Booker Prize Shortlist – Cannonball Read 17

Au Revoir les Enfants

Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor

January 16, 2019 by Zirza Leave a Comment

On a wintry night in the Peak District, a thirteen year old girl, on holiday with her parents, goes missing. Her name is Rebecca, or Becky, or Bex. She’d been wearing a white hoodie, a navy blue body warmer, and canvas shoes. The town comes out in force, searching barns, quarries, forests, but nothing comes of it. Slowly, the people of the town resume daily life, and as the seasons pass, the girl slips from the public consciousness. The girl’s parents are occasionally seen wandering […]

Earth below us, drifting, falling

March 12, 2018 by Dusty Highway Leave a Comment

I had yet to read any Paul Auster when I saw 4 3 2 1 on the 2017 Man Booker shortlist, and I didn’t jump on it right away, mostly because of its sheer size, this brick of a book at 1,070 pages. I don’t read a lot of long books because I’m not a fast reader and can be easily distracted, so I figured this was a pass, but then I read a synopsis and found myself intrigued by the structural conceit of telling […]

Good Evening, and welcome to a new episode of Pointless

March 13, 2015 by Zirza Leave a Comment

I know next to nothing about Philip Hensher, but after reading The Northern Clemency I think I can draw two conclusions. One, he has read The Corrections and The Line of Beauty. Two, he quite liked both of them and fancied trying something quite similar. I’ve only just finished The Northern Clemency so I haven’t Googled any reviews, but I suspect they may bring up these two novels as well, because a) zany family antics with a tragic edge and b) Thatcher-era Northern England. It’s […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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