Title: This Impossible Brightness Writer: Jessica Bryant Klagmann Publishing House: Lake Union Publishing Date of Publication: February 1, 2024 Rating: 5 stars ‘’I always wonder, isn’t being a good listener worth anything? Can’t you do something good for the world without standing in a crowd or shouting from a podium?’’ In a future that may…
Before We Say Goodbye (Tales From the Cafe #4)
Title: Before We Say Goodbye Writer: Toshikazy Kawaguchi (translated by Geoffrey Trousselot) Publishing House: Picador Date of Publication: September 6, 2023 (first published September 20, 2021) Rating: 5 stars ‘’So, there’s nothing one could do to change the present?’’ In the fourth instalment of our beloved Tales From the Cafe series, the focus turns on…
The Stories
Title: The Stories Writer: Jane Gardam Publishing House: Abacus Date of Publication: January 1, 2012 Rating: 5 stars ‘’A sweet, spring darkness and the cherry blossom smelling in all the pleasant gardens. The blossom whitened in the April evening. In some rooms in the decorous streets lights were coming on. In some – really rather…
You Are Here
Title: You Are Here Writer: David Nicholls Publishing House: Hodder & Stoughton Date of Publication: April 23, 2024 Rating: 2 stars I won’t waste your time with a synopsis. The blurb is there for all to see and it’s quite accurate. One Day is one of my favourite novels and I was beyond excited to…
A Bitter Remedy
Title: A Bitter Remedy (The Oxford Mysteries #1) Writer: Alis Hawkins Publishing House: Canelo Crime Date of Publication: March 23, 2023 Rating: 5 stars ‘’There was nothing more likely to convince me that being married was not for me than this business of women calling themselves by their husband’s name. Mrs Green’s name was Charlotte…
Find Me in California
Title: Find Me In California Writer: Kerry Lonsdale Publishing House: Lake Union Publishing Date of Publication: June 11, 2024 Rating: 5 stars Matt and Julia have more in common than meets the eye. Both use their careers as an anchor to the reality around them, both have been facing family issues all their lives and…
Midlothian Folk Tales
Title: Midlothian Folk Tales Writer: Lea Taylor, illustrated by Sylvia Troon Publishing House: The History Press Date of Publication: January 19, 2018 Rating: 5 stars This journey in the folklore of Britain and Ireland will bring us to Lothian, one of the ancient kingdoms of Scotland that took its name from Loth, King Arthur’s brother-in-law,…
Some Rain Must Fall and Other Stories
Title: Some Rain Must Fall and Other Stories Writer: Michel Faber Publishing House: Canongate Books Date of Publication: July 7, 2016 (First published January 1, 1981) Rating: 4 stars ‘’God?’ The voice was shaky, close to tears. ‘Are you there? Can I talk to you?’ There was a pause while God and the other child…
The Winter Spirits : Ghostly Tales for Frosty Nights
Title: The Winter Spirits :Ghostly Tales for Frosty Nights Writer: Various Publishing House: Little, Brown UK Date of Publication: October 19, 2023 Rating: 5 stars ‘’Tuppence for a bag of salt, tuppence for a bag of pins. Tuppence for a dead man’s hand, tuppence and I’ll eat thy sins.’’ Well, I thought I would finish…
The Lifeline
Title: The Lifeline Writer: Tom Ellen Publishing House: HQ Date of Publication: February 29, 2024 Rating: 5 stars ”I read somewhere once that grief is like weather. As in: constantly changing, impossible to predict. You might be expecting clear skies but instead you get storm clouds. That seems about right. But I’m not sure how…
Britain’s Landmarks and Legends
Title: Britain’s Landmarks and Legends Writer: Jo Woolf, illustrated by Claire Harrup Publishing House: National Trust Books Date of Publication: December 15, 2023 Rating: 5 stars ‘’On a winter’s evening, with mist moving like a cold breath between the stones, it’s easy to imagine that the old spirits still walk here. Even in relatively recent times,…
Winter Tales: Ghost Stories for the Winter Fireside
Title: Winter Tales: Ghost Stories for the Winter Fireside Writer: Lesley Anne Wright Publishing House: Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd Date of Publication: March 31, 2023 Rating: 5 stars I discovered this little gem on one of my numerous pre-Christmas online wandering in Kennys and what can I say? We were meant to be! ‘’Be sure…
Nature Tales for Winter Nights
Title: Nature Tales for Winter Nights Writer: Various, edited by Nancy Campbell Publishing House: Elliott & Thompson Date of Publication: October 12, 2023 Rating: 5 stars ‘’At the winter solstice the clouds were heavy, chalk grey, the air still with snow that never seemed to fall. Without the generous canopy and riotous undergrowth of summer,…
