The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House stands as a paragon of the horror genre, masterfully blending supernatural elements with...
top of page
Oct 242 min read
Poor Things by Alasdair Gray
Alasdair Gray's Poor Things is a literary marvel that effortlessly blends surrealist playfulness with a profound commentary on society...
Oct 172 min read
The Invisible Hotel by Yeji Y. Ham
Yewon, a young woman lost in a society that doesn’t know what to do with itself and its young, dreams of a hotel with infinite keys to...
Oct 152 min read
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
In an underground bunker, in an unknown location, silent and armed men guard a cage that is home to thirty-nine women and one young girl....
Oct 83 min read
Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy - Review
I usually try to steer clear of such generalisations, but Irish literature holds a special place in my heart. I fell in love with it,...
Oct 13 min read
James by Percival Everett - Review
Percival Everett is definitely one of my favorite discoveries of the past few years, and I am glad I only came to his writing with The...
Sep 243 min read
The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
On Christmas Eve 1617 a storm descends over the coast of Vardø, Noway’s far north and within the blink of an eye kills most of the...
Jun 63 min read
Baumgartner by Paul Auster
It has been a good while since I have found the time to sit down and write up my thoughts on a book. So the books I want to review keep...
Jan 303 min read
Possession by A.S. Byatt
Roland Mitchell‘s life can only be described as dull. He has dedicated his life to studying Victorian poet Randolph Ash, without making...
Jan 113 min read
Sula by Toni Morrison
Isn’t it wonderful to have these authors you just feel entirely safe with? I can open any Toni Morrison book and I know for sure that I...
Jan 42 min read
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Gilead, 1956. John Ames is dying. In his seventies, the preacher knows his time on earth is coming to an end. He should be ready to meet...
Jan 25 min read
My Favourite Reads of 2023
It’s always nice to look back over another year’s reading and try to pick my favourite books of the year. There is usually some Booker...
Dec 20, 20232 min read
The Visitor by Maeve Brennan
After weeks and weeks of reading through and reviewing the Booker longlist, I spent a couple of weeks away from new literary releases and...
Nov 23, 20232 min read
Booker Prize 2023: Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry
For nine months now, Tom Kettle has got to enjoy the quiet solitude of retirement after ending his career with the garda. From his rented...
Nov 22, 20233 min read
Booker Prize 2023: All the Little Bird-Hearts by Victoria Lloyd-Barlow
Sunday has quiet day and currently eats only white foods. She cannot drink anything that is not fizzy and feels best burying her hands in...
Nov 21, 20232 min read
Booker Prize 2023: The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng
Penang, 1921. Lesley and Robert Hamlyn are expecting an important visitor. “Willie” Somerset Maugham, who has been travelling through...
Nov 19, 20232 min read
Booker Prize 2023 - A Spell of Good Things by Ayòbámi Adébáyò
Nigeria – a country marked by extreme poverty and breath-taking wealth – is home to Eniola and Wúràolá, the two protagonists of Ayọ̀bámi...
Nov 16, 20232 min read
Booker 2023: Western Lane by Chetna Maroo
Now that Gopi’s mother has died, it is up to her and her sisters to try and keep their father from falling apart. The only thing he still...
Nov 14, 20232 min read
Booker Prize 2023: Pearl by Siân Hughes
For some reason I expected not to enjoy this novel. Based on some blurb or review, I’d saved it in a similar category to Study for...
Nov 13, 20233 min read
Booker Prize 2023: How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney
In the fictional town of Emory, Eoin takes a walk with his 13 year old son Jamie who can’t stop talking for a second, filled with...
Nov 7, 20232 min read
Booker Prize 2023 - Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein
A young woman moves to an unnamed Northern country to stay with her older brother as a housekeeper. Here she faces not only the strange...
Nov 6, 20234 min read
Booker Prize 2023 - Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
I finished Prophet Song by Paul Lynch a few weeks ago, but I could not sit down and write up my thoughts about this novel right away,...
Oct 30, 20232 min read
So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan
“Elegance is saying just enough. And I do believe that the reader completes the story.” If that is true, Claire Keegan has to be the most...
Oct 17, 20233 min read
Booker Prize 2023 - The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
Rarely do I sit down to type up my review with no idea how to begin. But first things first: I loved The Bee Sting. There is so much...
Oct 12, 20233 min read
Booker Prize 2023 - This Other Eden by Paul Harding
I am sad to report that this was quite a disappointing read for me. Not because it was bad but I had such high expectations and it just...
