books

We are all completely beside ourselves (Audiobook)
I really enjoyed this. In fact I always seem to enjoy books that feature quirky families. And it doesn't get much quirkier than a girl who grows up with a chimpanzee for a sister. Karen Joy Fowler is a very...
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John Braine – The Vodi (Paperback)
I've read a couple of John Braine books just for the namesake. But The Vodi sits just below my favourite book, The Wasp Factory, in a top ten by John Harrison*. Funnily I just did a search for this top ten...
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Silas Marner – Audiobook & Kindle
I don't have a good track record with ye old classics. I've found a lot of them quite dated, regardless of how ahead of their time some of them once we're.  And others are just a bit too... stiff &...
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Doctor Sleep (Audiobook)
Like a lot of young readers, I grew up reading lots and lots of Stephen King. Then I found myself tiring of the genre. And then I starting thinking a lot of his books were, to be blunt: shit. “Nightmares...
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Women, Charles Bukowski (Audiobook)
I think if I read this when I was much younger, I might have found it a bit rebellious and exciting. All the sex, drugs and... rock 'n roll poetry. But I just found that one sexual encounter after another...
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Open, by Andre Agassi (Audiobook)
I heard a lot of good things about Open, Andre Agassi’s autobiography. And right from the opening pages I thought wow, this is great. Agassi is a really good writer, with interesting thoughts, and a fascinating life, which makes for...
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A few quick reviews
Tampa, by Alissa Nutting (Audiobook) Celeste Price became a teacher with the sole purpose of seducing teenage students. I usually roll my eyes when I hear people complaining that a  book is controversial just for the sake of controversy, but...
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Beautiful Ruins
Beautiful ruins (Audiobook) Written by Walter Jess Narrated by Edoardo Ballerini I said it before and I'll say it again: I love a good dose of contrast in books. Beautiful Ruins contrasts between the charms of a small Italian coastal...
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The Things They Carried
The Things They Carried (Audiobook) Written by Tim Obrien Usually after a few pages, or at least a chapter of a book, I know whether I’m going to like, love, or hate a book. In my experience it’s all down...
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Swimming home (on Kindle)
Is it a bear? is it a plane? No! It's Kitty fucking Finch and she's in your swimming pool. The poet Joe Jacobs is relaxing in a villa in France with his family and friends, when a naked girl appears...
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