Category Archives: Biography

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Vintage)

Posted on April 28, 2015 by drewsmith28

  “It was 7 minutes after midnight. The dog was lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs Shear’s house.” On first reading of Mark Haddon’s Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time … Continue reading →

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Brooklyn by Colm Toibin (Penguin)

Posted on March 14, 2015 by drewsmith28

“Eilis Lacey, sitting at the window of the upstairs living room in the house on Friary Street, noticed her sister walking briskly from work.” Another major Irish talent. This one from County Wexford. A professor no less in creative writing. … Continue reading →

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Sleep in Peace Tonight by James MacManus (Duckworth)

Posted on February 3, 2015 by drewsmith28

“The seaplane came into view just as the winter sun had begun to settle into the English Channel.” WOLF Hall for another era. Bring up the Brogue. We are at the court of king Winston. Britain 1941. The empire is … Continue reading →

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Stalin by Stephen Kotkin (Penguin)

Posted on February 2, 2015 by drewsmith28

“Russia’s double headed eagle nested across a greater expanse than that of any other state, before or since.” Stephen Kotkin opens with this grandiose statement and proceeds to tell us this is not just a book about Stalin at all … Continue reading →

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The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide (Picador)

Posted on December 9, 2014 by drewsmith28

“At first it looked like low flying ribbons of clouds just floating there, but then the clouds would be blown a little bit to the right and next to the left.” IF you have friends who like cats. Who like … Continue reading →

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Ethel and Ernest by Raymond Briggs (Jonathan Cape)

Posted on September 15, 2014 by drewsmith28

“Monday, 1928” GRAPHIC novels as a genre can be more informed than screenplays. Film shoots with shot photos and dialogue always seem to end up shamefully in remainder shops, but illustration can also be a dangerous medium too often cliched … Continue reading →

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Zeitoon by Dave Eggers (Hamish Hamilton)

Posted on August 7, 2014 by drewsmith28

“On moonless nights the men and boys of Jableh, a dusty fishing town on the coast of Syria, would gather their lanterns and set out in their quietest boats…” America likes rules. After the 10 commandments came another 10,000 lesser … Continue reading →

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Killing Floor by Lee Childs (Bantam)

Posted on May 24, 2014 by drewsmith28

“I was arrrested in Eno’s diner. At twelve o’clock. I was eating eggs and drinking coffee”  I read somewhere someone saying they would automatically buy a new Lee Childs book as soon as it came out. That was their reading … Continue reading →

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Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal (Vintage)

Posted on May 6, 2014 by drewsmith28

Edmund de Waal pronounces in his prologue that this story could almost tell it itself. Yes and no, Edmund. To anyone whose family were part of the same exodus from Odessa to Vienna to Paris as Russia, as then was, … Continue reading →

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Life: Keith Richards (Phoenix)

Posted on April 9, 2014 by drewsmith28

Chapter One; In which I am pulled over by police officers in Arkansas during our 1975 tour and a stand off ensues… It is not the salacious tittle tattle or the schoolboy sniggering (or the size of one M. Jagger’s … Continue reading →

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