Booksellers’ Bedside Table Books…
As booksellers, we are frequently asked “What are you reading at the moment?”
Well, here are the books currently piled up at the bedside:
HARRY’S BOOKS
John le Carre: Our Kind of Traitor
le Carre has made the post Cold War espionage genre his own, although I confess a secret hankering for the days when we all knew, albeit cynically, who were the Goodies and who were the Baddies. le Carre always pushes the boundaries of his writing, not content to rest on the laurels of the style of his previous bestsellers. ♥♥♥♥ Guardian review
Stephen Fry: The Fry Chronicles
Fry has a wonderfully elegant, self-consciously crafted style that is not necessarily to everyone’s taste. I enjoy the style more than the subject matter. He wants to be a 21st Century Oscar Wilde and is making good progress. Nevertheless, I can’t help thinking that sometimes he comes across as a poor man’s Clive James – who is a funnier writer. ♥♥♥ Guardian Review
Hans Fallada: Alone in Berlin
I enjoy just about everything set in Berlin, which is one of my favourite cities. Add to that the Nazi Third Reich dimension, with intriguing detail based on sound historical research and I’m hooked. Read it in one go on a Perth – Sydney flight last week. Not a Great Novel but a very enjoyable one. ♥♥♥ Review
Clive James: Cultural Amnesia. Notes in the margin of my time
I’m on page 527. 352 pages to go… I can only manage about 30 pages at a time because of the unbelievable density of the prose and the richness of its wealth of cultural references. It’s a book you need to read with a pencil to hand (so you can remind yourself of all the things you need to check out before you fully appreciate what James is talking about.) I love it, but 75% of the time it makes me feel like an uneducated hick. ♥♥♥♥♥ Review
Stieg Larsson: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (Milennium III)
I devoured it, cover to cover until 3:30 in the morning. Totally addictive stuff. (And a lot easier to consume than the movies which – however enjoyable – seem to think that we can read white sub-titles on a background of lots of Scandinavian snow-filled scenery.) Kinky and tightly plotted.
♥♥♥♥ Review
Well, here are the books currently piled up at the bedside:
HARRY’S BOOKS
John le Carre: Our Kind of Traitor
le Carre has made the post Cold War espionage genre his own, although I confess a secret hankering for the days when we all knew, albeit cynically, who were the Goodies and who were the Baddies. le Carre always pushes the boundaries of his writing, not content to rest on the laurels of the style of his previous bestsellers. ♥♥♥♥ Guardian review
Stephen Fry: The Fry Chronicles
Fry has a wonderfully elegant, self-consciously crafted style that is not necessarily to everyone’s taste. I enjoy the style more than the subject matter. He wants to be a 21st Century Oscar Wilde and is making good progress. Nevertheless, I can’t help thinking that sometimes he comes across as a poor man’s Clive James – who is a funnier writer. ♥♥♥ Guardian Review
Hans Fallada: Alone in Berlin
I enjoy just about everything set in Berlin, which is one of my favourite cities. Add to that the Nazi Third Reich dimension, with intriguing detail based on sound historical research and I’m hooked. Read it in one go on a Perth – Sydney flight last week. Not a Great Novel but a very enjoyable one. ♥♥♥ Review
Clive James: Cultural Amnesia. Notes in the margin of my time
I’m on page 527. 352 pages to go… I can only manage about 30 pages at a time because of the unbelievable density of the prose and the richness of its wealth of cultural references. It’s a book you need to read with a pencil to hand (so you can remind yourself of all the things you need to check out before you fully appreciate what James is talking about.) I love it, but 75% of the time it makes me feel like an uneducated hick. ♥♥♥♥♥ Review
Stieg Larsson: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (Milennium III)
I devoured it, cover to cover until 3:30 in the morning. Totally addictive stuff. (And a lot easier to consume than the movies which – however enjoyable – seem to think that we can read white sub-titles on a background of lots of Scandinavian snow-filled scenery.) Kinky and tightly plotted.
♥♥♥♥ Review
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