zerosleeps

Since 2010

Reading log

A list of things I've read since late 2019. 2019 was backfilled from memory and has holes and fabricated dates, but the listings for 2020 onwards are accurate.

March 2023

The Runaway Jury

John Grisham
★★☆☆☆

Similar review to my last Grisham: way too many characters for me to keep a track of, and a conclusion that didn’t seem big enough for the amount of set up. I’ll see if I can find the movie - maybe I’ll enjoy that more.

February 2023

Young Mungo

Douglas Stuart
★★★★☆

Long book! No gimmicks, gotchas or unnecessary threads, just a really well told story from a time and a place that are both very familiar and yet difficult to remember. Also, I’m Scottish and I still had to look up some of the language used! Good on the author for not watering it down.

Honeybee

Craig Silvey
★★★★☆

Beautiful story. I really got wrapped up in this one, and then… it just ended. Might have gotten 5 stars if some of the many loose ends got tied up.

January 2023

Fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury
Abandoned

I have got to stop attempting to read “classic” novels.

Longitude

Dava Sobel
★★★★☆

As always, it was more about the people than the technology than I’d like, but this provided a gentle little history lesson. I wonder what those first clockmakers would say about our cheap and unfathomably accurate clocks today.

Nick and Charlie

Alice Oseman
★★★☆☆

I read the original Heartstopper books and have similar thoughts to this sequel novella thing: I’m about twice the age of the target audience, but the story is sweet and the illustrations are brilliant.

The Second Worst Restaurant in France

Alexander McCall Smith
★★☆☆☆

Nope, not for me. Nothing happened, and just when it seemed like something was about to happen, the bloody thing ended. Didn’t enjoy the way the main characters constantly tried to intellectually one-up each other either - felt like the author was trying to do that with me as the reader.

The Martian

Andy Weir
★★★★★

Thought I’d start the year with an old friend.

December 2022

Undoctored

Adam Kay
★★★★☆

This is my third Kay book and they’ve all been consistent in making me laugh and think. This one had copious amounts of footnotes though 😠 I’ve said it before - it’s either important enough to appear in the main body, or it’s not important enough to appear at all.

How To Stop Time

Matt Haig
★★★☆☆

Similar review to the other Matt Haig I’ve read: super interesting premise but the story just kind of… ended.

The Trial

Franz Kafka
Abandoned

Discovered via this comment on Hacker News but it was just a rambling mess that I gave up on about 20% of the way in.

November 2022

Good Samaritans

Will Carver
★★★★☆

Plenty of twists and dark comedy.

October 2022

Gravity

Tal Bauer
★★★★☆

I needed something… lighter after taking about a month to read the last book. I’m man enough to admit that I had a little weep a couple of times reading this. Predictable story, but there’s nothing wrong with that.

The End of Men

Christina Sweeney-Baird
★★★☆☆

Written pre-COVID and as noted by the author in her foreword, the premise of this story is frighteningly similar to the reality of a global pandemic. So points for that. The final third of the book (“recovery”) lost me a bit though. It lacked the drama of the previous chapters and seemed to drag on.

September 2022

Rock Paper Scissors

Alice Feeney
★★★★☆

Yeah alright, 4 stars. I didn’t see the last couple of twists coming and they did add a good depth to the whole thing.

The Only Plane in the Sky

Garrett M
★★★★☆

I promise you it’s just a coincidence that I finished reading this on 11 September. Good read. Emotional. It must have been a real pain to structure so many interviews.

August 2022

Sandworm

Andy Greenberg
★★★☆☆

Enjoyed the technical sections - wish they were more technical in fact. Some of it felt a bit conspiratorial.

July 2022

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

Lori Gottlieb
★★★☆☆

Well written and pretty emotional towards the end. Too touchy-feely for my taste.

June 2022

The Place Between

Kit Oliver
★★☆☆☆

Jeez what an exhausting book. Took a really long, repetitive path to it’s entirely predictable outcome.

Project Hail Mary

Andy Weir
★★★★★

Third read of this. Keeps all 5 stars and marks the completion of my Andy Weir marathon.

May 2022

Artemis

Andy Weir
★★★★☆

I’m on an Andy Weir marathon. Keeps it’s 4-star rating. Been a while since I originally read this but I think I enjoyed it more second time around.

The Martian

Andy Weir
★★★★★

Nothing to add. Fourth read, still my favourite!

