Review: The Museum of Ordinary People

The Museum of Ordinary People by Mike Gayle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A nice read. I fully expected it to be trite and predictable, but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise and a nice and engaging story. I'm glad I read it.



View all my reviews

Review: The Reading List

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another book by an author who loves authors and thinks reading books is everyone's salvation. 

Since I pretty much agree with all those points of view as well, I thought I'd check it out. And it turns out I'm very glad I did. The different feelings/points of view the characters have toward books pretty much run the gamut of what we see in the real world. The story seemed to take a while to get going, but was worth it. 

I'll be following this author for future works. 

View all my reviews

Review: The Clothes They Stood Up In

The Clothes They Stood Up In by Alan Bennett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The premise was very interesting, as was the denouement. The characters were also quite unique. But for some reason I can't say I enjoyed this all that much. Something may have been missing. But still, it's a short read, so it can be worth it if you come across the book. 

View all my reviews

Review: Where The Story Starts

Where The Story Starts by Imogen Clark
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ok, I'm going to try to comment on this without spoilers, but no promises...

The two main men in this story (the father and son) were extremely childish and spoiled. Even for spoiled rich men they seemed exceedingly so. And their childishness was only surpassed by how frustratingly servile the women were (both the mother and daughter, but especially the mother), protecting and indulging these men at every turn. So in the end the main man never had his comeuppance (when he is found out, the person doesn't reveal it to him or to anyone else, and when he causes a woman's death, he never finds out and lives in ignorant bliss) and never realized how his decisions had real consequences.

All that aside, I rather enjoyed this.

View all my reviews

Review: The Fifth Child

The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This short novel kept me interested, but I can't say I understand the main protagonist (Harriett, not Ben. I mean, obviously I don't understand Ben either, but I don't expect to). She felt it better to sacrifice her 4 other children's lives (not to mention her husband's, her own, and basically everyone around her) than the life of this one who very clearly has serious problems (or is just a monster).

Having said that, it is still an enthralling book. I couldn't really tell what Ben was supposed to look like from the description. Maybe he was a neanderthal throwback (they seemed to hinting at this a couple times)? I found myself searching for images of neanderthals to get an idea.


3.5 stars

View all my reviews

Review: The Book of Leeds: A City in Short Fiction

The Book of Leeds: A City in Short Fiction by Maria Crossan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As with pretty much any collection of short stories. These were hit or miss. But there were some great hits in here, so I will be looking for more from some of the authors.

My favorites:
"Finding Polish" by M.Y. Alam
"Michael" by Jeremy Dyson (I think)
"The Falling" by Susan Everett
"Twenty five reasons" by Andrea Semple

I should probably add, I have no desire to visit Leeds after having read these stories.

View all my reviews