Author Archives: drewsmith28

Unknown's avatar

About drewsmith28

Words, words, words...

Leviathan by Philip Hoare (Fourth Estate)

Posted on February 27, 2014 by drewsmith28

“Perhaps it is because I was nearly born underwater” A wonderful book of journalistic discovery about whales. I read it too long ago to review it properly but it stays in my mind as one of the reasons to start … Continue reading →

Posted in 101greatreads, Non fiction | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Meander by Jeremy Seal (Chatto & Windus)

Posted on February 19, 2014 by drewsmith28

“I would have gone down the Meander years ago if I’d known it existed.” Apart from the maps, which are almost as deliberately confusing as perhaps the suspicious Turkish military might have intended for foreigners, this is a brilliantly informative … Continue reading →

Posted in 101greatreads, Non fiction | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (Little, Brown)

Posted on February 5, 2014 by drewsmith28

  I should post a reservation about BIG books in general. Both the Booker listed Kills and the winning Luminaries are substantial door-holders, so is Donna Tartt’s Goldfinch, fewer pages but denser type, smaller margins. Such expansiveness demands more time, … Continue reading →

Posted in fiction, Outtakes | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Ghost Light by Joseph O’Connor (Secker)

Posted on January 24, 2014 by drewsmith28

“In the top floor room of the dilapidated townhouse across the Terrace, a light has been on all night.” O’CONNOR becomes the first writer in this blog to have two books listed in the 101 lists. No apologies there. As … Continue reading →

Posted in 101greatreads, fiction | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Star of the Sea by Joseph O’Connor (Secker)

Posted on January 24, 2014 by drewsmith28

IT is a while since I read Joseph O’Connor’s masterly narration of the Irish migration post famine distilled into the tale of a single boat’s crossing. It was as I recall the first book to be introduced on Richard and … Continue reading →

Posted in 101greatreads, fiction | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Jim Crace and the new religionists

Posted on January 23, 2014 by drewsmith28

JIM Crace has a knack of creating brooding invisible forces that help create a framework beyond the obvious. In his Booker listed Harvest the prime protagonists hardly speak for themselves at all but just infect the narrative with a sense … Continue reading →

Posted in fiction, Outtakes | Tagged | Leave a comment

Stoner by John Williams (Vintage)

Posted on January 20, 2014 by drewsmith28

SO, 49 years on the mid west university of pre world war 11 wins the Waterstone Book of the Year. Well crafted, of a period, but grey and dull and as fusty as a check academic jacket, as is all … Continue reading →

Posted in fiction, Outtakes | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Hhhh by Laurent Binet (Harvill Secker)

Posted on January 17, 2014 by drewsmith28

“Gabcik – that’s his name – really did exist. Lying alone on a little iron bed, did he hear, from outside, beyond the shutters of a darkened apartment, the unmistakeable creaking of the Prague tramways. I want to believe so.” … Continue reading →

Posted in 101greatreads, fiction, Non fiction | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Sushi and beyond by Michael Booth (Vintage)

Posted on January 16, 2014 by drewsmith28

“Ha! You so fat you not so see your dankon for years! You pants too small. You are so fat, sun go down when you bend over!” A true story, a travelogue where Michael Booth takes his wife and two … Continue reading →

Posted in 101greatreads, Non fiction | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick Dewitt (Granta)

Posted on January 15, 2014 by drewsmith28

“I was sitting outside the Commodore’s mansion, waiting for my brother Charlie to come out with news of the job.” IT is hard for a western to get literary recognition, although if it works for west coast gumshoes then perhaps … Continue reading →

Posted in 101greatreads, fiction | Tagged | 1 Comment