The Christmas Kid and Other Brooklyn Stories
Title: The Christmas Kid and Other Brooklyn Stories Writer: Pete Hamill Publishing House: Little, Brown and Company Date of Publication: October 30, 2012 Rating: 5 stars ‘’In that lost city of memory, the wind is always blowing hard from the harbor and the snow is packed tightly on the hills of Prospect Park. They are…
Stories for Winter and Nights by the Fire
Title: Stories for Winter and Nights by the Fire Writer: Various, edited by Simon Thomas Publishing House: British Library Publishing Date of Publication: October 26, 2023 Rating: 5 stars ‘’When the sun goes down, it is very cold and then I easily start crying because the winter moon presses my heart. The winter moon is…
Who Killed Father Christmas and Other Seasonal Mysteries
Title: Who Killed Father Christmas and Other Seasonal Mysteries Writer: Various, edited by Martin Edwards Publishing House: British Library Crime Classics Date of Publication: October 11, 2023 Rating: 5 stars ‘’The night was cold and frosty with a frozen moon like a bulkhead light set in a bowl of steel. The broken arch of the…
The White Priory Murders – A Mystery for Christmas
Title: The White Priory Murders: A Mystery for Christmas Writer: John Dickson Carr Publishing House: British Library Crime Classics Date of Publication: October 10, 2022 (January 1, 1934) Rating: 3 stars ‘’H.M.’s room, spacious in decayed finery, is in the most ancient part of the damp old rabbit-warren, once a part of Whitehall Palace: it looks…
A Cathedral of Myth and Bone
Title: A Cathedral of Myth and Bone Writer: Kat Howard Publishing House: Saga Press Date of Publication: January 8, 2019 Rating: 5 stars ‘’My own curse had been silence. It’s common enough, particularly for girls. We’re so often encouraged not to speak, and that practiced quiet makes it easy for a curse to steal our…
The Accidental
Title: The Accidental Writer: Ali Smith Publishing House: Penguin Date of Publication: 2005 Rating: 0 stars No. This is NOT Literature. Trying to create a story of a problematic family and an enticing, mysterious stranger is all well and good. Describing intercourse with underage boys in horrifyingly heinous sentences, paragraphs, pages is completely UNACCEPTABLE. Throwing…
Lotería
Title: Loteria Writer: Cynthia Pelayo Publishing House: Agora Books Date of Publication: February 21, 2023 Rating: 5 stars ‘’In a few hours I will take you with me on the journey to the other world because I can’t leave you, not ever again.’’ In a game of Loteria, there is a multitude of paths one…
Seven Empty Houses
Title: Seven Empty Houses Writer: Samanta Schweblin (translated by Megan McDowell) Publishing House: Riverhead Books Date of Publication: October 18, 2022 (First published May 1, 2015) Rating: 5 stars Houses are our shelter. The space where memories are created. The places where we develop our personalities, where we are raised, where we raise our families…
White Fur
Title: White Fur Writer: Jardine Libaire Publishing House: Weidenfeld & Nicolson Date of Publication: May 30, 2017 Rating: 5 stars ‘’I’ll do anything in the world for you.’’ Elise and Jamey meet in New Haven in 1986. It doesn’t matter whether theirs is ‘love at first sight’ or not. The bond swiftly developed between them…
The Platform Edge: Uncanny Tales of the Railways
Title: The Platform Edge: Uncanny Tales of the Railways Writer: Various, edited by Mike Ashley Publishing House: British Library Publishing Date of Publication: January 18th 2019 Rating: 5 stars ‘’Our love affair with trains – especially steam trains – is matched by our fear of them. Who amongst us has not, at one time or…
Armagh Folk Tales
Title: Armagh Folk Tales Writer: Frances Quinn Publishing House: THP Ireland Date of Publication: March 3rd 2014 Rating: 3 stars ‘’Like many counties in Ireland, stories are in the DNA of the people. The landscape is the fabric of the stories – what sews us together or unfortunately, at times, rips us apart. Stories are…
The Whistling
Title: The Whistling Writer: Rebecca Netley Publishing House: Michael Joseph Date of Publication: October 14th 2021 Rating: 5 stars ‘’As I neared Iskar, my eyes drifted to Hettie’s window, and something against the pane stopped me in my tracks. I pinned my attention to it and was assailed with a spike of disquiet. As I…
Haunters at the Hearth: Eerie Tales For Christmas Nights