Coming Up For Air

Tom Daley
★★★★☆

Daley’s a bit young for a biography, but there’s no doubt he’s lead an interesting life so far and taken a right beating from professional sports, physically and emotionally.

The Firm

John Grisham
★★★☆☆

I don’t think I’ve read a Grisham before. Took me a while to get through this one and I’m not convinced it was worth it. Lots of characters to keep a track of and I’m never good at that. Mediocre conclusion to the story.

April 2022

This Much is True

Miriam Margolyes
★★★★☆

Apart from a couple of chapters at the end that went off on a political rant, this was an easy and good fun read. The woman isn’t afraid to say what she thinks!

A Marvellous Light

Freya Marske
★★☆☆☆

I was just reading the words - I never felt like I was part of the story. Plenty of potential but it was a bit of a mess with a sprinkling of women-writing-men.

Car Crash

Lech Blaine
★★☆☆☆

I think this was more for the author than it was for anyone else. And that’s fine. But I wasn’t entertained or educated or… anything when I reached the end of this.

March 2022

A Brief History of Time

Stephen Hawking
Abandoned

Nah, way too theoretical for me.

The Pilot's Daughter

Audrey J. Cole
★★★☆☆

Quick and believable. The love story wasn’t necessary, but I have a cold, cold heart.

Lady in Waiting

Anne Glenconner
★★☆☆☆

The woman’s lead an interesting life, no doubt about it. This was way too name-drop-ey and aristocrat-ey for me though. It’s hard to relate to someone who buys a new house every other month and insists that knowing exactly who to contact in the Foreign Office “wasn’t special treatment”. And several points lost for saying about her own son: “…he gave no outward hint of being gay…”. That ain’t how it works posh lady.

January 2022

The Binding

Bridget Collins
★★★★★

Third read. Still finding little details that only reveal themselves once you get to know the whole story better.

Bird Box

Josh Malerman
★★☆☆☆

Repetitive, no twists, and failed to explain anything.

December 2021

Playing Offside

Jax Calder
★★★☆☆

Project Hail Mary

Andy Weir
★★★★★

First re-read of this, so obviously the shocks and twists didn’t land the same as they did last time, but it’s still an awesome story with lovable characters, great humour, all woven together in a clever way.

Boy Swallows Universe

Trent Dalton
★★★☆☆

Fine. Medium. It was pretty funny and very Australian. I feel like it left a lot of loose ends though.

November 2021

Fall, Or Dodge in Hell

Neal Stephenson
Abandoned

What a load of old shit. And a colossal waste of reading time. I spent almost a month picking through this book. The chapters kept getting longer and longer, and when I looked to see how far I was from the end I still had something like a third of the fucking thing to go. Kindle was estimating I’d need another nine hours to finish it. It started fine, interesting premise etc. etc. but I just couldn’t go on once the mountains started talking and “Adam” was ejaculating over “Eve”.

October 2021

The Martian

Andy Weir
★★★★★

Third read. I reckon this is my favouritest book ever.

Cocaine Blues

Kerry Greenwood
★★☆☆☆

Harmless but lacked substance.

The Hunt for Red October

Tom Clancy
★★★☆☆

Ugh I don’t know. I nearly gave this two stars, but I didn’t hate it. I’m indifferent. It took me bloody weeks to get through, I can tell you that. A very detailed story, with lots of characters and locations to keep track of. I think it’s just the subject that turned me off - I normally love detail in a story, but sneaky warfare and military stuff doesn’t work for me. Maybe I’ll watch the movie - I can imagine how it would make a good movie.

August 2021

Camp

L.C. Rosen
★★☆☆☆

I definitely wasn’t the target audience for this one. It was a sweet story, and I’m really happy books like this exist in the world though. Maybe if it had existed/I had read it about 25 years ago I’d have given it more stars.

Cockpit Confidential

Patrick Smith
★★★★☆

I follow the author’s blog, and it seemed appropriate to dig into this book - which was already sitting in my queue - having just finished that MH370 book. It’s clear the author enjoys his industry, and he’s a great communicator. I’m a sucker for “behind the scenes” stories about everyday events.

The Disappearing Act: The Impossible Case of MH370

Florence de Changy
★★★★☆

I followed the hunt for MH370 with interest, and I’ve read a wee bit about the mystery since. This author seems to have spoken to a lot of people over the last few years and makes a fairly solid case that the commonly accepted cause of the flight’s disappearance is a load of crap. The story we all know, about the rogue pilot and the incredibly accurate route he took in order to remain hidden, really doesn’t make sense to me after reading this book. At the same time, how on earth could any alternative solution have been kept so well hidden by so many people for so long?

