So that’s 7 books read – I hope to fit in an 8th before the month is out, but have a couple of review copies to cover first. But I’m on track for my 20 books with the holidays and…

Annabookbel

20.06.2025

The Wild Swimmers by William Shaw – Alex Cupidi 5 – #20BooksofSummer2025 – Book No 3 – AnnaBookBel

William Shaw is one of my favourite UK crime writers. His DS Alex Cupidi novels which are set in Kent and around Dungeness in particular are particularly strong for their sense of place, but also t…

Annabookbel

14.06.2025

Broken by Jón Atli Jónasson – blog tour – AnnaBookBel

Translated by Quentin Bates A first novel in translation by an award-winning Icelandic screenwriter, Broken is a police procedural that’s the beginning of a trilogy – translated by Quen…

Annabookbel

12.06.2025

Invisible Kitties by Yu Yoyo, #ReadingtheMeow2025 #20BooksofSummer2025 – AnnaBookBel

Translated by Jeremy Tiang It’s great to be able to cover two challenges with one book – as well as being one of my 20 Books of Summer, Invisible Kitties is also for Mallika’s&nbsp…

Annabookbel

07.06.2025

Six Degrees of Separation: All Fours by Miranda July – AnnaBookBel

First Saturday of the month and time for the super monthly tag Six Degrees of Separation, which is hosted by Kate at Booksaremyfavouriteandbest, Six Degrees of Separation #6degrees p…

Annabookbel

07.06.2025

Oleander, Jacaranda: A Childhood Perceived by Penelope Lively – Book Group report and #20BooksofSummer2025 -No 2 – AnnaBookBel

When our Book Group, which is picking flora or fauna related titles at the moment, didn’t pull this one out of the hat for ‘J’, we recycled it for ‘O’! Published in 19…

Annabookbel

05.06.2025

Dinner Party: A Tragedy by Sarah Gilmartin – #20BooksofSummer2025 no 1 – AnnaBookBel

I read Irish author Gilmartin’s second novel, Service, a couple of years ago, which featured a three part #MeToo storyline involving a chef/patron of a top-end Dublin restaurant, his wife and…

Annabookbel

03.06.2025

Red Water by Jurica Pavičić – blog tour – AnnaBookBel

Translated from Croatian by Matt Robinson Earlier this month I read my first novel by a Bulgarian author, now I can add Croatia too to my European lit list with this multi European prize-winning no…

Annabookbel

03.06.2025

#20BooksofSummer2025 – all systems are go! – AnnaBookBel

Thank you, thank you all for your fantastic responses to Emma and I keeping 20 books going. The number of sign-ups and comments on the planning post is just brilliant. If you still need to pick up …

Annabookbel

28.05.2025

The Darkest Winter by Carlo Lucarelli – blog tour – AnnaBookBel

Translated by Joseph Farrell Back in 2010 I read and reviewed Almost Blue, one of Carlo Lucarelli’s contemporary Italian police procedurals, which was highly original with a blind witness who…

Annabookbel

26.05.2025

An evening with Joe Dunthorne at Mostly Books – AnnaBookBel

Joe Dunthorne is probably best known for his debut novel Submarine, published in 2008, which I read -pre-blog, and the 2010 film adapted from it by Richard Ayoade. Two more novels followed, Wild Ab…

Annabookbel

22.05.2025

Heatwave, The Summer of 1976, Britain at Boiling Point by John L Williams – blog tour – AnnaBookBel

The 1970s was the decade during which I was a teenager, from start to finish – encompassing the whole of my time at senior school and my first years at university. Regardless of all the polit…

Annabookbel

20.05.2025

Hattie Steals the Show by Patrick Gleeson – blog tour – AnnaBookBel

Last May I had the pleasure of reading Gleeson’s first Theatreland Mystery, Hattie Brings the House Down, It introduced us to Harriet ‘Hattie’ Cocker, a theatre stage manager with…

Annabookbel

14.05.2025

The Wolves of Staro Selo by Zdravka Evtimova – AnnaBookBel

Translated by Yana Ellis Having read and enjoyed Abandonment by Erminia Dell’Oro earlier this year, I’ve been keen to read more titles from Héloïse Press, an indie based in Canterbury t…

Annabookbel

13.05.2025

Watchlist: March into May – AnnaBookBel

Titus Andronicus at the RSC Swan, Stratford I went to the theatre last week to see the latest production of Shakespeare’s bloodiest play – and it lived up to its name! Starring Simon Ru…

Annabookbel

08.05.2025

Update and Book Group report – AnnaBookBel

Firstly a quick update on the knee situation: I had a guided steroid injection last week, but first the doctor took nearly 100ml of murky liquid out of the joint which relieved all the pressure on …

