Title: Love, Nina: Despatches from Family Life Author: Nina Stibbe What I think so far: In 1982, Nina Stibbe moved from Leicester to London to become nanny to Mary-Kay Wilmers’s children. Working (somewhat informally, it has to be said) for the editor of the London Review of Books clearly gave this book’s twenty year old […]Read More
Title: The Radetzky March Author: Joseph Roth What Do I Think Of It?:If you’re a long-time reader of mine you’ll know that I’m a big fan of 20th-century European literature: my favourite author is Fallada (German), the book I last read was by Francoise Sagan (French) and the book I’m looking at today is by an Austrian […]Read More
Title: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman Author: Laurence Sterne What Do I Think Of It?: What do you get when you cross Jonathan Swift with Daniel Defoe and throw in a splash of Carrollesque surrealism? You get Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne, clergyman-turned-author. This is a riotous, 18th-century mock-autobiography of the fictional wag Tristram Shandy, who […]Read More
Title: The Undercover Economist Author: Tim Harford What I think so far: This is the second time Tim Harford has proved to me that non-fiction books can be hooking. Having read Freakonomics previously, which he wrote alongside Steven Levitt, my expectations were high, and were instantly met in the introduction; the fact that I actually […]Read More
Title: Nina is Not Ok Author: Shappi Khorsandi What I Think So Far: Nina is Not Ok is comedian Shappi Khorsandi’s first fiction novel. It follows the story of Nina, a seventeen-year old A Level student with an alcohol dependency. The book begins at the start of a rough year for Nina, having recently broken […]Read More
Title: Narcissus and Goldmund Author: Hermann Hesse What I Think So Far: Narcissus and Goldmund is the epitome of a rich tale. Set in the medieval world of Germany, or the Holy Roman Empire as it is called at this point in history, it tells the tale of two men over a lifetime. Narcissus is the intellectual, […]Read More
Title: Less Than Zero Author: Bret Easton Ellis What I Think So Far: It’s rare that a book should focus so unflinchingly on one theme, but Bret Easton Ellis’ Less Than Zero is a book almost solely about hedonism. Following the existence of a posh, depraved, arrogant Californian yuppie, Clay, Ellis takes us through the sun-baked hedonism […]Read More
Title: How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the F.A. Cup Author: J.L. Carr What I Think So Far: Books and football, while most of the time at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of intellectualism, sometimes come together to create some great things. How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the F.A. Cup is a prime example of those occasions. […]Read More
Title: Catch-22 Author: Joseph Heller What I think so far: This novel is possibly one of the most puzzling books I have encountered out of the disappointingly meagre portion of novels I have read in my life. Initially, I was unsure whether to write about it, simply because I do not know where to begin […]Read More
Title: A Small Circus (Bauern, Bonzen und Bomben) Author: Hans Fallada What I Think So Far: This is a portrait of its time. Written in 1931, A Small Circus tells of the small town of Altholm in rural Pomerania, Germany, in 1929. Whereas Fallada’s other novels, such as Alone in Berlin, The Drinker and Little Man, What […]Read More
Title: Graffiti (and other poems) Author: Savannah Brown What I Think So Far: I am personally a great fan of the slam poetry genre in general and Savannah Brown in particular speaks volumes to me. I first discovered her on her YouTube channel, reciting her poems. and was gripped. I knew when I learned of […]Read More
Title: The Graveyard Book Author: Neil Gaiman What I Think So Far: I’ve spent a long while being harassed by my bookish friends to read something by Neil Gaiman and, as a text that I intend to use in my dissertation, I thought that The Graveyard Book, an interesting re-telling of The Jungle Book was a good place […]Read More
Title: The Prince Author: Niccolò Machiavelli What I think so far: Essentially, Machiavelli’s most famous work is an examination of power – how to acquire, use and obtain it. As such it reads more as an instruction manual than a story, though this helps to set the ruthless, ambitious tone expressed by the whole book. The Prince is […]Read More
Title: The Secret Adversary Author: Agatha Christie What I Think So Far: As the first detective novel I have ever read, I’m baffled as to why I didn’t pick up one sooner. The Secret Adversary is the novel in which Agatha Christie first introduces the dynamic duo of Tommy and Tuppence in their series of sleuthing. […]Read More
Title: Memoirs of a Geisha Author: Arthur Golden What I think So Far: When I feel particularly gripped by a book, it can go either one of two ways – I either hungrily finish it within three days, or I read it on public transport in an attempt to savour it. In the case of […]Read More
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