Little Me

Many thanks to NetGalley and to Canongate Books US for allowing me to read an advance readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Autobiographies are hard to review for me. They can be really enjoyable or downright rubbish, depending on the writing. Little Me is the autobiography of Matt Lucas, most famous for Little Britain, Shooting Stars and, more recently, Doctor Who. He's been on TV in many varied, yet always chaotic/alternative comedy roles through all of my adult life so far. Funny and crazy he may be on our screens, but this book has taught me that he is very much like me in many ways.

Importantly, for a book of this type, you can imagine him reading it out loud. His voice was constantly in my head as I read it, and I'm glad to hear he narrated the audiobook form too. The major negative about the book was how negative he sees his life at times. I felt sorry for him, truly I did, but I agree with his mum that in places there was a lot of self-flagellation. However, this did not distract me too much from what is a really good read.

Star rating: 3.5 from 5

This book will be published in the US on 12th October 2018

Death Spins The Wheel

Many thanks to the kind people at Netgalley and Agora Books, the publisher, for allowing me to read an advance readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

For those of you who read my previous blog on a regular basis will know I love classic, golden age detective stories. George Bellairs, the writer of this book, was very much at the forefront of the genre when it was at its peak. Death Spins the Wheel, however, was one of his later books, outside the traditional timeframe given to the golden age. But it would fit perfectly on the shelves of many Poirot or Sherlock fans. All through the book, we are kept guessing about the murderer, and there were some superb twists and turns throughout. I loved how Littlejohn, the investigator, deals with the many potential suspects in the story, especially with the family of the victim. All while on his annual vacation!

I don't want to give away too many spoilers, because a good crime novel deserves to be read with a clean mind so as to attack the case personally. What I will say about Death Spins the Wheel is that it's not a gamble, and is truly a book I couldn't fault.

Star rating: 5/5

It's so good to be back! After I stopped my previous blog back in February/March, I lost all access to it after a major problem with Google...although it was definitely my fault! (I threw away my old table, stupidly, thinking no idiot would pay more than it was worth to repair the screen)

Now, I'm back and ready to restart my book blogging activities. I've rejoined NetGalley.com, and am waiting for my first granted requests. In the mean-time, I'm going to start by reviewing my personal reads, as and when I can. My usual reads are sci-fi/fantasy, classic detective, and general fiction, although I also previously reviewed science books and graphic novels. In short, I'll read almost anything!

I hope you will join me for this, and if you have any comments or suggestions, any ideas for books I should read or improvements to my blog, don't hesitate to contact me through google+.

I'm looking forward to this, immensely! I've really missed reviewing!