Harper Lee – To Kill A Mockingbird (Book Review)

Opening Line: When he was nearly thirteen my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. Book Cover Blurb: “Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” A lawyer’s advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee‘s […]

The Top 100 Quotes from the Top 100 Novels (BBC Big Read List – #1-50)

I’M STILL MAKING my way through the BBC Big Read List of Top 100 Novels. I’m parked at To Kill A Mockingird. For some reason I expected an old stuffy, court-room drama but it’s really surprised me – full of colour and character. As some light relief, I thought it would be nice to visit […]

Jacqueline Wilson – The Story of Tracy Beaker (Book Review)

Opening Line(s): My name is Tracy Beaker. I am 10 years 2 months old. My birthday is on 8 May. It’s not fair, because that dopey Peter Ingham has his birthday then too, so we just got the one cake between us. Book Cover Blurb: Tracy is ten years old. She lives in a Children’s Home […]

Patrick Süskind – Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (Book Review)

Opening Line: In eighteenth-century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages. Book Cover Blurb: His name was Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, and if his name has been forgotten today, it is certainly not because Grenouille fell short […]