July 2021

Thirteen

Steve Cavanagh
★★★★☆

I really enjoyed the way the stories being told met in the middle. There was a good balance between letting the reader know what’s about to happen, and keeping the next twist hidden from us. I might check out some more of this author’s work.

Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun

Jonny Garza Villa
★★★☆☆

Fine. Medium. The letter the main character sends to his asshole dad in one of the last chapters was 👌

Neither Here Nor There

Bill Bryson
★★★★☆

Och I love a good Bill Bryson book, and I’d never read this one before. I’m never in these ones for the travel - he just makes me laugh!

The Midnight Library

Matt Haig
★★★☆☆

Had some feel-good moments, some of which came close to being eye-roll clichés, but it all held together nicely in the end. The story was overall a rather interesting concept.

Catch-22

Joseph Heller
Abandoned

This is the second time I’ve attempted this “classic”, and while I made it further this time than last time I still only got about one-sixth of the way into it before giving up, mid-paragraph, in an agitated strop. I don’t get it. How is this on every “must read before you die” list? By about the second page there’s a cast of 300 characters you have to keep a track of, and there’s almost never any link between one sentence and the next. What a load of old shit.

June 2021

Red, White and Royal Blue

Casey McQuiston
★★★★★

Great fun with an enticing premise. Made me laugh out loud several times, which isn’t something that happens very often. Surprisingly mucky in sections, not that I’m a prude or didn’t enjoy those sections… Anyway it was clever, funny, romantic (but not too lovey-dovey), and very well put together.

The Coffinmaker's Garden

Stuart MacBride
★★☆☆☆

Ugh this was a struggle, especially on the back of that 5-star-er by Weir. That aside, I didn’t care for this one - didn’t care about the characters, didn’t care about the outcome.

May 2021

Project Hail Mary

Andy Weir
★★★★★

Holy hell yes. This has a very similar feel to “The Martian”, with the same sort of humour and plausable science, but with a kind of… a kind of unexpected love story thrown in. I want to re-read this already!

Date Me, Bryson Keller

Kevin van Whye
★★★★☆

I’m a sucker for these young adult, coming-out, self-discovery stories. They make me feel all sorts of things, and cause me to relive my own late teenage years.

The Switch

Beth O'Leary
★★★☆☆

Yeah a pretty easy and intriguing story once I got into it. Somewhat predictable, but just enough “gotchas” to keep things interesting. I’ve realised that I quite enjoy stories where each chapter is told from the perspective of a different character.

Mouse Tales

David Koenig
★★★★☆

This was fun, and I like the way the book was structured.

April 2021

Wonder

R J Palacio
★★★★★

Hey look - a rare 5 star-er! A beautiful story, told in an interesting way.

Hope Close

Tina Seskis
★★☆☆☆

So much potential, but it became apparent in the last quarter that this one was not going anywhere interesting. Desperate Housewives without any of the drama or fun or unpredictability.

March 2021

The 45% Hangover

Stuart MacBride
★★★★☆

I’m not sure this one counts as a “book”: it calls itself a novella and it only took a couple of hours to get through. I really enjoyed it though - it was a short, sharp, funny little story focussing on our favourite characters from the Logan McRae series.

All That's Dead

Stuart MacBride
★★★★☆

My 9th from the Logan McRae by my count. I enjoyed this one - it had fewer characters and names to keep track of than some of the books from this series, which is fine with me. Had a couple of good “wow” moments towards the end too.

February 2021

Mrs Queen Takes the Train

William Kuhn
★★★☆☆

Not sure about this. It was quirky and amusing to think of HRH going AWOL and making breakfast for people. The personal stories of the characters never landed though. I also felt like there was a lot of work done so that the different back-stories would intertwine, but they never did either.

What If It's Us

Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
★★★☆☆

I think the target audience for this is half my age, but it was fast and fun and relatable in an I’d-rather-not-remember-those-years kind of way.

Star of the North

D. B. John
★★★☆☆

It took me ages to get into this, but something told me I should persevere and about half-way through it started properly drawing me in. I’m not sure the pay-off was worth it hence my tepid review. The North Korean theme was interesting and thought provoking though, I’ll give it that.

January 2021

Fourteen

Shannon Molloy
★★★★☆

An emotional and relatable story.

