I don’t know how to write about this one. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Is it easy to read? Absolutely; the pages zip by. Are the characters memorable? Definitely. And the two main settings of an open lifeboat and a strange, meerkat-infested island in the Pacific are vividly realised. But I have absolutely no idea …
Chernobyl
HBO’s 5-part TV series of the same name was a stunner. I watched it all in one day. But later I read that the writer – Craig Mazin - fictionalised or compressed certain events for dramatic purposes, something he freely admits in 5 episode-length commentaries on YouTube. So I picked this book up wanting to …
The Victorians
Two pleasures come together in one here. I’ve been interested in the Victorian Era for as long as I can remember, and I’ve enjoyed Jeremy Paxman’s other books about The Great War, Royalty and the British Empire. He’s a fine writer with a light touch and very easy to read. But before I go any …
2 children’s classics: Emil vs Blunden
The Amazing Mr Blunden came as an added extra with the new bluray edition of the film from Second Sight. Emil and the Detectives I found for €1 in a second hand shop in Haarlem, yellowed and forlorn, and right at the back of the building on a pile of other books nobody else was …