Title: Haunters at the Hearth: Eerie Tales for Christmas Nights Writer: Various edited by Tanya Kirk Publishing House: British Library (Tales of the Weird) Date of Publication: October 2022 Rating: 5 stars ”There was a little snow on the ground, and the church clock had just struck midnight. Hampstead in the night of winter for…
Ghosts of Christmas Past
Title: Ghosts of Christmas Past Writer: Various edited by Tim Martin Publishing House: John Murray Date of Publication: October 19th 2017 Rating: 5 stars ”And what a long night it is, out there beyond the warm rooms and the firelight. Don’t worry about the noises. Ignore the moving shapes. It’s time to step out. Turn…
Stories for Christmas and the Festive Season
Τitle: Stories for Christmas and the Festive Season Writer: Various Publishing House: British Library Publishing Date of Publication: October 13th 2022 Rating: 4 stars ”To me, it’s the one time you are really a child at heart, however old you may be. It’s a time of lovely, darling surprises, of, for once, reaping the benefit…
Spectral Sounds
Title: Spectral Sounds: Unquiet Tales of Acoustic Weird Writer: Various edited by Manon Burz-Labrande Publishing House: British Library Publishing Date of Publication: September 22nd 2022 Rating: 5 stars ‘’Don’t you want to hear me speak my piece?’’ The Invisible Tenants of Rushmere (Florence Marryat): The young couple who rented Rushmere thought they had found the…
The Dutch House
Title: The Dutch House Writer: Ann Patchett Publishing House:Bloomsbury Publishing Date of Publication: September 24th 2019 Rating: 5 stars ‘’If you lived in Jenkintown in 1968 or went to school at Choate, chances were good you’d cross paths with most of the people there eventually, even if just to nod and say hello, but New…
Before Your Memory Fades
Title: Before Your Memory Fades Writer: Toshikazu Kawaguchi (translated by Geoffrey Trousselot) Publishing House: Picador Date of Publication: August 30th 2022 (first published September 2018) Rating: 5 stars ‘’I don’t like the idea of dying with regrets.’’ In the café Donna Donna in beautiful Hakodate, lives are unfolding as autumn approaches. A heartbroken daughter wants…
Hare House
Title: Hare House Writer: Sally Hinchcliffe Publishing House: Mantle Date of Publication: January 6th 2022 Rating: 5 stars ‘’We walked through a landscape bleached with frost, the earth standing hard and frozen. Ice crept everywhere. Even the streams had begun to freeze, ice fingering out from their edges, tombing them over. Yet the cold left…
The Lottery and Other Stories
Title: The Lottery and Other Stories Writer: Shirley Jackson Publishing House: Penguin Modern Classics Date of Publication: October 2009 Rating: 5 stars ”The only town lights were the street lights, the lights in the all-night lunchstand across the street, and the one remaining counter lamp in the bus station where the girl sat in the…
Mortal Echoes: Encounters With the End
Title: Mortal Echoes: Encounters with the End Writer: Various, edited by Greg Buzwell Publishing House: British Library Publishing Date of Publication: August 1st 2019 Rating: 5 stars ” ‘ You’re not really dying, are you?’ ” asked Amanda. ” ‘I have the doctor’s permission to live till Tuesday,” said Laura. ” Strange Even in the…
The Doll: Short Stories
Title: The Doll: Short Stories Writer: Daphne du Maurier Publishing House: Virago Modern Classics Date of Publication: 2011 Rating: 5 stars ”There was only the island. Beyond it lay the ghostly, the intangible; the truth was in the seared rock, in the touch of the soil, in the sound of the waves breaking against the…
Checkmate to Murder
Title: Checkmate to Murder Writer: E.C.R.Lorac Publishing House: British Library Crime Classics Date of Publication: August 10th 2020 (first published 1944) Rating: 5 stars As London descends into the familiar darkness of war, a man of questionable morality is murdered. The fog cannot hide the frightened young man who is arrested for the murder of his…
Murder of a Lady
Title: Murder of a Lady Writer: Anthony Wynne Publishing House: British Library Crime Classics Date of Publication: January 4th 2016 (first published 1931) Rating: 5 stars ”Autumn was dressing herself in her scarlets and saffrons; already the air held that magical quality of light which belongs only to diminishing days and which seems to be…
Death of a Bookseller
