Category Archives: 101greatreads

Nagasaki by Eric Faye (Gallic)

Posted on May 22, 2018 by drewsmith28

“Imagine a man in his fifties disappointed to have reached middle age so quickly…” SCANT as a haiku, we open with all the usual everyday details of life scrubbed out by the obsession. S reads a magazine to which he … Continue reading →

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

Black Sugar by Miguel Bonnefoy (Gallic)

Posted on May 10, 2018 by drewsmith28

“The dawn light revealed a ship marooned in the canopy of a vast forest”. I IMAGINE a publisher might throw a party for Miguel Bonnefoy’s lesser characters who only get a walk on part in the novels, somewhere Miss Venezuela … Continue reading →

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

Octavio’s Journey by Miguel Bonnefoy (Gallic)

Posted on April 20, 2018 by drewsmith28

“At the port of La Guaira on 20 August 1908, a ship from Trinidad dropped anchor off the Venezuelan coast, unaware that it was offloading a plague which would trouble the country for half a century.”   I abandoned two … Continue reading →

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

The Keeper of Lost things by Ruth Hogan (Two Roads)

Posted on April 6, 2018 by drewsmith28

“Charles Bramewell Brockley was travelling alone and without a ticket on the 14.42 from London Bridge to Brighton.” There are different strands to this well received tale. It is a Richard and Judy book of the autumn and a Sunday … Continue reading →

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

A short book about painting by Andrew Marr (Quadrille)

Posted on April 2, 2018 by drewsmith28

“What is painting for?” THE painter Patrick Heron said it takes 20 times longer to explain his paintings than a cursory glance can reveal. Words just don’t do it. At heart this is where Marr is taking us in this … Continue reading →

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

Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Canongate)

Posted on February 19, 2018 by drewsmith28

“My suffering left me sad and gloomy” THE problem with coming to this book after the film event is that the image of the boy and the tiger marooned on a boat has already passed into popular culture, an indelible, … Continue reading →

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

Dirt Music by Tim Winton (Penguin)

Posted on February 9, 2018 by drewsmith28

“One night in November, another that had somehow become morning while she sat there, Georgie Jutland looked up to see her pale and furious face reflected in the window.” THE best place to read this might be on the new … Continue reading →

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

Winter by Ali Smith (Hamish Hamilton)

Posted on December 8, 2017 by drewsmith28

“God was dead, to begin with. Romance was dead. Chivalry was dead.” WHEN, finally, we get everyone into the same room, the intimacy starts to crackle. Ali Smith is at her best when she has people talking to each other. … Continue reading →

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

Autumn by Ali Smith (Penguin)

Posted on November 24, 2017 by drewsmith28

“It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times.” FROM the getgo this tale is populated with popular images like the variation on Charles Dickens opening to a Tale of Two Cities above, although here is the … Continue reading →

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

The disappearance of Adele Bedeau by Graeme Macrae Burnet (Contraband)

Posted on November 9, 2017 by drewsmith28

“It was an evening like any other at the Restaurant de la Cloche.” YOU are on page 88 of 244 before the character cards you hold start to reveal themselves as a full house of a plot. Here the main … Continue reading →

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