“The Fade Out, Act One” by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips and Elizabeth Breitweiser

The Fade Out, Act One by Ed BrubakerMy rating: 3 of 5 starsIn the late 1940s Hollywood a screenwriter wakes up from a drink-induced blackout to find a movie starlet dead in the next room, so naturally he wipes his prints and runs like hell — only to find out later that the death was …

“Stillhouse Lake” by Rachel Caine

Stillhouse Lake by Rachel CaineMy rating: 4 of 5 stars “Mel infected me like a virus, and I have an unhealthy surety deep down that I’ll never get completely well again.” This book was unexpectedly good — gripping, tense and wonderfully suspenseful. I don’t usually read many thrillers, but books like this are enough to …

Saturday is glorious

Camping, fishing, sunshine, river. All this seems like heaven. And an audiobook, of course. This is happiness.

“Witch Week” by Diana Wynne Jones

Witch Week by Diana Wynne JonesMy rating: 3 of 5 starsThis book does not want to make its life easy. For a kids’ book, it’s decidedly unpleasant. For a kids’ fantasy book, it’s very much grounded in an unpleasant reality, and that’s not easy to make peace with. “It never ceases to amaze me,” he …

2013: “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” by Shirley Jackson

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley JacksonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars(This review was originally posted on Goodreads in 2013)Bizarre, strange, haunting, sinister, disturbing, twisted, foreboding, suffocatingly claustrophobic, leaving you with the ever-growing sense of unease. What else can I say about this book to give it justice?This is a chillingly terrifying …

“The Calanque” by Zidrou and Jordi Lafebre

The Calanque by ZidrouMy rating: 4 of 5 starsThere are times when a pick-me-up is necessary, and for this Zidrou’s stories so far have been perfect. The sequel to the wonderful Southbound! by Zidrou and Jordi Lafebre again brings us on a French vacation of the Falderault family who are as always leaving Belgium to …

“Pawn in Frankincense” by Dorothy Dunnett

Pawn in Frankincense by Dorothy DunnettMy rating: 5 of 5 starsThis is the book I both loved and almost hated. I loved the book itself - clever, sharp and merciless, with the feeling of dread that kept tightening as the story unwound. And I almost hated the way it made me feel - drained, exhausted, …

“The Nineties” by Chuck Klosterman

The Nineties: A Book by Chuck KlostermanMy rating: 4 of 5 starsThe nineties is a decade that seems so recent, and yet in so many ways it was a very different world. The last few years before the ubiquitousness of internet changed the way we think and process endless information overload; the last few years …

2021: “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir

Project Hail Mary by Andy WeirMy rating: 5 of 5 stars (This review was originally posted on Goodreads in 2021): “I’d have to do the math to know for sure but — I can’t help it, I want to do the math right now.” This book is half science experiments, half wacky buddy comedy — …

2020: “The Glass Hotel” by Emily St. John Mandel

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John MandelMy rating: 5 of 5 stars (This review was originally posted on Goodreads in 2020): “There are so many ways to haunt a person, or a life.” There is something undeniably magical about this story. It is strange, a bit surreal and dreamlike and sometimes even slightly disorienting. …