Title: Death of a Bookseller Writer: Bernard J. Farmer Publishing House: British Library Crime Classics Date of Publication: March 17th 2022 (first published 1931) Rating: 5 stars A book collector is found murdered in his study, surrounded by valuable volumes. His friend, Sergeant Wigan, helps in arresting the alleged murderer. But what if the wrong…
The Black Dreams: Strange Stories from Northern Ireland
Title: The Black Dreams: Strange Stories from Northern Ireland Writer: Various edited by Reggie Chamberlain- King Publishing House: Blackstaff Press Date of Publication: October 4th 2021 Rating: 5 stars ”A dream possesses all of Northern Ireland and Northern Ireland is a sort of fairyland too. It is a place of outspoken symbols and unspoken rules,…
The Dovekeepers
Title: The Dovekeepers Writer: Alice Hoffman Publishing House: Simon and Schuster Date of Publication: October 4th 2011 Rating: 5 stars ”We came like doves across the desert. In a time when there was nothing but death, we were grateful for anything, and most grateful of all when we awoke to another day.” Yael. A woman…
Α Little London Scandal
Title: A Little London Scandal Writer: Miranda Emmerson Publishing House: Fourth Estate Date of Publication: August 6th 2020 Rating: 5 stars ‘’And I know I don’t really fit in but someone has to ask the questions.’’ Anna Treadway embarks on a quest in what many consider the ‘’shady’’ parts of London, to save a young…
Murder By The Book: Mysteries For Bibliophiles
Title: Murder By The Book: Mysteries For Bibliophiles Writer: Various, edited by Martin Edwards Publishing House: British Library Crimes Classics Date of Publication: August 10th 2021 Rating: 5 stars ‘’That’s our daily job, inventing stories; making a definite pattern of a number of incidents. Dammit, I could contrive some sort of story out of any…
Tales of the Mist
Title: Tales of the Mist (original title: Los Cuentos de la Niebla) Writer: Laura Suárez Publishing House: Europe Comics Date of Publication: May 20th 2020 (first published April 5th 2019) Rating: 5 stars ”When I looked through the window the wind blew through the trees, their shadows spreading far. Souls would appear, trembling and searching,…
First Person Singular
Title: First Person Singular Writer: Haruki Murakami (translated by Philip Gabriel) Publishing House: Harvill Secker Date of Publication: April 6th 2021 (first published July 2020) Rating: 2 stars ‘’But the whole neighbourhood was still and silent, as if the dense clouds above had swallowed up all sound.’’ Cream: A young man is invited to a…
Escape Routes
Title: Escape Routes Writer: Naomi Ishiguro Publishing House: Tinder Press Date of Publication: February 6th 2020 Rating: 5 stars ‘’I can climb out on to the roof from the windows and see the whole metropolis stretched out before me, those hundreds of buildings – white, or grey, or black, depending on how filthy they are…
How to Make Paper When the World is Ending
Title: How to Make Paper When the World Is Ending Writer: Dallas Woodburn Publishing House: Koehler Books Date of Publication: June 28th 2022 Rating: 5 stars ‘’But sometimes stories are all we have.’’ Story to Tell Around a Campfire: The narrator instructs us how to tell the tale of Hannah and Mark, a couple who…
O Caledonia
Title: O Caledonia Writer: Elspeth Barker Publishing House: Weidenfeld Nicolson Date of Publication: March 29th 2022 (first published August 19th 1991) Rating: 5 stars ‘’At night, when the moon is high it beams through the dying cockatoo and casts his blood drops in a chain of rubies on to the flagstones of the hall. Here…
How to Gut a Fish
Title: How to Gut a Fish Writer: Sheila Armstrong Publishing House: Bloomsbury Date of Publication: February 17th 2022 Rating: 5 stars ‘’The weakness in the soil first appears at dusk in the centre of a ring of stones in a field. A small copse of trees weave around banks of raised earth, and the exposed…
The Mapmakers (Cordelia Hatmaker#2)
Title: The Mapmakers (Cordelia Hatmaker#2) Writer: Tamzin Merchant Publishing House: Puffin Date of Publication: February 17th 2022 Rating: 5 stars ‘’Our hats are a bit like books,’’ Cordelia began. ‘’They contain magic, but it’s up to the person reading the book to bring the magic to life. Without the reader, the magic just sits there….
Black Narcissus
Title: Black Narcissus Writer: Rumer Godden Publishing House: Virago Press (UK) Date of Publication: February 1st 2013 (first published 1939) Ratings: 5 stars ‘’Look at the eagles,’ he said. In the gulf eagles were flying, circling round one small spot in the air. Higher and higher they flew, but still they could not reach the…
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