Tag: Book Review

Book Review: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas by Jules Verne
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Book Review: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas by Jules Verne

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Title: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas Author: Jules Verne Translator: William Butcher Publisher: Oxford University Press Date: 2009 (1863) Genre: Adventure Fiction / Science Fiction / Classics Summary: French naturalist Dr Aronnax embarks on an expedition to hunt down a sea monster, but discovers instead the Nautilus, a self-contained world built by its enigmatic captain. Together Nemo and… Continue reading Book Review: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas by Jules Verne

Book Review: Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
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Book Review: Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

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Title: Far from the Madding Crowd Author: Thomas Hardy Publisher: Penguin Classics Date: 2012 (1874) Genre: Fiction / Classics Summary: Hardy’s powerful novel of swift sexual passion and slow-burning loyalty centres on Bathsheba Everdene, a proud working woman whose life is complicated by three different men – respectable farmer Boldwood, seductive Sergeant Troy and devoted Gabriel… Continue reading Book Review: Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

Book Review: The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie
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Book Review: The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie

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Title: The ABC Murders Author: Agatha Christie Publisher: HarperCollins Date: 2013 (1936) Genre: Crime & Mystery / Classics Summary: There’s a serial killer on the loose, bent on working his way through the alphabet. And as a macabre calling card he leaves beside each victim’s corpse the ABC Railway Guide open at the name of the town… Continue reading Book Review: The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie

Book Review: Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
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Book Review: Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

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Title: Earthlings Author: Sayaka Murata Translator: Ginny Tapley Takemori Publisher: Granta Books Date: 2020 (2018) Genre: Fiction Summary: Natsuki isn’t like the other girls. She has a wand and a transformation mirror. She might be a witch, or an alien from another planet. Together with her cousin Yuu, Natsuki spends her summers in the wild mountains of… Continue reading Book Review: Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

Book Review: Memoirs from the House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoevsky
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Book Review: Memoirs from the House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoevsky

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Title: Memoirs from the House of the Dead Author: Fyodor Dostoevsky Translator: Jessie Coulson  Publisher: Oxford University Press Date: 2008 (1862) Genre: Semi-autobiographical / Philosophical Fiction / Classics Summary: In this almost documentary account of his own experiences of penal servitude in Siberia, Dostoevsky describes the physical and mental suffering of the convicts, the squalor and the degradation,… Continue reading Book Review: Memoirs from the House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Book Review: Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
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Book Review: Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

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Title: Wives and Daughters Author: Elizabeth Gaskell Publisher: Oxford University Press Date: 2009 (1863) Genre: Fiction / Classics Summary: Molly Gibson is the daughter of the doctor in the small provincial town of Hollingford. Her widowed father marries a second time to give Molly the woman’s presence he feels she lacks, but until the arrival of Cynthia,… Continue reading Book Review: Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

ARC Book Review: The Stranger Times by C. K. McDonnell
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ARC Book Review: The Stranger Times by C. K. McDonnell

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Title: The Stranger TimesAuthor: C. K. McDonnellPublisher: Bantam PressPublication Date: 14th January 2021Genre: Mystery / FantasySummary: There are Dark Forces at work in our world (and in Manchester in particular) and so thank God The Stranger Times is on hand to report them. A weekly newspaper dedicated to the weird and the wonderful (but more often… Continue reading ARC Book Review: The Stranger Times by C. K. McDonnell

Book Review: Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson
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Book Review: Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson

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Title: Dark Tales Author: Shirley Jackson Publisher: Penguin Modern Classics Date: 2017 (2013) Genre: Short Stories / Horror / Gothic Summary: There’s something nasty in suburbia. In these deliciously dark tales, the daily commute turns into a nightmarish game of hide and seek, the loving wife hides homicidal thoughts and the concerned citizen might just be an… Continue reading Book Review: Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson

Book Review: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
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Book Review: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

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Title: Piranesi Author: Susanna Clarke Publisher: Bloomsbury Date: 2020 Genre: Fantasy Summary: Piranesi’s house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded… Continue reading Book Review: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Book Review: A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe
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Book Review: A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe

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Title: A Journal of the Plague Year Author: Daniel Defoe Publisher: Oxford University Press Date: 2010 (1722) Genre: Classics / Historical Summary: Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year is an extraordinary account of the devastation and human suffering inflicted on the city of London by the Great Plague of 1665. Purporting to be an eye-witness, Defoe’s fictional narrator… Continue reading Book Review: A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe