Category Archives: 101greatreads

The poet by Michael Connelly (Orion)

Posted on March 8, 2017 by drewsmith28

“Death is my beat. I make a living from it.” IF you have a cold or flu, then Michael Connelly is a good companion. Being a bit dopey helps with the severe plot twists, not twists at all really but … Continue reading →

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Homo Deus by Yoav Noah Harari ( (Penguin)

Posted on February 16, 2017 by drewsmith28

“At the dawn of the third millennium, humanity wakes up, stretching its limbs and rubbing its eyes. Remnants of some awful nightmare are still drifting across its mind.” HOWEVER awful events might have been through history, it is over. It … Continue reading →

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The noise of time by Julian Barnes (Vintage)

Posted on January 24, 2017 by drewsmith28

“All he knew was that this was the worst time.” IT is 1936, Stalin is reaching the height of his paranoia. The child prodigy and revolutionary treasure Shostakovich is denounced in Pravda. Short paragraphs rather than chapters paint tableaux of … Continue reading →

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The bird tribunal by Agnes Ravatn (Orenda)

Posted on January 13, 2017 by drewsmith28

“My pulse raced as I traipsed through the silent forest. The occasional screech of a bird, and, other than that, only naked, grey deciduous trees, spindly young saplings and the odd blue-green sprig of juniper in the muted April sunlight.” … Continue reading →

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Days without end by Sebastian Barry (Faber)

Posted on November 29, 2016 by drewsmith28

“The method of laying out a corpse in Missouri sure took the proverbial cake.” ELENA Ferrante took four books to portray her Neapolitan chronicles, so Sebastian Barry follows the fortunes of the McNulty family in different, self standing tomes, just … Continue reading →

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On writing by Stephen King (Pocket)

Posted on November 17, 2016 by drewsmith28

“This is a short book because most books about writing are filled with bullshit.” BEFORE you are tempted to take out your feather plume and dip it in the black ink, before you type in the password on your computer, … Continue reading →

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His bloody project by Graeme Macrae Burnet (Contraband)

Posted on October 16, 2016 by drewsmith28

“I am writing this at the behest of my advocate, Mr Andrew Sinclair, who since my incarceration here in Inverness, has treated me with a degree of civility I in no way deserve.” GOOD writing is like singing, you hit … Continue reading →

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Gilhead by Marilynne Robinson (Virago)

Posted on October 6, 2016 by drewsmith28

“I told you last night that I might be gone sometime, and you said, Where, and I said, To be with the Good Lord, and you said, Why, and I said, Because I am old, and you said, I don’t … Continue reading →

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Cry, mother Spain by Lydie Salvayre (Maclehose)

Posted on September 27, 2016 by drewsmith28

“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. A ceremonial ring on his venerable hand, the Most Reverend Archbishop of Palma pointed at the chests of the ‘guilty poor’, singling them out to … Continue reading →

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Irene by Pierre Lemaitre (Maclehose)

Posted on September 20, 2016 by drewsmith28

“Alice, he said, looking at what anyone else would have called a young girl”. THIS first in a trilogy translated from the French is as brilliant as it is grotesque. Crime writing splits between those trying to do outdo each … Continue reading →

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