It’s time for #6degrees. Start at the same place as other wonderful readers, add six books, and see where you end up. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Tim Parks
Hotel Milano by Tim Parks
The ‘Covid novels’ have well and truly began, haven’t they? Hotel Milano by Tim Parks isn’t the only one I’ve read, but it’s the first where the whole story is based around the pandemic.
It begins with a man named Frank, who is drawn abruptly from his reclusive life in London for the funeral of a friend. The funeral is in Milan, and he makes hasty preparations to travel there.
Dan’s funeral has woken you up, I thought. And smiled. Woken for a wake. Continue reading
Things That Are Making Me Happy This Week
01. Have just returned from four days house-boating on the Gippsland Lakes. Very thankful that my boat-driving son was there with us to take charge and navigate the various inlets and rivers. Enjoyed walks along the Ninety Mile Beach and through the tea tree forest that separates the coast and the Lakes. Continue reading
Thomas and Mary by Tim Parks
Usually when I read a book I don’t think much about the author’s personal life. Sure, an author has to invest some of themselves in what they write but unless it’s a memoir I don’t dwell on the extent of that investment. And then I read Thomas and Mary by Tim Parks. And I can’t stop thinking about the state of Tim Parks’s personal life. Specifically, I’m thinking he’s either been through a bitter divorce; paying child support for the next one thousand years; and/or has had affairs left, right and centre. I’m wondering because Thomas is such an intimately drawn character.
Of course, I could be wrong and the reality is that Tim Parks has an exceedingly good imagination. Continue reading
Top Ten Books I’ve Recently Added To My TBR
2016, the year of buying no books, does not mean the year of no new releases for me. Bless you and your generosity, publishers.
Here are ten ARCs hovering near the top of my staggering TBR stack –
1. Why We Came to the City by Kristopher Jansma – twentysomethings in New York. Brilliant. Continue reading