Category Archives: fiction

Bad business by Robert B Parker (No Exit Press)

Posted on June 13, 2017 by drewsmith28

‘Do you do divorce work’ the woman said. ‘I do,’ I said. ‘Are you any good?’ ‘I am,’ I said.   THE late Robert Brown Parker wrote more than 40 Spenser detective novels plus another nine around the character Jessie … Continue reading →

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

My name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout (Penguin)

Posted on May 24, 2017 by drewsmith28

“There was a time, and it was many years ago now, when I had to stay in hospital for almost nine weeks” THE thing about writing solely on a macro level is that there is no horizon over which the sun … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, fiction | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The vanishing futurist by Charlotte Hobson (Faber)

Posted on May 4, 2017 by drewsmith28

“In May 1914, much against the advice of my parents, I took up the post of governess to the Robelev family of No 7 Gagarinsky Lane, Moscow” THERE is an endearing description on page two of this provocative, colourful entertaining, … Continue reading →

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

Ashes in the Wind by Christopher Bland (Head Zeus)

Posted on March 24, 2017 by drewsmith28

“John Burke wants to be Tomas Sullivan. John wants Tomas’s worn brown boots, the scabs on his knees, his green jersey darned with whatever coloured wool had come to his mother’s hand. He wants to talk like Tomas.” AN old … Continue reading →

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

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 →

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

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 →

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

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 →

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

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 →

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

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 →

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

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 →

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