Every now and then when I go past Baker Street in London, I stop to take a look in the window of the TFL Lost Property office. It's one of London's odd places. You can't actually go in, but the window regularly changes displaying different things left during the years, from 80's mobile phones the …
Continue reading Lost Property: the weirdest things left behind on London’s public transport.
Although it's well written, capturing the mood and language of it's era, this book failed to really grab me. It follows the lives of a brother and sister, James and Charlotte, who have no one in the world except each other, until time and social circumstances pull them apart. But when something supernatural happens that …
I think I've read all of Fannie Flagg's books, and loved every one. The most famous is perhaps Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe, which was made into an excellent film. In fact, the author is an actress herself! What I love about her books is that they're about the simple things in life, …
Continue reading The All Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg
There's nothing quite like getting a book in the post from an old friend, with a handwritten note, especially when you're like me, and live on the other side of the world. I am also very lucky to have friends who have excellent taste in books! This book is about Alice, a 29 year old …
Certain books were a fixture in our house growing up, and I can remember winters by the fire with illustrated editions of various Victorian novels. Amongst my favourites were the Sherlock Holmes series. (I think everyone in my family loves a mystery story, my mum remembered her Grandmother reading Agatha Christie at the breakfast table …
Continue reading 221b Baker Street, London: A visit to Sherlock Holmes house.
During the political and religious unrest of the dissolution of the monasteries, a commissioner from Thomas Cromwell is murdered at a Benedictine monastery that he was sent to investigate. When Commissioner Shardlake is sent to investigate the murder, he finds murder and corruption, and a race against time to find a killer. But nothing is …
A dark and charming story of friendship, love and social divides in small town America, this book is Alice Hoffman at her magical best. Carlin Leander, a beautiful swimmer, joins the Haddan school on a scholarship and makes friends with loner and social outcast August Pierce, who is secretly in love with her. When Carlin …
Perhaps rather than review this book, I should just launch into a rant? This year I created a reading list for myself of books that were my friends absolute favourites. I have some amazing books on this list, and many of them have already been reviewed. Two that forced their way onto the list are …
Continue reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle – Haruki Murakami
Stephen King meets Terry Pratchett, this book is a bit of a doorstopper, (I read the “authors preferred text” which has some parts added back in, making it a bit longer). Following a man called Shadow, who gets out of prison to find that his wife and best friend have just died, and takes up …
Murakami's novels are kind of an acquired taste and are generally a normal story that's a bit weird. In this story, the narrator feels compelled to return to a hotel he stayed in years before, because he feels that someone is calling him back there, possibly a girl he used to be in a …
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