Archive | April, 2011

“Saturday” by Ian McEwan

Not my favourite McEwan – that is Atonement by a long way. This was OK, a more meditative book, full of long meandering passages from the head of Henry Perowne, a successful neurosurgeon living in Marylebone with his successful wife and talented blues-musician son, awaiting the return from France of his beautiful and talented and [...]

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“Evening is the Whole Day” by Preeta Samarasan

This book grew on me. At first I found the amount of detail overwhelming, and thought the pace was too slow. Gradually, though, I got used to the style. By the end, I thought it was one of the best books I’ve read in quite a long time. It’s an interesting book in that it [...]

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“Written on the Body” by Jeanette Winterson

There is a lot of beauty in this book. Every sentence is like a poem. You can feel the care and attention that went into every choice of word. For the first few pages, I was blown away and thought I had discovered a new favourite writer. But towards the end my enthusiasm faded. I [...]

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“Remarkable Creatures” by Tracy Chevalier

This is a historical novel about Mary Anning, a young fossil hunter in early 19th century Britain. I quite enjoyed it, but it didn’t do anything special for me. It’s funny – although I studied history at university and have a lot of interest in it, I generally prefer contemporary fiction. I think it’s because [...]

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Cover image of On the Holloway Road by Andrew Blackman

Signed copies available, free worldwide delivery

I have just added a “Buy Now” feature to my website – if you click the button on the right-hand side, you can order a copy of On the Holloway Road from me directly and pay through Paypal. For £7.99, I will sign a copy for you (personalised if you let me know the message), [...]

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