Category Archives: 101greatreads

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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (Canongate)

Posted on January 15, 2014 by drewsmith28

“Hi!” My name is Nao and i am a time being. Do you know what a time being is? Well, if you give me a moment, I will tell you.” THIS is a great book. Quite why it did not … Continue reading →

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Doped by Jamie Read (Racing Post)

Posted on January 15, 2014 by drewsmith28

“BY THE end of 1959 Jack Stiles, glad to be free from Captain Ryan Price’s iron rule, was back in Newmarket and living in a second-floor flat in the Carlton Hotel on the High Street.” DOPED won the William Hill … Continue reading →

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