I did what I never do, and flipped ahead to the end. I wanted this to be cleaner, more spare and elegant.

Felt like the author was throwing every good idea she ever had into one glorious big mess. A more than decent first novel, well written and interesting, but sadly it lost me half way through because of the super-abundance of plot twists. I get that a lot of people love the opinionated heroine of the L-Shaped Room, but she just irritated me.

The Backwards Glanceby Lynne Reid Banks.

I had to think too much to really appreciate it, so I’ve set it aside. I like the idea of Elizabeth Bowen, and I hugely enjoy reading her book reviews, but with this one I struggled. At 400+ pages, about twice as long as the subject matter deserved and much longer than my interest could be sustained for. A WW II North Borneo prison camp and a dead mother add pathos. Set in England and very occasionally France, neither of which felt quite plausible. Unlikable people screwing up their lives and those of everyone around them. Definitely qualifies as “chick lit”, in the most stereotypical way. Couldn’t finish it – speed-read the last half. Occasionally I might have posted a (Non)Review – those will be linked. And if you want to try to convince me differently – if your absolute favourite read is here on this list – please feel free to try to talk me around. Sometimes knowing what a person just can’t get into is as informative as knowing what they loved. So this page is added in the interest of full disclosure. Either I blow through it skipping great tracts of text just to get to the end, or I out-and-out abandon it part way through.

After so many years of reading – I’m well into decade number five – I have a pretty good idea of what I’m looking for, though surprises are always welcome too.īut once in a while I do run into something that I think I should like, that is highly recommended by people whose opinions I respect, and that is touted as a “must read”.

Waiting for willa by dorothy eden