Cecily's book reviews

In general I've written reviews of every book I've read since I joined GoodReads (RIP) in May 08, along with one or two I read prior to that. More recent reviews tend to be longer (sometimes a tad too long?). I always carry a book, though I don't get as much time as I'd like to get engrossed - life is busy, but in a good way. Too many of my favourite authors died without writing enough! Apart from reading, and writing about reading, I enjoy Scrabble, good restaurants, woodland, and attending the theatre.
Today
December
23
Sebastian Peake, China Miéville, Mervyn Peake
Mervyn Peake
2014
13
text: Whimsy 4/5*
A delightful little bit of fun for die-hard fans of Peake's illustrations and those who like wordplay.It's a simple (but beau...
Figures of Speech - Mervyn Peake
text: Beautiful, poignant, insightful 5/5*
There is much overlap between this 1974 book by Peake's widow and a collaborator, and Peter Winnington's "Mervyn Peake: The M...
Writings & Drawings - Mervyn Peake
text: Won over to nonsense 4/5*
Nonsense isn't a genre of which I'm especially fond, but combined with Peake's drawings, this is a delightful collection. The...
A Book of Nonsense: The Centenary Edition - Mervyn Peake, Maeve Gilmore, Sebastian Peake, Benjamin Zephaniah
text: Piratical fun from Peake 5/5*
A delightful children's book written (handwriting) and illustrated by Mervyn Peake, though like all really good children's bo...
Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor - Mervyn Peake
2013
24
text: Memoirs of a white African childhood in the 1970s and 1980s
The memoirs of the childhood of a white girl (Alexandra, known as Bobo), raised on African farms in the 1970s and 1980s, alon...
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood - Alexandra Fuller
read
reviewed: An extraordinary, lyrical book that is about the power of storytelling in - and about - our lives.
An extraordinary, lyrical book that is about the power of storytelling in - and about - our lives. Other themes are light/dar...
Lighthousekeeping - JEANETTE WINTERSON
read and rated
started reading:
finished reading:
2013
05
started following:
2013
24
read and rated
2013
18
text: Raw, important, but disappointing
It feels wrong to give a Nobel prize-winner only 3*, but I didn't enjoy this enough to give it four. It is based on a true ...
The Garlic Ballads - Mo Yan, Howard Goldblatt
started following:
2013
17
started following:
started following:
started following:

Currently reading

The Illustrated Gormenghast Trilogy
Sebastian Peake, China Miéville, Mervyn Peake
Gormenghast
Mervyn Peake