Books That Made Me

I have been reading a lot in the last month, but haven't wanted to post Great Thoughts about any of the books, for various reasons: not good enough, a bit obvious, meh. Or, I'm actively pursuing the rights so I can republish them, so I am definitely not letting those cats out of the bag. … Continue reading Books That Made Me →

Simon Morden’s Down Station

I’m a bit behind the pack in reading Simon Morden’s novel Down Station (2015). I’m not sure I’m going to stay on board for its sequel, The White City, published in 2016, but there are a lot of very good things about this London fantasy novel. 1: It isn’t about London. It starts there, in … Continue reading Simon Morden’s Down Station →

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Reading for this last podcast script catch-up from Really Like this Book, I could not concentrate on anything else until I had reached the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I thought I had read it before, but I must have skim-read it so fast to reach the end before the next family member in the … Continue reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows →

The magnificent Modesty Blaise

(Forgetfully and foolishly I seem to have written up this pod twice: here in Sept 2015, and here in January 2015. There are slight differences, but they're mostly the same. Sorry about that.) Today’s letter in the Really Like This Book's podcast scripts catch-up is O, and today’s author is the little-known cartoon strip writer, … Continue reading The magnificent Modesty Blaise →

Merlin versus the vivisectionists, in C S Lewis’s That Hideous Strength

Today’s letter in the Really Like This Book podcast scripts recap is L, and I’ve gone straight to Clive Staples Lewis. Along with much of the western world, as a child I was deeply into his Narnia stories. As I got older I found them less satisfying, because too many questions kept being thrown at … Continue reading Merlin versus the vivisectionists, in C S Lewis’s That Hideous Strength →

Tove Jansson and the Moomins

Today’s letter is J in the Why I Really Like This Book podcast recap, and today’s author is Tove Jansson, the Finnish-Swedish artist and writer who died in 2001. She is most famous in Britain (I don’t know about other countries) for her children’s books and cartoon strips about the Moomins, which started to appear … Continue reading Tove Jansson and the Moomins →