Category Archives: 101greatreads

Heritage by Miguel Bonnefoy (Gallic)

Posted on March 28, 2022 by drewsmith28

“Lazare Lonsonier was reading in the bath when news of the outbreak of the First World War reached Chile.” A NEW novel from Bonnefoy! A treat. We are in Chile, imagine a large wood table, the aviary next door, tropical … Continue reading →

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The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed (Penguin/Viking)

Posted on February 28, 2022 by drewsmith28

“The King is dead. Long live the Queen. The announcer’s voice crackles from the wireless and winds around the rapt patrons of Berlin’s Milk Bar, as sinuously as the fog curls around the mournful street lamps, their wan glow barely … Continue reading →

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Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith (Sphere) part three, finale

Posted on November 10, 2020 by drewsmith28

part three of review of Troubled Blood Continue reading →

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Troubled blood by Robert Galbraith (Sphere) part two

Posted on October 28, 2020 by drewsmith28

UNILKE the fantasy of Harry Potter, here Joanne Kathleen takes a random group of seemingly respectable ordinary Londoners connected mainly by a doctor’s surgery circa 1973. It is real enough commentary. Each new lead becomes a horse on a carousel … Continue reading →

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Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith (Sphere) part one

Posted on October 18, 2020 by drewsmith28

review of the latest Strike novel
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Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa (Vintage)

Posted on September 18, 2020 by drewsmith28

“I sometimes wonder what was disappeared first – among all the things that have vanished from the island.” THE original Japanese version was titled Secret Crystalisation which also marries with the snow falling across the island and perhaps the fate … Continue reading →

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Summer by Ali Smith (Hamish Hamilton)

Posted on August 17, 2020 by drewsmith28

SO, we have the younger genius brother from hell, the father’s mistress who is struck dumb. This is the fourth in the quartet (I presume) and like the other volumes the opening salvo takes no prisoners. “As in, so what?” … Continue reading →

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The Mystery of Henri Pick by David Foenkinos (Pushkin)

Posted on July 24, 2020 by drewsmith28

“In 1971, the American writer Richard Brautigan published a quirky love story about a male librarian and a young woman with a spectacular body.” A PROPER mystery of the kind that perhaps might not have even been translated into English … Continue reading →

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The Panda Theory by Pascal Garnier (Gallic)

Posted on July 14, 2020 by drewsmith28

“He was sitting alone at the end of a bench on a deserted railway station.” I REALLY like the way Passcal Garnier writes. Setting aside the surrealist crimo plotlines, his characters breathe. They are in the moment. We are with … Continue reading →

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Love Many by Niamh Campbell (winner of Sunday Times audio award)

Posted on July 6, 2020 by drewsmith28

IT is scandalous to suggest that this blog is in some way in the pay of the James Joyce Jolly bursary to promote writers of Irish descent. It is true that I took a drink (an obscure poteen derivation) from … Continue reading →

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