Sep 28, 20233 min read
Booker Prize 2023 - If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery
What are you? That’s the question you are asked by everyone from a young age. Because to a society that is built on a clear hierarchy of...
Sep 14, 20233 min read
Dawn by Octavia E. Butler
As Lilith Iyapo wakes up she knows this was not just a short nap, or even a full-night’s sleep. This was the birth-like experience she...
Sep 7, 20233 min read
When we were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro
Christopher Banks’ life changes over night when shortly after his father’s disappearance his mother goes missing, too. In early twentieth...
Sep 5, 20234 min read
Summer by Ali Smith
I didn’t get around to starting the final book in Ali Smith’s quartet, Summer, until that season had almost come to an end. During these...
Aug 31, 20234 min read
Love by Toni Morrison
May, Christine, Heed, Junior and L – five women bound together by their obsession with one man. Bill Cosey was the owner of the famous...
Aug 23, 20234 min read
Booker Prize 2023 - In Ascension by Martin MacInnes
Leigh grows up in Rotterdam, at 22 feet below sea level, and develops a fascination with the ocean from an early age. When she swims, she...
Aug 3, 20233 min read
Sibir von Sabrina Janesch
English version below 1945. Der zehnjährige Josef Ambacher und seine Familie steigen in einen Zug und treten die Reise in eine ungewisse...
Jul 25, 20232 min read
Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman
We are in the near future. The euro has, for reasons of simplicity, the same value it had in 2022, but everything else is exactly as it...
Jul 18, 20233 min read
Tiepolo Blue by James Cahill
James Cahill’s debut novel Tiepolo Blue enjoyed quite a bit of excitement before its release. I picked it up after listening to a podcast...
Jul 4, 20232 min read
Antarctica by Claire Keegan
“She thought of Antarctica, the snow and ice and the bodies of dead explorers. Then she thought of hell, and then eternity.” Just before...
Jun 29, 20233 min read
The Colour Purple by Alice Walker
Alice Walker’s modern classic The Color Purple portrays the lives and struggles of African American women in the last century, marked by...
Jun 13, 20236 min read
Echtzeitalter von Tonio Schachinger
English version below Till Kokorda ist fehl am Platz. Das elitäre, private Halbinternat, das er besucht, ist voll von Kinder, die mehr...
Jun 8, 20234 min read
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
The Bell Jar is one of those books that has been sitting on my shelves for ages, that I have always wanted to have read but never ended...
Jun 6, 20233 min read
Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter
“Once upon a time there were two boys who purposefully misremembered things about their father. It made them feel better if ever they...
Jun 1, 20233 min read
The Visibility Trap: Sexism, Surveillance and Social Media by Mary McGill
Whether we like it or not, social media has become an integral part of our daily lives and social interactions. The technologies have...
May 23, 20233 min read
Spring by Ali Smith
It is May, still spring, I‘m sure, and I am ready to discuss the third instalment of Ali Smith’s seasonal quartet. This week, we have...
May 11, 20233 min read
Pew by Catherine Lacey
“The reason churches have so many doors is that people tend to leave churches in groups, in a hurry. It seems people have a lot of...
May 2, 20233 min read
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
Set on a thousand acres of land is the Cook family’s farm, sternly ruled by patriarch Larry who teaches his daughters and their husbands...
Apr 20, 20233 min read
O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker
As a chronic blurb avoider I go into many a book blindly. This is true for Elspeth Barker’s O Caledonia, a 1991 novel I haven’t seen...
Mar 22, 20234 min read
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
"First, I got myself born. A decent crowd was on hand to watch, and they've already given me that much: the worst part of the job was up...
Mar 6, 20233 min read
Winter by Ali Smith
The seasons have changed, from Ali Smith’s Autumn but we are still in contemporary Britain and therefore still in political turmoil. Four...
Feb 23, 20233 min read
Ruth & Pen by Emilie Pine
Dublin, October 7, 2019. Two women wake up to a new day in the old city. Ruth and Pen do not know each other, they are at vastly...
Feb 17, 20238 min read
A Month of Crime Reading
I spent this November deep in the world of crime novels. I read cosy crime mysteries, expansive thrillers, there was even some...
Feb 7, 20232 min read
Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey
Maggie is 29 years old, working on a PhD she is not actually all that interested in, and now about to be divorced – after only 608 days...
Dec 20, 20222 min read
The Inseparables by Simone de Beauvoir
At nine years old, Sylvie meets her one great love at school in Paris: her best friend Andrée. The two girls could hardly be more...
Books: Blog2 Custom Feed
bottom of page