My daughter recommended this book to me as a sweet and lovely read, and she was right! A grumpy old lady, Veronica, contemplates her legacy and decides she wants to visit a penguin research centre at the South Pole with a view to leaving her vast fortune to them after her death. We learn aboutContinue reading “Away With the Penguins – Hazel Prior – 27.12.20”
Author Archives: sarahrwray
The Ordeal of the Haunted Room (Chronicles of St Marys Short Story) – Jodi Taylor – 26.12.20
Every year Jodi Taylor releases a St Mary’s short story on Christmas Day and this is 2020s. I loved it! It’s an atmospheric Victorian haunted house murder mystery and I very much enjoyed reading it over snatched moments on Christmas Day and Boxing day. Thanks Jodi Taylor and happy Christmas to you and yours!
Deeplight – Frances Hardinge – 23.12.20
As I mentioned in my previous review (for Ready Player Two) my mum just died (on 14th December) and for that reason I decided to read this young adult fantasy novel by Frances Hardinge because I was looking for a gentle ‘easy’ read. Well, I should have know better than imagining that a Frances HardingeContinue reading “Deeplight – Frances Hardinge – 23.12.20”
Ready Player Two – Earnest Cline (AUDIOBOOK) – 23.12.20
So, my mum died on 14th December. It was pretty sudden; she had been hale and hearty the last time I spoke to her on the phone, two days later she had a massive stroke from which she never fully regained consciousness and died after eleven days. Because of Covid rules, she wasn’t allowed visitorsContinue reading “Ready Player Two – Earnest Cline (AUDIOBOOK) – 23.12.20”
We Sold Our Souls – Grady Hendrix – 13.12.20
I loved this book! I’m a member of a book group that happens to be all female (a man did come a couple of times but he hasn’t been in a while) and at 51 I’m the youngest member. The girls are by no means ‘fuddy duddy’, and yet they are unanimously horrified when IContinue reading “We Sold Our Souls – Grady Hendrix – 13.12.20”
Sleeping Beauties (AUDIOBOOK) – Stephen King, Owen King Narrated by: Marin Ireland – 11.12.20
This is a long audiobook (over 25 hours) and due to a glitch with my audible not synching properly between the different devices that I listened to it on, I must have listened to about 40 hours of it! This was actually not a bad thing, because there are a lot of characters and aContinue reading “Sleeping Beauties (AUDIOBOOK) – Stephen King, Owen King Narrated by: Marin Ireland – 11.12.20”
The Quantum Curators and the Enemy Within – Eva St. John – 09.12.20
This is the second book in the series by Eva St. John about a parallel Earth whose inhabitants can travel to our Earth at set points in time and they use this ability to retrieve precious artifacts just before they are lost or destroyed and display them (or at least holographic images of them) inContinue reading “The Quantum Curators and the Enemy Within – Eva St. John – 09.12.20”
The Cat and the City – Nick Bradley – 01.12.20
This book was written by a westerner who has lived in Japan and whose PhD thesis (I think) was about the role of cats in Japanese literature. My son, Danny, is hopefully moving to Japan in a couple of months, initially to attend an intensive language school (he’s already pretty conversant in Japanese, but notContinue reading “The Cat and the City – Nick Bradley – 01.12.20”
Burnt Sugar – Avni Doshi – 26.11.20
Hmmm, I wasn’t sure what to make of this book. I have read some amazing books that have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, so when they come up as the Amazon Kindle Daily deal, I usually buy them. Also, the premise of this book interested me, both the dynamics of a difficult mother/daughter relationship,Continue reading “Burnt Sugar – Avni Doshi – 26.11.20”
Elvenquest: The Journey So Far: Series 1,2,3 and 4 (AUDIOBOOK) – Anil Gupta, Richard Pinto – Narrated by: Stephen Mangan, Alistair McGowan, Darren Boyd, Kevin Eldon, Sophie Winkleman, Dave Lamb – 22.11.20
I was quite annoyed by this audiobook, because it was the first full production/radio play audiobook I’ve listened to that I really haven’t loved, plus, I used my monthly credit to buy it whereas many of the audible productions are available free to members. It’s a farcical take on the fantasy hero quest genre, recordedContinue reading “Elvenquest: The Journey So Far: Series 1,2,3 and 4 (AUDIOBOOK) – Anil Gupta, Richard Pinto – Narrated by: Stephen Mangan, Alistair McGowan, Darren Boyd, Kevin Eldon, Sophie Winkleman, Dave Lamb – 22.11.20”
Sarah Wray Writer 