Into The Black

Evan Currie
Abandoned

Nope. Too much war and military shit.

The Martian

Andy Weir
★★★★★

Yep, easily keeps it’s 5 stars after my first re-read.

What Happened

Hillary Rodham Clinton
★★★☆☆

Long one, but kept me interested and entertained throughout. She deserves a rant, but that wasn’t the tone of the book at all: it was calm, factual, and kept an eye on the big picture. The edition I got has an addendum Clinton added about a year after initial publication, which was excellent - nice to get her thoughts after the dust of the 2016 election had settled a bit.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Douglas Adams
Abandoned

I closed my review of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by saying “I bought the whole series, so I’ll certainly continue with it.” Well I tried, but it wasn’t making me happy. Not funny, not clever.

How to Build a Car

Adrian Newey
★★★☆☆

I don’t usually go for autobiographies but the topic of designing Formula 1 cars sounded interesting. As with most autobiographies, there was more than enough self-congratulations, but what’s the point of writing a book if you can’t toot your own horn eh? Most of the engineering sections were about aerodynamics which doesn’t really float my boat, but it did open my eyes to the world of competitive racing a bit.

December 2020

Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops

Shaun Bythell
★★★★☆

A short and fun read.

Cold Heart Creek

Lisa Regan
★★★☆☆

It was only now when I looked up the author of this one that I saw it’s book seven in an ongoing series. Might keep an eye out for others. Didn’t blow my socks off but had some good twists and held my attention.

Blind Eye

Stuart MacBride
★★★★☆

Yep, another MacBride. Enjoyed this one. Good humour as well. By my count I’ve now read the first seven Logan MacRae books from the series (not in order though).

Shatter the Bones

Stuart MacBride
★★☆☆☆

Just two stars for this Logan McRae. I think that’s on me though: I just wasn’t able to hold the names of the main players in my head, so I was constantly moderately lost.

November 2020

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

Neil deGrasse Tyson
★★★★☆

This one gets better the further you read - the first couple of chapters are proper astrophysics and completely beyond me. Crams a lot of information into a little book.

The Betrayals

Bridget Collins
★★★★☆

Big fan of Collins’ “The Binding”, so I was looking forward to the release of this one. Didn’t quite get the full 5-stars from me, but boy do I enjoy her writing. She manages to play with time and narrators in a way that leaves you curious, but never confused. The story got a bit too luvvy-duvvy towards the end for me, but as with “The Binding” I suspect there are nuances and layers that only a second read will reveal.

The Lincoln Lawyer

Michael Connelly
★★☆☆☆

Took me ages to get through this one and I almost gave up about 20% of the way through, but it just managed to keep a hold of me. I dunno, it sort of felt like the story was constantly setting up for something that never happened.

October 2020

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Taylor Jenkins Reid
★★★★☆

I really enjoyed the style of this one, jumping between the present and the past. I didn’t think I’d care for the general subject that much, but the way the story was told made up for it. And a lumpy-throat ending too! I’ll keep an eye on this author.

The Mother Tongue

Bill Bryson
★★★★☆

Bryson never fails to crack me up. This was a good fun read. A little dense in places perhaps, but boy the amount of research that must have gone into this one is staggering.

September 2020

How to Make the World Add Up

Tim Harford
★★★☆☆

Ach it was fine. Difficult to take a book that preaches the scrutiny of statistics seriously when the book itself is full of statistics. See also this post.

Flesh House

Stuart MacBride
★★★☆☆

Another Logan McRae, another three stars. Very graphical, pretty confronting, but a disappointing ending that lacked a solid conclusion.

Broken Skin

Stuart MacBride
★★★☆☆

Number 3 in the Logan McRae series. I’ve said it before about these novels, but I really do enjoy the Scottish-ness of them. This one was pretty easy to follow, and had a good amount of humour as well.

August 2020

Bandwidth

Eliot Peper
★☆☆☆☆

I have got to stop buying books from the Kindle Daily Deal. Exciting premise, flat execution. And bloody hell does the bloke enjoy long fancy sentences. Thesaurus much?

Molly's Game

Molly Bloom
★★★★☆

I didn’t think I was one for autobiographies, but this was a pretty exciting read. Parts of the story are so unbelievable they have to be true.

The Binding

Bridget Collins
★★★★★

My first re-read of this one, and it keeps all five of it’s stars. As I suspected I would, I picked up on lots of little threads second time through that went largely unnoticed on my first read. Hits me in the feels.

