My thanks to Oneworld Publications and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. The Dust Never Settles is described by the author as her ‘love letter’ to her country Peru. Opening with mythology/origin stories which tie in to the book wonderfully later, we are introduced to Anaïs Echeverría who has a Peruvian mother and…
Book Review: How to Examine a Wolverine by Philipp Schott, DVM
My thanks to ECW Press and NetGalley for a review copy of the book. How to Examine a Wolverine is the memoirs/reminiscences of German-born, Canadian veterinary doctor, Dr Philipp Schott (this is his second book, the first being The Accidental Vet). In its various short chapters, Dr Schott relates different experiences from his over three-decade…
Book Review: The Hungry Ghost by H.S. Norup
My thanks to Pushkin Press/Steerforth Press and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. ‘Loss and grief is part of life…we cannot forget the dead’ The Hungry Ghost is a children’s/middle-grade story set in Singapore, and is a story of adventure and ghosts, of family and relationships, of remembering and forgetting, of the past…
Book Review: The Improbable Adventures of Miss Emily Soldene: Actress, Writer and Rebel Victorian by Helen Batten
My thanks to Allison and Busby and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. The Improbable Adventures of Emily Soldene: Actress, Writer and Rebel Victorian is an entertaining and very readable biography of a rather extraordinary woman—Emily Soldene who was a singer, actress, director, writer and much much more—a woman who wanted fame but…
Book Review: The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
My thanks to Canongate and Netgalley for a review copy of this book. The Book of Form and Emptiness is certainly a strange book, a story about loss and coping, about depression and mental illness, about friends and support systems, and of course, about books, for it is a book that tells us the story,…
Book Review: Lights Rains Sometimes Fall by Lev Parikian
My thanks to Elliot and Thompson and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. ‘Stop and smell the roses’ we are sometimes told or tell ourselves. Slow down, look about, and take in the beauty and wonders of life around you at all times—it isn’t just flowers, but birds, insects, bees and butterflies, trees…
Book Review: The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
My thanks to Penguin UK and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. The Man Who Died Twice is the second book in the Thursday Murder Club (the Agatha Christie/Marple allusion just struck me when writing my review) series by Richard Osman. Set in a retirement village, Coopers Chase, the Thursday Murder Club comprises…
Book Review: A Short History of Spaghetti and Tomato Sauce by Massimo Montanari
My thanks to Europa Editions and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. A Short History of Spaghetti and Tomato Sauce is a short, readable, interesting and well-researched account of how Italy’s most iconic dish, described by some as the ‘premier Italian dish’, came to be. The author, Massimo Montanari, a professor of mediaeval…
Book Review: Wuhan by John Fletcher
My thanks to Head of Zeus and NetGalley for a review copy of this book. Wuhan is a novel of epic proportions set in the first year (1937‒1938) of the second Sino-Japanese war or Japanese invasion of China, when Wuhan (yes, the very same) served as the capital of the government headed by Chiang Kai-shek,…
Book Review: William of Orange and the Fight for the Crown by Brian Best
My thanks to Pen & Sword and NetGalley for a review copy of this book England in the seventeenth century saw a period fraught with religious and political tensions, the replacement of the monarchy on not one but two occasions and various changes which are reflected in the modern world. The execution of Charles I…
