the world war in 2018. Máni is a young free-spirited teenager with an intense love of cinema, and a penchant for flights of fancy (primarily about the mystical Sóla G, his sort-of… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 34: Moonstone
Dog-eared Man: a book a week 