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Reviews by Cloggie Downunder

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The Midnight Watch: A Novel of the Titanic and the Californian
by David Dyer
a moving and captivating read (5/19/2018)
The Midnight Watch is the first novel by Australian teacher and author, David Dyer. While the story of the sinking of the SS Titanic in April 1912 will be familiar to most people, the part played in the drama by the master and crew of the SS Californian is probably lessmore
Please Ignore Vera Dietz
by A.S. King
A moving and thought-provoking read. (5/12/2018)
Please Ignore Vera Dietz is the second novel by American author, A.S. King. We first meet Vera Dietz when she is almost eighteen, a Senior at High School and working forty hours a week as a Pizza Delivery Technician. Her ex-best friend-since-age-four, Charlie Kahn is justmore
Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows
by Balli Kaur Jaswal
Funny, moving and thought-provoking, this is a great read! (4/17/2018)
“It would be easier to be a criminal fairly prosecuted by the law than an Indian daughter who wronged her family. A crime would be punishable by a jail sentence of definite duration rather than this uncertain length of family guilt trips.”

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widowsmore
The Radleys: A Novel
by Matt Haig
intelligent, clever and blackly funny. (4/13/2018)
“I can control myself. Look, for God’s sake. Look at everyone. Everyone represses everything. Do you think any of these ‘normal’ human beings really do exactly what they want to do all the time? ‘Course not. It’s just the same. We’re middle-class and we’re British.more
Census
by Jesse Ball
a wonderfully moving tribute to an obviously loved sibling. (3/13/2018)
4.5?s
“My wife and I always spoke of making a trip together to show our son the country, but it never came. For one reason or another, it never came, and so I felt when my wife passed, when the idea rose in me about the census, I felt finally it was time to take out themore
American by Day
by Derek B. Miller
funny, moving and thought-provoking novel is a brilliant sequel to Norwegian By Night. (3/6/2018)
American By Day is the second novel by award winning American-born author Derek B. Miller which features Chief Inspector Sigrid Ødegård of the Oslo Politi. Sigrid first appears in Miller’s debut novel, Norwegian By Night (another excellent read!). Readers with any intentionmore
The Beatrice Letters: A Series of Unfortunate Events
by Lemony Snicket
Disappointing. (2/16/2018)
The Beatrice Letters is a short book in A Series of Unfortunate Events by American author, Lemony Snicket (aka Daniel Handler). It consists of twelve items of correspondence between Lemony Snicket and Beatrice Buadelaire, who is apparently the sister of Violet, Klaus andmore
Terms & Conditions
by Robert Glancy
an outstanding debut novel (2/2/2018)
“Doug’s head sagged and I felt him give up on me. That feeling of people giving up on me, that’s a physical sensation now. As if we’re tied by a million soft strings and when I disappoint a few thousand strings stretch and break, as my connection to that person is severedmore
The Plea
by Steve Cavanagh
Another page-turner (1/23/2018)
The Plea is the second book in the Eddie Flynn series by American author, Steve Cavanagh. Eddie Flynn is a former conman turned lawyer. He was, formerly, not too choosy about whom he defended. On Sunday March 15th, Eddie Flynn arrives at his office to find the FBI and themore
Slumberland: A Novel
by Paul Beatty
Original, incisive and funny. (12/28/2017)
“The Schwa ruffled the pages of the book over his pant seam, and the resulting sound rivaled that of the best Max Roach brushwork. I nearly fainted. He lifted the book to his mouth and played chapter seven like a diatonic harmonica; blowing and drawing on the pages likemore
Real Tigers: A Slough House Novel
by Mick Herron
More excellent British spy fiction! (12/24/2017)
Real Tigers is the third book in the Slough House series by prize-winning British author, Mick Herron. Slough House, that “administrative oubliette” of the intelligence service, is a repository for inconvenient or incompetent spooks: the spies who have caused embarrassmentmore
The Perfect Girl
by Gilly Macmillan
Brilliant (12/5/2017)
“Adults like to put a name on everything you feel, as if a name can neutralise it. They’re wrong, though. Some things settle under your skin and don’t ever go away, no matter what you call them”

The Perfect Girl, also titled much more evocatively, Butterfly in the Dark, ismore
Uncommon Type: Some Stories
by Tom Hanks
Very enjoyable. (12/3/2017)
Uncommon Type: Some Stories is the first print book by American actor, filmmaker and author, Tom Hanks. This is a collection of seventeen quite diverse stories. They vary not only in subject matter, but also format. Many are straight narrative, but there’s also a screenmore
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk
by Kathleen Rooney
A moving and entertaining read. (11/1/2017)
Lillian Boxfish Takes A Walk is the second novel by American author, Kathleen Rooney. It’s New Year’s Eve, 1984 and Lillian Boxfish, ex-wife, mother, grandmother, just a shade older than the century itself, takes a walk from her home on Murray Hill to Grimaldis where she’smore
The Good People
by Hannah Kent
does not disappoint. (10/28/2017)
“The Good People are cunning when they are not merry. They do what pleases them because they serve neither God nor Devil, and no one can assure them of a place in Heaven or Hell. Not good enough to be saved, and not bad enough to be lost”

The Good People is the second novelmore
Standard Deviation
by Katherine Heiny
A delightfully sensitive, heart-warming read. (10/24/2017)
4.5 stars

“It occurred to Graham that here, finally, was the similarity between these two women he’d chosen to marry: they were both totally unrufflable, one out of iciness, the other out of obliviousness.”

Standard Deviation is the second book by American author, Katherinemore
Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore
by Matthew Sullivan
a brilliant debut novel (10/14/2017)
Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore is the first novel by American bookseller, teacher and author, Matthew Sullivan. Midnight is closing time at the Bright Ideas Bookstore in Lower Downtown Denver, and Lydia Smith is rounding up the stragglers. She knows one of theirmore
A Gentleman in Moscow
by Amor Towles
Simply wonderful! (9/11/2017)
“Some might wonder that the two men should consider themselves to be old friends having only known each other for four years; but the tenure of friendships has never been governed by the passage of time. These two would have felt like old friends had they met just hoursmore
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
by Arundhati Roy
a moving and powerful read. (8/14/2017)
“Their wounds were too old and too new, too different, and perhaps too deep, for healing. But for a fleeting moment, they were able to pool them like accumulated gambling debts and share the pain equally, without naming injuries or asking which was whose. For a fleetingmore
The Defense
by Steve Cavanagh
a real page-turner (8/6/2017)
The Defence is the first book in the Eddie Flynn series by Irish lawyer and author, Steve Cavanagh. Eddie Flynn used to be a con man, a hustler like his father. Then he became a lawyer, almost a street lawyer, taking the kind of cases others avoided. But his last case brokemore

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