Annabookbel

02.05.2025

#20BooksofSummer2025 – how I pick my 20 books… – AnnaBookBel

Any challenge requiring reading a particular stack of books is a no-no for me. I have enough reading commitments in review copies and blog tours, without adding more. So I use a different way to pi…

Annabookbel

01.05.2025

20 Books of Summer is back! With new hosts – AnnaBookBel

When Cathy of 746 books announced last year that she would not host 20 Books of Summer this year after ten successful years, Emma of Words and Peace and I both volunteered to take it on. Summer rea…

Annabookbel

30.04.2025

Two shorter reviews: Callum McSorley & Hiromi Kawakami – AnnaBookBel

I have two shorter reviews for you today. One short because it is a cracking and direct sequel, so I can’t say a lot about it, and the second because I was disappointed into not having a lot …

Annabookbel

27.04.2025

Maigret’s Revolver by Georges Simenon – the #1952Club – AnnaBookBel

Translated by Siân Reynolds My second read for the #1952Club reading week hosted by Kaggsy and Simon – is a Maigret – there’s nearly always a Maigret that can be fi…

Annabookbel

25.04.2025

Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito – over at Shiny – AnnaBookBel

Feito’s first novel Mrs March was an absolute blast. An exercise in paranoia on the part of an Upper East Side housewife, who thinks people are talking about her as the model for the not-so-c…

Annabookbel

22.04.2025

Campbell’s Kingdom by Hammond Innes – the #1952Club – AnnaBookBel

Today marks the beginning of the latest year reading week hosted by Kaggsy and Simon. Last week I surveyed some of the titles published in this year that I’d already read and my reading plans…

Annabookbel

22.04.2025

Catch-up, short reviews and an author talk… – AnnaBookBel

First a knee update! There’s no cartilage left, and still inflamation behind the knee – so an Ultrasound Guided Steroid Injection is booked to deal with the latter. Knee replacements (t…

Annabookbel

16.04.2025

Bowieland by Peter Carpenter – blog tour – AnnaBookBel

It’s a little over eight years since David Bowie died in January 2016, but his memory lives on. Although I had Ziggy on my bedroom walls as a young teen, it was Bolan I was more obsessed with…

Annabookbel

14.04.2025

Five Feat… 1952 – AnnaBookBel

The week after this one, from 21-27 April, it’s the next year reading club hosted by Kaggsy and Simon: The 1952 Club. As I was going through lists of possible books to read, it struck me ther…

Annabookbel

11.04.2025

The Cure by Eve Smith – blog tour – AnnaBookBel

My first encounter with Eve Smith was with her second novel, Off Target, in which genetic engineering of children is normal. I very much enjoyed it – spec fiction being my favourite type of g…

Annabookbel

09.04.2025

Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen – Book Group Report – AnnaBookBel

Working our way through our Flora & Fauna alphabet – M was for Carl Hiaasen’s 2013 novel Bad Monkey, recently adapted by Apple TV starring Vince Vaughn – but more of that late…

Annabookbel

08.04.2025

Reading progress & a review -Eurotrash by Christian Kracht – AnnaBookBel

“O tempora, o mores” as Cicero said. Can you believe the state that a certain orange person and his sidekicks have gotten us into? I’m not going to get into politics here though. …

Annabookbel

06.04.2025

Six Degrees of Separation: Knife – AnnaBookBel

First Saturday of the month and time for the super monthly tag Six Degrees of Separation, which is hosted by Kate at Booksaremyfavouriteandbest, Six Degrees of Separation #6degrees picks a starting…

Annabookbel

26.03.2025

Reading Ireland Month – Louise O’Neill and Gerald Lynch – AnnaBookBel

I planned to read two or more books for Reading Ireland Month, as ever hosted by Cathy, and have so far managed one really good read, plus a DNF – but which was which? Well, let me get the DN…

Annabookbel

21.03.2025

Luminous by Silvia Park – blog tour – AnnaBookBel

I am absolutely delighted to be leading off the blog tour for this fabulous novel on its UK publication day. I do love SF, although I read little of it these days. However, waft a spec fiction nove…

Annabookbel

19.03.2025

Mrs Matisse by Sophie Haydock – blog tour – AnnaBookBel

A novel about art, Paris and the South of France – and I’m sold! Mrs Matisse is Haydock’ second novel, after her first The Flames, (which I now have to read) took the lives of Aus…

Annabookbel

17.03.2025

Mrs Jekyll by Emma Glass – Dylan Thomas Prize Longlist Celebration – AnnaBookBel

One of my favourite prizes of the year is the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize, which is open to writers in English under the age of 39 (Thomas’ age at his death). It always throws up an…

Annabookbel

12.03.2025

Watchlist: Jan into March – AnnaBookBel

Time to catch up with a little of what I’ve been watching lately… The year began well with the first series that got our staff room talking after each episode – I’m talking …

