Posts Tagged ‘novels’
Beach reading season 2021 officially begins (at least for me)!
Sometimes you have to celebrate the small pleasures in life. This past year has certainly taught us as much. I have always taken pleasure in the first day of spring in which I venture out to the beach, armed with the latest novel I’m reading. Staking out my spot in the sand never gets old.…
Read MoreMargaret Atwood on book reviews by authors
I think of reviewing like giving blood: some day you might need some yourself. -Margaret Atwood I liked this Twitter comment from Canadian author Margaret Atwood. This was in response to a person who suggested that authors – especially famous authors – should recognize their success and pay it forward by writing book reviews for…
Read MoreBook Review: Grown Ups
Irish author Marian Keyes always delivers interesting characters, and her latest novel, Grown Ups, doesn’t disappoint. The novel unfolds in Dublin, and on various holiday locales around Ireland – and one further afield in Tuscany, Italy. We’re introduced rather quickly to a large cast of characters. The Casey brothers – Johnny, Ed and Liam –…
Read MoreBook review: All the Lonely People
I so enjoyed reading my first Mike Gayle novel, Half A World Away, earlier this year that I decided to also read his newest, All the Lonely People. It didn’t disappoint. This story opens as we observe a grumpy, old man, Hubert Bird, speaking from his London home with his daughter who works in Australia.…
Read MoreBook review: The Chalet
Full disclaimer : COVID has left me brutally ski-deprived. I spent this past January driving through mountains positively mocking me with their pistes fluffy with beautiful, virginal snow, yet with not one lone skier on them due to COVID restrictions. COVID killed the season last year, and it’s looking as if this year won’t be…
Read MoreBook review: The Heatwave
I read The Girl in the Photograph, an earlier novel by this author, and was underwhelmed, but I was intrigued by the premise of this novel and its setting. I’m glad to have picked it up, and found it a compelling read. This novel is largely set in southern France’s Provence region, in a small,…
Read MoreReviewing your own writing – except the bad bits
“I like reading my own work, and often do it. I go gently over the bits I think are bad.” —E. M. Forster I’m a big fan of E.M. Forster’s work. The British novelist ( 1879 – 1970) of masterpieces such as A Room with a View, Where Angels Fear to Tread, Passage to India…
Read MoreBook review : The Piano Teacher
This is the second novel by Janice Y.K. Lee that I’ve read. A few years ago, I enjoyed her excellent The Expatriates, so I was curious to read this novel set in Hong Kong in the lead-up to World War II and the time of the Japanese occupation. Lee is from Hong Kong and covered…
Read MoreA good writer should be able to fool his readers
“What is important is to invent a story and to make the spectators believe it.” —Tahar Ben Jelloun I like this quote from contemporary Moroccan author Tahar Ben Jelloun. This is exactly how an author creates a successful novel – by creating characters, a story and an environment that draws us in immediately and has…
Read MoreBook review: The Nanny
I enjoyed this novel told through multiple narrators, with its Gothic elements and an engaging backstory that slowly reveals itself as the novel progresses. Laura Holt fled England, her privileged life and her titled parents as soon as she could, eventually settling half a world away in California. But tragedy and financial woes force her…
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