• The Chimes

    Dickens satirises the middle classes and those in office that promoted policy that sought to prevent working-class people from marrying and having families. Read more

  • […] fable-like and pourquoi stories that are funny and entertaining, in which Gray demonstrates the breadth of his talent as a writer. Read more

  • This [collection] demonstrates an attention to detail and knowledge of the Highland way of life in the face of its degradation which began with the genocide perpetrated after the Jacobite Uprising and the ethnic cleansing that continued apace during the lifetime of Scott. Read more

  • The book gives testament to the bravery of ordinary men and women […] who stood up to face legal threat and military violence in the face of famine and destitution. Read more

  • Prophet Song

    “How quickly we could find ourselves nervously passing a checkpoint or dreading the whistle of bombshells in the night.” Read more

  • If It Bleeds

    Sometimes, when you hear a new song on the radio, you instantly recognise the guitar. Even if you’ve never heard the song before, you know the guitarist from the unique sound of their telecaster or from the way that they are picking the strings. Read more

  • Les Misérables

    by Victor Hugo I only got round to reading this last year, at the age of fifty-two. Part of me wishes I had read it earlier, but then, on the other hand, there are many books that I wish I could read again for the first time so I’m glad I saved this one till Read more

  • The Overstory

    by Richard Powers This is an engaging and frightening novel about forests and the price that some people are willing to pay to bring attention to the catastrophe that is unfolding on our planet. The novel is structured in such a way that we are introduced to (the ‘Roots’ of) a handful of diverse characters Read more

  • James

    by Percival Everett No spoilers unless you haven’t read Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. If you haven’t, I would recommend you do, but it’s not necessary. Straight up front, be warned: this book is not ‘ferociously funny’ as described in the blurb. There is a nod to Twain’s satire, there is gallows humour, cynical wit Read more