Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Posted by Kate W in Fiction and tagged with 2019, American, audiobook, book review, books Leanne will like, fiction, historical, Laura Barnett, music, review, Taylor Jenkins Reid, television October 29, 2019

Well that was a bit of fun!

You’ll see Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid popping up on all sorts of ‘best of’ and ‘beach reads’ lists at the end of the year, and I can understand why. It’s the story of the rise of a rock band in the seventies, with a particular focus on singer Daisy Jones. She’s a wild child, beautiful and talented –

So this is a girl that desperately wants to connect. But there’s no one in her life who is truly interested in who she is, especially not her parents. And it really breaks her. But it is also how she grows up to become a icon. Continue reading →

Greatest Hits by Laura Barnett

Posted by Kate W in Fiction and tagged with 2017, book review, British, fiction, historical, Laura Barnett, literary mix tape, music, reading challenge, review June 26, 2017

I’m very keen on books that incorporate music into the story and I’m not fussy about the format it takes. Things I love: literary mix tapes; words put to song; songs put to words; and authors who include playlists in end-notes. So, of course I was going to read Laura Barnett’s latest, Greatest Hits.

Greatest Hits is a fictional memoir. Singer-songwriter Cass Wheeler reflects on her life by choosing sixteen tracks that define her. Each chapter begins with the lyrics to one of her songs, followed by Cass’s account of important events in her life. Cass’s childhood, in particular her relationship with her mother, sets the foundation for an interesting story, and it moves on to her troubled teen years, her discovery of music, her rise to fame, and her tumultuous relationship with fellow musician, Ivor. Continue reading →

20 Books of Summer (except that it’s winter)

Posted by Kate W in Fiction, Non-fiction, Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with Brit Bennett, Caroline Smailes, Chris Johnston, Curtis Sittenfeld, Dorothy Allison, Elizabeth Strout, Geraldine Brooks, Graham Swift, Jane Rogers, Jennifer Down, Laura Barnett, Lisa McInerney, Melanie Joosten, Michelle de Kretser, reading challenge, Rick Moody, Rosie Jones, Sally Rooney, Sarah Waters, Saroo Brierley, short story, Tom Perrotta May 29, 2017

Cathy at 746 Books is hosting the 20 Books of Summer reading challenge again this year. I’m joining in, with a particular effort to read from my stacks of hard copies. The challenge is straightforward – read twenty books between June 1st and September 3rd. Continue reading →

I’m waiting for…

Posted by Kate W in Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with 2017, Anna Raverat, Annie Hartnett, Claire Fuller, Elif Batuman, Elizabeth Strout, Emily Ruskovich, Jami Attenberg, Laura Barnett, Lisa Ko, Ottessa Moshfegh, Phillip Lewis, Top Ten Tuesday, Val Emmich January 3, 2017

2017-new-releases

Okay, I’m ignoring the ‘debut’ part of this week’s Top Ten topic and simply sharing the books that I’m looking forward to this year. I’m also ignoring the ‘ten’ part. I can’t help it if there are lots of excellent new releases on the way, can I? Continue reading →

The best book soundtracks begin with ABBA

Posted by Kate W in Fiction, Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with Alexander Maksik, Alyssa Shelasky, Cristina Alger, David Foenkinos, Jonathan Grimwood, Laura Barnett, Lena Andersson, Linda Yellin, literary mix tape, Maggie Shipstead, music, Top Ten Tuesday, Wallace Stegner February 16, 2016

ABBA-1

I have a very, very deep love for ABBA. I won’t try to explain it because if you’re not an ABBA fan, you’ll never understand (and why waste my time when I could be singing along to excellent tracks such as Bang a Boomerang?).

I’m not sure if I’m doing this week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic right, but I figure if Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid can pose for a photo in tin foil, then anything goes. So, I’ve taken ten ABBA songs and matched them (very loosely) with ten books.

1. My Love, My Life – Wilful Disregard by Lena Andersson Continue reading →

Finished the Summer Reading Challenge on a strong note

Posted by Kate W in Fiction, Non-fiction, Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with Annabel Smith, Anne Enright, Claire Fuller, Hadley Freeman, Hanya Yanagihara, J. Ryan Stradal, Jonathan Franzen, Judy Blume, Laura Barnett, Lauren Fox, Leslie Jamison, reading challenge September 4, 2015

Today marks the end of the 20 Books of Summer reading challenge, hosted by Cathy at 746 Books. After a slow start, I romped it in with days to spare, although haven’t written detailed reviews of my final two books – Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller and Whiskey and Charlie by Annabel Smith. It was a strong finish. Continue reading →

The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett

Posted by Kate W in Fiction and tagged with 2015, book review, books Leanne will like, British, fiction, Laura Barnett, review July 21, 2015

Okay, get out some paper and a pencil. Have it next to you and start reading The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett. You’ll need to make notes for the first quarter of the book, to keep the various characters and stories in order. But then, enough is established to distinguish the stories and you’ll go with it, thinking ‘This is #ALLTHECLEVER’ (I think in hashtags and caps, don’t you?).

“A man is walking down a country lane. A woman, cycling towards him, swerves to avoid a dog. On that moment, their future hinges. There are three possible outcomes, three small decisions that could determine the rest of their life.”

Beginning in Cambridge in 1958, the story of Eva and Jim takes three different paths – they get together; they speak but then go their separate ways; they never meet. The stories then track Eva and Jim’s lives over the following decades. Continue reading →

Six Degrees of Separation – from The Signature of All Things to Disraeli Avenue

Posted by Kate W in Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with Caroline Smailes, Craig Silvey, Elizabeth Gilbert, Judy Blume, Laura Barnett, Lionel Shriver, Six Degrees of Separation, Tim Winton July 6, 2015

It’s six degrees of separation for books. Created by Emma Chapman and Annabel Smith. Check out the rules if you want to play along.

We begin with Elizabeth Gilbert’s The Signature of All Things. Apparently it’s a very different book to her first one, Eat, Pray, Love. Which is good, because Eat was self-indulgent twaddle.

Another book that is supposedly quite different to previous work is Judy Blume’s latest, In the Unlikely Event. Continue reading →

20 books of Summer (except that it’s Winter)

Posted by Kate W in Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with Anna McPartlin, Annabel Smith, Anne Enright, Bradley Somer, Caroline Smailes, Claire Fuller, Eleanor Limprecht, Emma McLaughlin, fiction, Hadley Freeman, J. Ryan Stradal, Judy Blume, Laura Barnett, Laura Lee Smith, Lauren Fox, Leslie Jamison, Malcolm Knox, Marjorie Celona, Nicola Kraus, nonfiction, reading challenge, Robert Dinsdale, Samantha Wilde, Sarah Pekkanen May 30, 2015

In light of my post about my Netgalley habit and the fact that after June 19th I’ll have oodles of reading time (because exams will be over), I’ve decided to join Cathy’s 20 Books of Summer reading challenge. Except that it’s winter here. And therein lies the really ace thing about reading – it’s suited to #ALLTHESEASONS. Yes, there’s nothing better than having sand in the crack of your paperback (you thought I was going to say something else, didn’t you?) but it’s equally lovely to burrow under the doona, warm and toasty, and kill an hour with a book. Continue reading →

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