January 21, 2021 The Searcher by Tana French Reviewed by Annabel A new novel from Tana French, Irish author of the acclaimed Dublin Murders series is always worth waiting for. Her latest,…
December 17, 2020 Mr Wilder & Me by Jonathan Coe Reviewed by Annabel Jonathan Coe’s latest novel couldn’t be further from his Costa-winning Middle England (which I reviewed for Shiny here), which examined 21st…
December 9, 2020 Numbers Don’t Lie: 71 Things You Need to Know About the World, by Vaclac Smil Reviewed by Annabel If you, or a potential recipient of this book for Christmas, are a fan of Tim Harford on BBC Radio 4’s…
December 3, 2020 It’s the End of the World by Adam Roberts Reviewed by Annabel I learned a new word this year. ‘Eschatology’ is defined as ‘the part of theology concerned with death, judgement, and the…
November 26, 2020 What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez Review by Annabel My first exposure to Nunez was through her breakthrough novel The Friend, finally gaining her prizewinner status (the US National Book…
November 17, 2020 The Book Lover’s Quiz Book: Novel Conundrums by Gary Wigglesworth Reviewed by Annabel Gary Wigglesworth’s twitter feed was something of a godsend on Tuesday evenings during furlough earlier this summer. The former bookseller who…
October 29, 2020 The Harpy by Megan Hunter Reviewed by Annabel Megan Hunter’s beautiful and poetic debut novella, The End We Started From (reviewed here for Shiny by Lucy Unwin), the story…
October 20, 2020 Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Universe: And Our place within it by Andrew Newsam Reviewed by Annabel I’ve always loved books about space and I still have my beloved Hamlyn guides on Astronomy and Exploring the Planets by…
October 13, 2020 Spoon-Fed by Tim Spector Reviewed by Annabel Kings College Hospital-based Professor Tim Spector’s name is, I hope, becoming more widely known in the UK since the pandemic began….
October 1, 2020 Piranesi by Susanna Clarke Review by Annabel Of all the books that were published a couple of weeks ago in this September’s post-lockdown publishing splurge, Susanna Clarke’s second…
September 10, 2020 Red Pill by Hari Kunzru Reviewed by Annabel I’ve been a fan of Kunzru’s writing since his first novel was published. He is one of those authors that always…
August 20, 2020 My Summer Reading: The Manual of Darkness by Enrique de Hériz Translated by Frank Wynne Reviewed by Annabel Members of the Shiny reviewing team share previously published books from their shelves that they’re reading this…
August 6, 2020 Grave’s End by William Shaw Review by Annabel William Shaw, former award-winning music journalist has, in recent years, become one of the UK’s must-read crime authors. Although he’d already…
July 28, 2020 Notes From An Apocalypse by Mark O’Connell Review by Annabel O’Connell is an Irish journalist who won the Wellcome Book Prize for his previous title, To Be a Machine (which I…
June 23, 2020 The End of Me by Alfred Hayes Reviewed by Annabel Hayes, who was born in London but emigrated to the US as a child, first came to attention as a poet…
June 9, 2020 Pomeranski by Gerald Jacobs Review by Annabel Gerald Jacobs is literary editor of the Jewish Chronicle. He grew up in and around Brixton in the 1950s and 1960s,…
May 28, 2020 The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix Review by Annabel If you enjoy a contemporary horror novel laced with style and humour, you need look no further than the work of…
May 14, 2020 How It Was by Janet Ellis Paperback review by Annabel I had been reading and loving the late Clive James’ last book, an anthology of his writing on Philip Larkin…
May 5, 2020 The Lost Future of Pepperharrow by Natasha Pulley Review by Annabel Natasha Pulley’s 2015 debut novel, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, which I reviewed for Shiny here, is still one of the…
April 16, 2020 A Long Way Off by Pascal Garnier Translated by Emily Boyce Reviewed by Annabel For the past eight years, Gallic Books have been translating and publishing the gloriously black-humored noir novellas…
March 19, 2020 The Ruins by Mat Osman Reviewed by Annabel I am an absolute sucker for any novel with a bit of rock’n’roll in it, and two of my favourite reads…
February 25, 2020 Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton Review by Annabel Anyone who works in a school these days will be familiar with ‘lockdown’ procedures, with code reds being the ones you…
December 12, 2019 Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson Review by Annabel This short novel told in letters took me pleasantly by surprise. Within pages I was hooked, and I read it in…
November 12, 2019 Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver Review by Annabel I read and really enjoyed Paver’s first two adult novels, both ghost stories. The first, Dark Matter was located in the Arctic, which was…
October 29, 2019 Home Work by Julie Andrews with Emma Walton Hamilton Review by Annabel Julie Andrews’s first volume of memoir, Home, told us of her childhood, growing up during the war, and…