The Last

Hanna Jameson
★★☆☆☆

Was immediately hooked on the premise, and the first half of the book unravelled very nicely, but then it started to become clear that we weren’t going to get any answers or satisfying conclusions. Sure enough, it just… ended.

July 2020

The Quantum Magician

Derek Kunsken
Abandoned

Nope. Persevered with this for way longer than I should have because I really wanted to like it. The basic plot was intriguing, but it was dense reading. Felt like the author had spent years building a massive, complicated world, and then a long-weekend cramming the whole bloody thing into one average sized novel.

Dying Light

Stuart MacBride
★★★★☆

I’ve been jumping around the Logan McRae series a bit, but they do all manage to stand up by themselves. This is number 2 in the series, and I read number 1 back in May, and have given both 4 stars. A special shout-out to the self-deprecating humour about crime novels in this one!

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams
★★★☆☆

Hm. Weird, but I knew that going in. It got a couple of chuckles out of me, but not as many as I hoped for. I suppose I was expecting greater things because this is one of those cult everyone-knows-a-line-from-it classics that’s hyped up. I bought the whole series, so I’ll certainly continue with it.

June 2020

Dark Blood

Stuart MacBride
★★☆☆☆

Another from the Logan McRae series. Didn’t enjoy this one. Couldn’t get into it, and there were way too many characters and disconnected stories for me to keep a track of.

Artemis

Andy Weir
★★★★☆

As I promised myself, Weir’s other big novel. Not as good as “The Martian”, but I still really liked this. Hope he writes more!

The Martian

Andy Weir
★★★★★

Ploughed through this one in a couple of days, which says it all. The movie has become one of my favourites, and I don’t usually like reading books after having seen the movie, but there were no disappointments here. Fantastic humour, well considered and plausible science, and a caught-me-by-surprise wave of emotions towards the end. Really want to read “Artemis”, Weir’s other big novel now.

West Winging It

Pat Cunnane
★★★☆☆

My last couple of reads were Kindle daily deals and I didn’t rate them very highly, so time to read something from my list. West Winging It never got deep into politics, keeping things more about office shenanigans, which was fine by me! A little haphazard perhaps. The author has unique stories to tell, but was never boastful. A real fast and fun read.

May 2020

Origami Man

Matthew FitzSimmons
★★☆☆☆

There was nothing wrong with this, and it wasn’t a struggle to finish, but at the same time I was never excited about reading the next chapter. Was half-way through before I realised this is part of a series - whether that had an impact on my enjoyment or not, I don’t know.

The Outsider

Stephen King
★★☆☆☆

I don’t think I’ve read a King novel before. I knew going in that I’m not a fan of supernatural stuff, and this book hasn’t changed that. Nice mystery, likeable characters, lots of visuals, but nah not for me.

Cold Granite

Stuart MacBride
★★★★☆

After reading “The Blood Road” last week (which I got on the cheap in one of Amazon’s Kindle daily deals) I decided to check out the first book in the McRae series. Was not disappointed. Gritty, extremely gory, but with great humour as well. I’ll be reading more of these.

The Blood Road

Stuart MacBride
★★★★☆

I was not prepared for the Scottish-ness of the setting and language used by the characters! It took me straight back there. I might pick up a few more MacBride novels just to have in stock.

April 2020

Seveneves

Neal Stephenson
★★★★☆

Took me a while to get through this one. I can’t decide whether reading things on Kindle, and therefore having no physical sense of progress through a book, is good or bad. Anyway, the first two thirds of Seveneves had me absolutely bloody hooked. Apparently “hard science fiction” is a genre, and one which I will certainly be reading more of. Fantastic blend of actual science with science fiction.

Exactly

Simon Winchester
★★★★☆

I enjoyed the progression through this one. Author has an old fashioned style of writing and loves enormously long sentences. Last chapter about Japanese watchmakers didn’t fit in either. Everything else was delightfully engineering-ey though.

March 2020

No Man's Land

Kevin Sullivan
★★★☆☆

First half was suitably technical and rather exciting. There was a big chunk of self-pity and the guy blaming inanimate objects in the middle, but it picked up towards the end with nerdy details and Air Force stories.

The Diary of a Bookseller

Shaun Bythell
★★★★☆

Recommendation from a friend. Ripped through it in a couple of evenings. Good fun, slightly repetitive, and the bloke got grumpier towards the end. Lots of laughs though. Kept finding myself reminiscing about life in Scotland as I was reading it as well.

