0268 | The Ghost Road – Pat Barker
Context: Weeded my mate’s allotment while reading this. REVIEW The final part of the Regeneration trilogy picks up with Billy Prior getting cleared to return to the front in France…
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0267 | The Eye in the Door – Pat Barker
Context: Read this while we went to Derwentwater in the Lake District camping with some good old friends. REVIEW Picking up where Regeneration leaves off, Barker’s second book of…
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0266 | Into the Crocodile’s Nest | Benedict Allen
Context: Read this the lovely warm conservatory overlooking our friends’ garden in Flackwell Heath. REVIEW Benedict Allen would, these days, have his own TV series and have put a…
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0265 | Regeneration – Pat Barker
Context: Read this while we visited our friends’ lovely house in Newcastle. REVIEW I’ve had this on my shelf for a very long time and imminent emigration to Papua New…
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0264 | A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian – Marina Lewycka
Context: England were justifiably knocked out of the World Cup while I was finishing this off. REVIEW Now this I enjoyed. Here’s a book that is perfect for someone…
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0263 | The Amber Spyglass – Philip Pullman
Context: While I read this, I was provided with an opportunity to strip the varnish and refinish an oak table in our living room. I thought it looked pretty good….
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0262 | Casino Royale – Ian Fleming
Context: Took this on an 8 mile walk around Grafham Water in Cambridgeshire when we stopped for a pub lunch. REVIEW Everyone’s seen at least one of the Bond…
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0261 | The Lambs of London – Peter Ackroyd
Context: Finished this in the midst of scanning hundreds of photos wihle whittling stuff down to store for the next period of emigration. REVIEW For once, a book by…
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0260 | Castle Rackrent – Maria Edgeworth
Context: Finished this off as I flew from Cleveland, Ohio to Dallas, Texas for some training for work. REVIEW Right from the start, I knew that this was an unusual…
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0259 | Bel Ami – Guy de Maupassant
Context: Finished this off as we visited some friends in Cleveland, Ohio. REVIEW This book spirals downwards in a debilitating circle of debauchery as George Duroy aims to satsify his…
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0258 | Choke – Chuck Palahniuk
Context: The blossom was out in force as I worked my way through this one. REVIEW I kind of wish I’d take Palaniuk up on his advice in the opening…
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0257 | Eugene Onegin – Alexander Pushkin
Context: Read this as the sun set over Parker’s Piece in Cambridge as I waited for my wife, sister and her kids to emerge from Parkside swimming pool. REVIEW Not…
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0256 | Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
Context: Finished this off as we were heading back in my sister’s car from another day out over the Easter holidays with her family who came to stay. REVIEW I’d…
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0255 | Memoirs of Hadrian – Marguerite Yourcenar
Context: Read this as we visited the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. Inside there was a statue commissioned by Hadrian of his lover, Antinous. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t let me take a…
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0254 | The Siege of Krishnapur – J. G. Farrell
Context: Read this while we took in a marvellous cream tea in the most idyllic tea garden in Selworthy, Somerset. REVIEW Back in early 1995, I was walking up a…
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0253 | The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
Context: Was reading this as we attended a wedding in Somerset. Someone had made a great model of the couple for the cake. REVIEW This is a rare book in…
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0252 | Cranford – Elizabeth Gaskell
Context: Finished off while driving down to Reading to pick up the wife from a friend’s place. REVIEW The 1001 Books list has totally changed the way I read novels….
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0251 | Half of a Yellow Sun – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Context: Laboured intensively to produce v4 of the 1001 books spreadsheet while reading this. REVIEW I knew nothing about the Biafran conflict in the late 1960s. I know considerably more…