Annabookbel

05.03.2025

Pagans by James Alistair Henry – AnnaBookBel

Now this was fun! Imagine that the Norman Conquest never happened in 1066. Great Britain continued to be an island divided by all the historic tribes you may have learnt about in your history lesso…

Annabookbel

01.03.2025

Six Degrees of Separation: Prophet Song – AnnaBookBel

Annabookbel

27.02.2025

Runaway Horses by Carlo Fruttero & Franco Lucentini – blog tour – AnnaBookBel

Translated by Gregory Dowling The late Italian writing partners, Fruttero and Lucentini, worked together for decades, along the way writing five novels. Last year, Bitter Lemon Press published the …

Annabookbel

20.02.2025

Black Woods Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey – blog tour – AnnaBookBel

I’m delighted to one of those leading off the blog tour for Eowyn Ivey’s new novel. She isn’t the most prolific of authors, with just three novels now in 13 years. However, I fell…

Annabookbel

19.02.2025

Baumgartner by Paul Auster – #AusterRW25 – AnnaBookBel

I chose Auster’s last novel as the buddy read for Paul Auster Reading Week. Published in 2023, a slim novel at just over 200 pages, it didn’t disappoint and revisits many of his favouri…

Annabookbel

19.02.2025

The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster – #AusterRW25 – AnnaBookBel

My original plans were to read this book and Oracle Night this week alongside Baumgartner, which would have left only Sunset Park of Auster’s novels unread, but I was enjoying his 2002 novel …

home›Annabookbel›Books & Literature

Annabookbel - Books & Literature

Our Last Wild Days by Anna Bailey (with Ginny) #20BooksofSummer2025 No 6 – AnnaBookBel

The Wild Swimmers by William Shaw – Alex Cupidi 5 – #20BooksofSummer2025 – Book No 3 – AnnaBookBel

Broken by Jón Atli Jónasson – blog tour – AnnaBookBel

Invisible Kitties by Yu Yoyo, #ReadingtheMeow2025 #20BooksofSummer2025 – AnnaBookBel

Six Degrees of Separation: All Fours by Miranda July – AnnaBookBel

Oleander, Jacaranda: A Childhood Perceived by Penelope Lively – Book Group report and #20BooksofSummer2025 -No 2 – AnnaBookBel

Dinner Party: A Tragedy by Sarah Gilmartin – #20BooksofSummer2025 no 1 – AnnaBookBel

Red Water by Jurica Pavičić – blog tour – AnnaBookBel

#20BooksofSummer2025 – all systems are go! – AnnaBookBel

The Darkest Winter by Carlo Lucarelli – blog tour – AnnaBookBel

An evening with Joe Dunthorne at Mostly Books – AnnaBookBel

Heatwave, The Summer of 1976, Britain at Boiling Point by John L Williams – blog tour – AnnaBookBel

Hattie Steals the Show by Patrick Gleeson – blog tour – AnnaBookBel

The Wolves of Staro Selo by Zdravka Evtimova – AnnaBookBel

Watchlist: March into May – AnnaBookBel

Update and Book Group report – AnnaBookBel

#20BooksofSummer2025 – how I pick my 20 books… – AnnaBookBel

20 Books of Summer is back! With new hosts – AnnaBookBel

Two shorter reviews: Callum McSorley & Hiromi Kawakami – AnnaBookBel

Maigret’s Revolver by Georges Simenon – the #1952Club – AnnaBookBel

Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito – over at Shiny – AnnaBookBel

Campbell’s Kingdom by Hammond Innes – the #1952Club – AnnaBookBel

Catch-up, short reviews and an author talk… – AnnaBookBel

Bowieland by Peter Carpenter – blog tour – AnnaBookBel

Five Feat… 1952 – AnnaBookBel

The Cure by Eve Smith – blog tour – AnnaBookBel

Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen – Book Group Report – AnnaBookBel

Reading progress & a review -Eurotrash by Christian Kracht – AnnaBookBel

Six Degrees of Separation: Knife – AnnaBookBel

Reading Ireland Month – Louise O’Neill and Gerald Lynch – AnnaBookBel

Luminous by Silvia Park – blog tour – AnnaBookBel

Mrs Matisse by Sophie Haydock – blog tour – AnnaBookBel

Mrs Jekyll by Emma Glass – Dylan Thomas Prize Longlist Celebration – AnnaBookBel

Watchlist: Jan into March – AnnaBookBel

Pagans by James Alistair Henry – AnnaBookBel

Six Degrees of Separation: Prophet Song – AnnaBookBel

Runaway Horses by Carlo Fruttero & Franco Lucentini – blog tour – AnnaBookBel

Black Woods Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey – blog tour – AnnaBookBel

Baumgartner by Paul Auster – #AusterRW25 – AnnaBookBel

The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster – #AusterRW25 – AnnaBookBel

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