Thought I'd try an Inspector George Gently novel, the first of 46! My review: bit.ly/4aZbY6q #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚

I've just finished my second Jay McInerney book, 'Model Behavior' and in subject matter it is almost identical to the first one I read 'Bright Lights, Big City'. Write what you know but come on! My full review: bit.ly/4aAvo2I #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

I struggled to finish this extravagantly Gothic classic from the inspiration behind Offenbach's Tales from Hoffman bit.ly/46o4B7e #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

Just completed 'All the Days I did not Live' by @bookwormvaught.bsky.social published by @renardpress.com An interesting and gently lyrical read. My review: bit.ly/4tQjrNT #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

Okay, this is quite outstanding from Bedford Council.

Breaking News: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor becomes eligible for his senior bus pass today. This entitles him to free travel on local buses in England and Wales (between 9.30 AM and 11 PM). Including Woking.

I've just completed the remarkable 'Four Letters of Love' by Niall Williams. Wow! My full review: bit.ly/4tJDwp5 #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

I've just finished 'Bright Lights, Big City' by Jay McInerney, a novel unusual for being written in the 2nd person, which chronicles the hero's descent into drug-fuelled hell. Some fantastic lines (and not just the ones he snorts). My review: bit.ly/4tFjDiV #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

I've just finished The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen and I am looking forward to my reading group explaining to me why it is actually so much better than I think it is. My review: bit.ly/466aPZr #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

Just finished 'The Names' by Florence Knapp, an interesting debut novel (Sunday Times bestseller) about domestic abuse. My review: bit.ly/4kpUIMa #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

Delighted to discover that the 'Someone Special' card at Card Factory is priced at 99p. Not that special, then.

I've just finished 'Do What Thou Wilt', a biography of occultist Aleister Crowley. It's strange how the life of a man once called 'the wickedest man in the world' should be so sad and wearisome. bit.ly/4kfqGue #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚

Just finished another Josephine Tey crime novel: 'To Love and Be Wise'. Very enjoyable, clever solution. My full review: bit.ly/4a6IFOX #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

The best thing about having finished 'Villette' by Charlotte Bronte is that I'll never read it again. I look forward to my reading group to try to understand why anyone can enjoy this dreadful book. My review: bit.ly/4a7z1f8 #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

Remembering my dad, who would have been 104 today.

Love seeing Tey get love, that crisp plotting and moral gray areas still hit. As a writer it nudges me to keep scenes tight, congrats on finishing and sharing. #Booksky

Just finished 'The Franchise Affair' by Josephine Tey, ranked 11th in the Crime Writers' Association' 100 best crime novels of all time. My review: bit.ly/4q2gbMa #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

As a dweller in that great town, I was delighted to see Eastbourne (complete with Holywell and Beachy Head) feature in Josephine Tey's first murder mystery, The Man in the Queue. And it's a great read! My review: bit.ly/4acEYsd #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

Just finished my first Brigid Brophy book 'Hackenfeller's Ape' ... 73 years after it was published. Better late than never! Excited to explore more by this author. Here's my review: bit.ly/49Qo7Kl #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

Once again I am struggling to understand how a poorly written book with stereotyped characters and a predictable plot can become a best-seller. My review of Elizabeth Day's 'One of Us': bit.ly/49L17N6 #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

Just finished 'Laurels are Poison' written in 1942 by Gladys Mitchell. Apparently Larkin called her 'the great Gladys'. Why? Trigger warnings to include racism and the advocacy of rape as a courtship strategy. My full review: bit.ly/3LD40r9 #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

Despite my better judgement (I thought the book over-rated) I went to see the much-hyped film of Hamnet. I found it overlong, slow and boring and a massive and unnecessary spoiler right at the start. My full review: daja57.blogspot.com/2026/01/hamn...

@nickmacwrites.bsky.social Just finished 'Slings and Arrows' which I read in just two days. Very enjoyable. It perfectly captures the period. Here's my full review: bit.ly/49SlmJK #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

I've just finished 'To Let' the third novel in Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga. My review: bit.ly/3LzAtym #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

Just finished a delightful account of travelling by train (mostly in the smoking carriage) in the USA (yes, I know the picture shows a Canadian train of the wrong period but it was the closest I could find). My full review: bit.ly/3Li2dHT #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚

I've just finished the very first Dalziel and Pascoe book by Reginald Hill: 'A Clubbable Woman'. Written in 1970 and set in a rugby club, it might need trigger warnings nowadays. My review: bit.ly/4ss8EZq #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚

Loved the Christmas special of Amandaland on BBC. There was a classic line, when, in a game of hide and seek, Felicity discovers Anne hiding behind a curtain, after Anne farted. "Hoist with your own petard" says Felicity, quoting Hamlet. 'Petard' derives from a French for fart. Brilliant!

