My rating: 4.75 of 5 stars David Gange’s The Frayed Atlantic Edge posits that the trajectory of mapping human experience has moved inland over time. We have lost the presence of the coast(line) in economic, social and historical appreciation of…
The Ordeal of the Haunted Room by Jodi Taylor My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars I fear that this latest novella in the Chronicles of St Mary’s is better received in retrospection – that is at the time I struggled…
The Ardent Swarm by Yamen Manai My rating: 4.8 of 5 stars The Ardent Swarm is a short, but emotional and evocative read. A deeply poignant story with global interconnections and a series of themes – both environmental and socio-economic…
Operation Moonglow: A Political History of Project Apollo by Teasel Muir-Harmony My rating: 4 of 5 stars Operation Moonglow presents a unique angle on the space race. It is particularly well-conceived and meticulously researched. Muir-Harmony explores the psychological geopolitical strategy…
Using the Pera Palace (a special locality in a special metropolis), Charles King uses the hotel as a focus for an exploration of the birth of modern Istanbul. He tells a tale well and is an adept manager of tangents.…
Daughters of the KGB: Moscow’s Secret Spies, Sleepers and Assassins of the Cold War by Douglas Boyd My rating: 3 of 5 stars The year is not over despite me starting to post summation articles on this blog. A gracious…
Just because I was tabulating the book club, I decided to avail myself of the data dump from GoodReads.com where I track all my reads and occasional reviews. Just for fun, I thought I’d rank my own reads for the…
As I was compiling this year’s Book Club end of year considerations, I decided to add to some of our tabulating since starting the club. Next April will be out 10th anniversary and so it seems like time for reflection.…
On what would pass a normal year, we always look forward to and end of year repast at a cosy cellar of the RIYC coutesy of one of our distinguished members. It’s a night of festive frivolity and likewise the…
French Like Moi: A Midwesterner in Paris by Scott Dominic Carpenter This is a wonderful little collection of essays written as a cross between Mayle’s A Year in Provence and Clarke’s A Year in the Merde. It’s an enjoyable short…
The Paris Hours by Alex George Stunning! Clever and exquisitely crafted, the minutiae of everyday life is performed in cinematic fashion. The brilliant interweaving of well known literary figures who are brought to life through their seemingly inadvertent interaction with…
Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline This book is getting absolutely trashed. Unfairly. People loved Ready Player One. I did too, and this one is a bit uneven taking a long time actually to reach tempo. It follows on from…