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Arvida
A beguiling collection of short stories set in the author's home town of Arvida. The hazy area between memory and history is playfully explored in crystal clear prose as local heroes, mythical beasts and lonely ghosts populate the pages in what has become one of my favourite books of 2016.
Batman Earth One, Volume One
Part of DC’s Earth One series where they erase the convoluted continuity that has evolved alongside characters and reinvent their origins Earth One is a fantastically written retelling of the origins of Bruce Wayne’s crime fighting life. What’s fantastic about this book is that it shows the reader how archetypal the Batman mythos and how its origin can be constantly retold and still kept fresh. The book has the “event” feeling of a blockbuster movie.
The Loney
An atmospheric, gripping and tense novel about a family seeking a miracle while on a religious retreat in deepest Lancashire
Better Call Saul
A must see for “Breaking Bad” fans.
Batman Volume 3: Death of the Family
Scott Snyder’s previous Batman books, Court of Owls and City of Owls are also fantastic (and available in DLR libraries!). Death of The Family however is notable for Scotts work with the most iconic Batman villain (and indeed one of the most iconic villains in pop culture)-The Joker. Here drawn brilliantly by artist Greg Capullo The Joker is terrifying and even more deranged than usual having cut his own face off. The titular family is Batmans network of allies including Batgirl, Red Hood, Nightwing and various Robins and in the story their loyalty will be tested…
Story of a Crime Trilogy (Between Summers Longing and Winters End, Free Falling as If in a Dream, Another Time, Another Life)
The murder 30 years ago of Swedish PM Olaf Palme on a busy Stockholm street remains unsolved. With the news that the case is being reopened, it might be a good idea to check out Leif Persson's (Fictional?) trilogy on the crime and the aftermath.
Big Little Lies
For the last few weeks I’ve been seeing trailers on TV for a new must-see drama on Sky Atlantic called “Big little lies” starring Reese Witherspoon. Surely, I thought, that’s not based on the book I read a year or so ago by Liane Moriarty, an Australian author who specialises in low-key, domestic “women’s” stories, where the seeming mundanity of the character’s lives hides all sorts of nefarious goings-on. It transpires it is one and the same, transplanted to California from a small beach-side community near Sydney – further confusion is caused by the fact that the book was originally
Vinegar Girl
Previously, I reviewed Eligible, Curtis Sittenfeld’s take on Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, so as a kind of companion piece I’ve decided to do one of the Hogarth Shakespeare series: “The world’s favourite playwright. Today’s best-loved novelists. Timeless stories retold” runs the tag-line. So does this re-write of The Taming of the shrew live up to the hype?
Well no, not at all, thank God. Good old Willie Shakespeare may have written some excellent plays but this early effort of his, telling as it does the story of a high-spirited, smart-talking woman who is brow-beaten into submission and
The Good Wife
A thoroughly enjoyable and interesting show - great to watch after a lively day.
The Girls
An intense and atmospheric novel about a teenage girl whose life becomes intertwined with that of a sinister cult like group one hot claustrophobic Californian summer.