Monthly Archives: January, 2015
Fatal Last Words by Quentin Jardine
I really enjoy the Bob Skinner series written by Quintin Jardine. Fatal Last Words was one of his new books that I discovered in a book exchange in a hotel while I was on holiday. I was thrilled. Quintin Jardine is one of my favourite Scottish authors. He was born in Motherwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland, and educated …
Jam and Jeopardy by Doris Davidson
I was rummaging around the library for an author I was not familiar with, when I came upon Doris Davidson and her book, Jam and Jeopardy. I have since discovered that Doris Davidson was born in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1922 and died in 2012. She lived there all her life. After a career as a …
In Custody by Anita Desai
Anita Mazumdar Desai was born in Mussoorie, India in 1935.Her mother was German and her father was a Bengali businessman. She grew up speaking German at home and Bengali, Urdu, Hindi and English outside the house, but, did not visit Germany until later in life as an adult. She first learned to read and write …
Where There’s a Will by Matt Beaumont
Where There’s a Will is a book that was chosen by our local book group as book of the month. It is not a book that I would have chosen but it does hit home about the cynical society we live in today. The main character, Alvin, is a good man. He works with dysfunctional …
The Spare Room by Helen Garner
The Spare Room is a novel about caring for a friend with cancer by Australian writer Helen Garner. She is an Australian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist who was born in Geelong, Australia on 7, November 1942. She is a graduate of the University of Melbourne. Garner’s first novel, Monkey Grip, was published in …
Where the Bodies are Buried by Christopher Brookmyre
I knew I was to attend a writing workshop run by Arvon at Moniack Mohr in Inverness-shire in Scotland and that Christopher Brookmyre, a leading exponent of Tartan Noir was to be the guest tutor. I had only read one of his books, Quite Ugly One Morning. It is reviewed here https://bookreviewstoday.wordpress.com/2014/05/26/quite-ugly-one…pher-brookmyre/ , but I did not …
Blacklands by Belinda Bauer
This is not a book I would have chosen off a book shelf. I was not familiar with the author’s work but it was book of the month at the book group I go to in the village library. Belinda Bauer won the Crime Writer’s Association 2010 Gold Dagger Award for Blacklands and this debut novel, Blacklands seems to …
The Stranger From Home by Frederic Lindsay
Frederic Lindsay was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 12 August 1933 but lived primarily in Edinburgh, Scotland until his death on 31 May 2013. He worked as a lecturer, teacher and library assistant until he became a full-time writer from 1979. He was active in a number of literary organisations including the Society of Authors, International PEN, which is a worldwide …
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
A Thousand Splendid Suns is the second novel by the Afghan author Khaled Hosseini. It was published in 2007 after his best-selling debut novel, The Kite Runner. I would probably never had read this book except that my book group in the library had it as book of the month. That would have been my loss. This book spans a …
The Coward’s Guide to Conflict by Tim Ursiny
I really dislike conflict, but sometimes it cannot be avoided. So when I saw this book in my local library, I thought it might be worth a read. The book promotes the idea that, if you know how to deal with conflict well, you can turn it into your biggest opportunity for success. The Coward’s …
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