Since 2010
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.
Matt Haig
★★★☆☆
Similar review to the other Matt Haig I’ve read: super interesting premise but the story just kind of… ended.
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.
Will Carver
★★★★☆
Plenty of twists and dark comedy.
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.
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.
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.
Garrett M. Graff
★★★★☆
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.
Andy Greenberg
★★★☆☆
Enjoyed the technical sections - wish they were more technical in fact. Some of it felt a bit conspiratorial.
Lori Gottlieb
★★★☆☆
Well written and pretty emotional towards the end. Too touchy-feely for my taste.
Kit Oliver
★★☆☆☆
Jeez what an exhausting book. Took a really long, repetitive path to it’s entirely predictable outcome.
Andy Weir
★★★★★
Third read of this. Keeps all 5 stars and marks the completion of my Andy Weir marathon.
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.
Andy Weir
★★★★★
Nothing to add. Fourth read, still my favourite!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
Stephen Hawking
Abandoned
Nah, way too theoretical for me.
Audrey J. Cole
★★★☆☆
Quick and believable. The love story wasn’t necessary, but I have a cold, cold heart.
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.
Bridget Collins
★★★★★
Third read. Still finding little details that only reveal themselves once you get to know the whole story better.
Josh Malerman
★★☆☆☆
Repetitive, no twists, and failed to explain anything.