Mockingjay

Suzanne Collins
★★★☆☆

Mm. Thought the start of this one halted the pace of the second half of “Catching Fire”. Picked up again after a few chapters though. Lacked the climactic finish I was hoping for. Still, I’m looking forward to watching the movies now.

Catching Fire

Suzanne Collins
★★★★☆

Did not go where I thought it was going to go, and that’s a good thing! On to the final in the trilogy next.

February 2020

The Hunger Games

Suzanne Collins
★★★★☆

Easy to read, and left lots of interesting possibilities. Looking forward to reading the next couple of books in the trilogy.

Disrupted: Ludicrous Misadventures in the Tech Start-up Bubble

Dan Lyons
★★☆☆☆

Started off pretty interesting, but the last third was just the guy moaning about the way he was treated. Relatable, but I’ve got my own problems, thanks.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

J. K. Rowling
★★★★☆

Finished the series! I’m definitely going to re-read the whole lot in a few months as I just know there are lots of clever little threads that I’ll have missed on this read. I got a bit lost with Deathly Hallows - who had what wand and which horcruxes had already been found and and… A very satisfying conclusion though.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

J. K. Rowling
★★★★★

My favourite book in the Harry Potter series so far. Tied together a whole bunch of stuff from the previous books, and answered lots of questions. The magical universe felt pretty tight in this one as well - there wasn’t just magic for the sake of it, and the consequences of potions and spells were explained a little more. I suspect a full re-read of the series would uncover lots of layers I’ve missed.

January 2020

Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men

Caroline Criado Perez
Abandoned

Enlightening and thoughtful, but became repetitive after a few chapters. Gave up about ¾ of the way through this one.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

J. K. Rowling
★★★★☆

No review.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

J. K. Rowling
★★★☆☆

I could feel my brain starting to loose track of all the characters and magical stuff in this one. Kindle X-Ray saved me a few times when a character cropped up that I was obviously supposed to have remembered from one of the previous four books.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

J. K. Rowling
★★★★☆

No review.

December 2019

The Couple on Cedar Close

Anna-Lou Weatherley
★★★☆☆

Easy read, and there weren’t as many characters to keep track of as I feared when I started this one. A few twists but nothing that blew my socks off.

One Word Kill

Mark Lawrence
★★★☆☆

Very imaginative, but didn’t give me a burning desire to read the next book in the series.

Twas the Nightshift before Christmas

Adam Kay
★★★★☆

A short and sweet companion to “This Is Going To Hurt”. Equally as funny. I like that Kay clarified a couple of things from his first book in this one, and explained why he ended up quitting the NHS.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

J. K. Rowling
★★★★☆

An easy read. I’ve read the Harry Potter series before, and was worried that the movies would cloud my mind’s eye during a re-read, but I needn’t have been concerned.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

J. K. Rowling
★★★★☆

No Review.

November 2019

The Body: A Guide for Occupants

Bill Bryson
★★★☆☆

I’m a big Bryson fan, but I wasn’t sold on the way he whizzed through the major organs of the body in this one. I suppose you have to draw a line somewhere, and while each chapter was full of fascinating facts, I frequently felt unsatisfied at the end of them.

Made In Scotland: My Grand Adventures in a Wee Country

Billy Connolly
★★★★☆

Plenty of laugh-out-louds. Classic Connolly humour.

October 2019

Chernobyl

Serhii Plokhy
★★★☆☆

Interesting enough but as with most modern history books I end up reading, was much more about the people and politics than it was about the science and engineering.

The Binding

Bridget Collins
★★★★★

I really enjoyed this. It was dark and mysterious and had twists I didn’t see coming. I cried at the end 😳

Daisy Jones & The Six

Taylor Jenkins Reid
★★★☆☆

No review.

September 2019

To Obama

Jeanne Marie Laskas
★★★★★

A roller coaster of emotions! Impossible to imagine anything as compassionate as the work presented in this book going on inside the 2019 US administration. This was recommended to me by a friend, and I have since recommended it to several other people who have all praised it.

This Is Going To Hurt

Adam Kay
★★★★☆

Very funny, but don’t read this while you’re recovering from an illness or about to go into hospital for any reason!

The Hunt For MH370

Ean Higgins
★★★★☆

Pleasingly technical, pretty haunting, but somehow reassuring.