Feijoa – Kate Evans

This is not the story of the feijoa. It is the story of Kate Evans’s journey investigating the story of the feijoa. Along the way we do learn a lot of interesting stuff about feijoas, but we also learn a lot about Evans’s life, her love of feijoas, her experiences travelling the world in search of feijoa lore, the people she met along the way and their stories, and how she came to write this book.

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The Guermantes Way – Marcel Proust

This is the third volume of In Search of Lost Time, in which our hero (I’ll call him Marcel even though that’s probably not his name) enters the world of high society, basically by stalking Mme de Guermantes until he … Continue reading

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This Is What It Sounds Like – Susan Rogers & Ogi Ogas

Susan Rogers’ first claim to fame is that she was the chief engineer on Prince’s critically acclaimed and immensely popular Purple Rain album. After a subsequent glittering career as a record producer she became a cognitive neuroscientist. This career path … Continue reading

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Eunoia – Christian Bök

This is an amazing book. Amazing. The first chapter (Chapter A) is an interesting story written in a quirky style: Continue reading

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The Marriage Portrait – Maggie O’Farrell

Lucrezia’s husband is planning to murder her – what can she do about it? This book is a compelling dive into the personal and political world of 15th-century Florentine royalty. It’s a fictionalised account of a real troubled marriage, with … Continue reading

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Service with a Smile – P. G. Wodehouse

As usual with Wodehouse, I was chuckling all the way through this book. This is the first Lord Ickenham story I have read. He is a great character, like a haphazardly mischievous version of Jeeves. The many characters get themselves … Continue reading

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On the Calculation of Volume I – Solvej Balle

This is a great variation on the time-loop story. Tara, our narrator, wakes up on November 19 only to discover that it’s actually November 18 again. For the rest of the book she repeats November 18 every day, gradually realising … Continue reading

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In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower – Marcel Proust

In Search of Lost Time continues. The narrator is now an adolescent, so this book is largely concerned with his newfound fascination with young ladies. The first half of the book continues on from the last book, featuring Swann and … Continue reading

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The Dream Hotel – Laila Lalami

In a near future dystopia, we live in a panopticon: we’re all under universal surveillance, and computers constantly weigh up everything we say and do. If the algorithms determine that we are likely to commit a crime, we are institutionalised … Continue reading

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Parade – Rachel Cusk

Parade is quite austere in style, but still packs an emotional and intellectual punch. The book is in four sections; they are connected, with a few characters’ stories intertwined throughout. Among the cast are three artists, all just called “G”. … Continue reading

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