Category Archives: 101greatreads

My brilliant friend by Elena Ferrante (Europa)

Posted on February 25, 2016 by drewsmith28

“This morning Rino telephoned. I thought he wanted money again and I was ready to say no.” WE start with a mystery, a disappearance. And also a set of family trees, in case you might need to flip back quickly … Continue reading →

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In the cafe of lost youth By Patrick Modiano (MacLehose Press)

Posted on February 18, 2016 by drewsmith28

“Of the two entrances to the cafe, she always used the narrower one, the one they called the shabby door.” CLEVER, this. Modiano drills down into a euro-psyche of paranoia, of living in a world of secret policemen, of secrets … Continue reading →

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The 100 best novels in English by Robert McCrum (Galileo)

Posted on February 5, 2016 by drewsmith28

“The first classic of English literature I remember reading is Animal Farm. I must have been about 11 years old.” THE very first novel, Robert McCrum argues, was a protest by a puritan dissenter written from inside prison, Pilgrim’s Progress, … Continue reading →

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The wallcreeper by Nell Zink (Fourth Estate)

Posted on January 27, 2016 by drewsmith28

“I was looking at the map when Stephen swerved, hit the rock, and occasioned the miscarriage.” A WALLCREEPER is a small, blue grey mountain bird, similar to a nuthatch except it has striking crimson wings which only show in flight. … Continue reading →

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Into the wild by Jon Krakauer (Pan)

Posted on January 7, 2016 by drewsmith28

“Greetings from Fairbanks. This is the last you shall hear of  me Wayne”. JON Krakauer wrote one of the great Everest books Into Thin Air, which I have not included here because it was written in 1997. This work is … Continue reading →

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The lady in the van by Alan Bennett

Posted on December 21, 2015 by drewsmith28

“I ran into a snake this afternoon,’ Miss Shepherd said. ‘It was coming up Parkway. It was a long grey snake – a boa constrictor, possibly…’” POSSIBLY, is one of Miss Shepherd’s trademark conversational gambits in this miniature masterpiece, a short … Continue reading →

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Young skins by Colin Barrett (Vintage)

Posted on November 26, 2015 by drewsmith28

“My town is nowhere you have been, but you know its ilk. A roundabout off a national road, an industrial estate, a five screen Cineplex, a century of pubs packed inside the square mile of the town’s limits. The Atlantic … Continue reading →

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The burning room by Michael Connelly (Orion)

Posted on November 17, 2015 by drewsmith28

“Deep down Bosch knew the dead were the dead and they no longer suffered the cruelties of life.” I lIKE Harry, he is the sort of detective you might want on your block, ex-Vietnam ‘gator, single parent, coffee obsessive, jazz-listener, … Continue reading →

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A brief history of seven killings by Marlon James (Oneworld)

Posted on October 23, 2015 by drewsmith28

“I know I was fourteen. That me know. I also know that too many people talk too much, especially the American who never shut up, just switch to a laugh every time he talk ’bout you, and it sound strange … Continue reading →

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Nora Webster by Colm Toibin (Penguin)

Posted on October 21, 2015 by drewsmith28

“You must be fed up with them. Will they never stop coming?” WE are back in Enniscorthy on the south east tip of Ireland midway between Dublin and Cork. We have already met Nora tangentially in Brooklyn. Eilis’s mother called … Continue reading →

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