Just completed Booker shortlisted 'The Rest of Our Lives' by Ben Markovits. Another US novel in which the protagonist drives away from his life, life Updike's 'Rabbit, Run'. Got great reviews but I was never really involved. My full review: bit.ly/44TV0o0 #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

Happy New Year! Kicking 2026 with a review of a book of Japanese Fairy Tales. Some things are universal, some things are culturally specific. Entertaining and fascinating. Published by @renardpress.com #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky bit.ly/4b9Gqws

So, here are my favourite books of 2025. It was pretty close with some books (nearly picked 2 by Penelope Lively). Typically, most books are backlisted titles. I think I may have only read one book published in 2025 anyway. Full list with publication year for context in alt text.💙📚

I've just finished the beautiful 'This is Happiness' by Niall Williams, a lyrical novel set in a vanished corner of Ireland. I MUST read more by this talented writer. #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky bit.ly/4q01Dxz

Merry Xmas. Hope you all had wonderful presents, especially books.

Merry Xmas to all

At Christmas, a good gothic read is always welcome, but this prequel to The Turn of the Screw fell short of my expectations. My review: bit.ly/4avTkof #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

In 1932, John Galsworthy won the Nobel Prize for Literature over, inter alia, H G Wells; the committee cited "his distinguished art of narration which takes its highest form in The Forsyte Saga". My review of the 2nd in the series, 'In Chancery' bit.ly/4s5uA #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

Inspired (if that's the right word) by the hugely-adapted TV series, I have started to re-read the Forsyte Saga. Here's my review of the first novel: A Man of Property: bit.ly/4s8Q5th #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

I'm a subscriber and I always enjoy my monthly book from Renard who offer a fascinating range of novels and poetry and more.

Just read William Golding's The Paper Men published after his Nobel Prize. I was disappointed. Too many books about drink-sodden ageing novelists. My full review: bit.ly/3MDQfsd #Books 📚 #Booksky 💙📚 #Literaturesky

Just completed a Sophie Hannah Poirot continuation murder mystery: 'The Killings at Kingfisher Hill'. My review: bit.ly/4iJKXHC #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚

I've finished by 2025 A-Z of novelists challenge with Stefan Zweig's 'Beware of Pity', an intoxicating read. My full review: bit.ly/3KfLk04 #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

Gertrude Stein was a writer with a fascinating (unique?) style. My review of her 'Three Lives': bit.ly/44FctjJ #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky @renardpress.com

In my 2025 A-Z of novelists challenge, I've finished Y for Yourcenar, Marguerite 'Memoirs of Hadrian'. Here's my review: bit.ly/3Ka8swE Next up: Z for Zweig, Stefan: 'Beware of Pity' #Books 📚 #Booksky 💙📚 #Literaturesky

Shepherd's warning over Eastbourne

Just finished 'Hawker and the King's Jewel' by Ethan Bale. A historical thriller typical of its genre set in the aftermath of the Battle of Bosworth. Well plotted and paced, delivering a regular fight. My full review: bit.ly/44hEIVv #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚

Gordon Carr's history of 'The Angry Brigade' reminded me of when the Vietnam war was raging, Spain and Portugal were ruled by fascist dictators and Greece by the military, and Germany, Italy and the UK had urban guerrillas. #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky bit.ly/4pgnSyt

I was told that Mary Webb's 'Precious Bane' was the book spoofed by Stella Gibbons in 'Cold Comfort Farm' but I really enjoyed reading PB. It may be melodrama but it's energetically done. My review: bit.ly/4qXij9L #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

There are some Rose Tremain books that I adore but Lily, despite the wonderful verisimilitude, left me cold. My full review: bit.ly/49DIv2S #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

Definitely scheduling 'Three Lives' for later in this month.

@renardpress.com Well that was an interesting experience! Losing my Gertrude Stein virginity to 'Blood on the Dining Room Floor'. Not quite sure what to make of it. bit.ly/47sGgOI #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky

Best ever day on Dave's Book Blog: over 20,000 views in one day. 1,844 books reviewed so far. davesbookblog-daja.blogspot.com #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky