Dave Appleby
@daja57.bsky.social
Obsessive reader: reviews on https://davesbookblog-daja.blogspot.com/ Writer of Motherdarling, The Kids of God and Bally and Bro. https://linktr.ee/daja57
After 12 years, I've re-read, and re-evaluated, du Maurier's Frenchman's Creek. My new review: tinyurl.com/mp4p9zc4 #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky
Frenchman's Creek" by Daphne du Maurier
Seldom has derring do been better derring done. A love story between a bored aristocratic woman and a pirate set in the days of the Restora...
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Is it good or is it bad when you ask google a question and the top (AI generated) response references a blogpost you wrote? bit.ly/1Qvjovc
"The Swerve" by Stephen Greenblatt
I still can't quite understand why I loved this book so much. In 1417 Poggio, a Florentine, having lost his job as Apostolic Secretary when ...
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Ploughed my way to the end of 'House of Leaves' - a typographical tour de force - by Mark Z Danielewski. Wow! Have I decrypted the arcana and solved the mystery? My review: tinyurl.com/y6vaau5t #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky
"House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski
A tour-de-force of surreal art. It purports to be the second edition of a book originally written by 'Zampano' with an introduction and ex...
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Weird post-apocalyptic novel 'The End of Everything' by M John Harrison is now on the Booker shortlist! My review: tinyurl.com/47ht5dyj #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky
"The End of Everything" by M John Harrison
Longlisted for the 2026 Booker prize . Phillip Tennent, one of a com munity of beachcombers, rescues something seemingly organic and alive ...
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The brilliant 'Black Bag' by Luke Kennard is shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Congratulations @lukekennard.bsky.social My review: tinyurl.com/yhwzxm8w #Booksky 💙 📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky
"Black Bag" by Luke Rennard
Shortlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize . An actor, rarely in work, agrees to take part in a university psychology experiment. He had to dre...
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@serpents-tail.bsky.social Wow! What a thought-provoking book. First thoughts on 'The End of Everything' by M John Harrison: tinyurl.com/47ht5dyj #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky
"The End of Everything" by M John Harrison
Longlisted for the 2026 Booker prize . Phillip Tennent, one of a com munity of beachcombers, rescues something seemingly organic and alive ...
tinyurl.com
@maxpuffins.bsky.social Thank you for recommending 'The End of Everything' by M John Harrison (though I would have read him anyway, being a fan of his work). I think I enjoyed it; I was certainly impressed. Well weird! My full review: tinyurl.com/47ht5dyj #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky
"The End of Everything" by M John Harrison
Longlisted for the 2026 Booker prize . Phillip Tennent, one of a com munity of beachcombers, rescues something seemingly organic and alive ...
tinyurl.com
@renardpress.com Just finished this clever autofiction (with some metafiction) about an author writing her own life in the guise of a character who is an author writing her own life disguised. My full review: tinyurl.com/2p9uzmfs #Booksky 📚💙 #Books 📚 #Literatureasky
"Maybe the world will end so we won't have to" by Natasha Bell
Autofiction layered. Tasha, ie the author (and we learn that 'Bell' is a pseudonym) decides to write about her life by creating herself as...
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Romantic historical fiction at its most Victorian classic: Lorna Doone by R D Blackmore. My review: tinyurl.com/5329e77t #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky
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Lots of hype around Switzy, long listed for the Booker Prize, just released in September. Tough subject matter - mental decay, the loss of identity and death - but still a surprisingly enjoyable read. Review 👇 #books #switzy #bookreviews #booksky maxpuffins.substack.com/p/book-revie...
Book Review: Switzy, by Emma Cline
Ready to look death right in the eyeballs?
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I've just finished Booker longlisted 'Black Bag' by Luke Kennard, a frequently very funny and skewering satire on the themes of identity and masculinity (?). My full review: tinyurl.com/yhwzxm8w #Booksky 💙📚 #Literaturesky #Books 📚
"Black Bag" by Luke Rennard
Longlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize . An actor, rarely in work, agrees to take part in a university psychology experiment. He had to dres...
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Thank you @maxpuffins.bsky.social for recommending 'Ghachar Ghochar' on your brilliant substack blog. I have now read it. What a delightful novella, so cleverly written! My full review: tinyurl.com/yxva28fx #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky
"Ghachar Ghochar" by Vivek Shanbhag
This beautiful jewel of a novella describes the corrosive effect of wealth on the inter-relationships within a family. "Ghachar ghochar", ...
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Slightly disappointed by 'My Cousin Rachel' by Daphne du Maurier. My review: tinyurl.com/5deh2sd5 #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky
"My Cousin Rachel" by Daphne Du Maurier
Set in the days before motorised transport, before railways, when it still took three weeks to travel from south-west England to Florence, t...
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A work of genius? Or very much not? My review of R A Marno's 'What the Fog Conceals' published by @saltpublishing.com tinyurl.com/5ctwbn3w #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky
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Two novels by D H Lawrence in a row! About time. My review of Sons and Lovers: tinyurl.com/3vnv4p2n #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky
"Sons and Lovers" by D H Lawrence
Painted by Nottinghamshire artist Sheila Wood An exploration of the Oedipus complex. Paul Morel, second son of his possessive mother, finds ...
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My review of D H Lawrence's remarkable 'The Rainbow': tinyurl.com/4uun6c9k The rainbow in the photo might be over a housing estate now but the arch shown was once the gateway to an iron foundry that made a steam plough for Garibaldi.
"The Rainbow" by D H Lawrence
This novel was published in 1915. It is a multi-generational family saga. There are multiple religious themes. Will Brangwen, when courti...
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My AI assistant has just told me that there are no Metro newspapers today "because it is Sunday". Back to bed then.
I was at the matinee performance of Sinatra the musical at the Aldwych Theatre in London yesterday. After the interval it was announced that the curtain had stuck in the down position and the rest of the performance was being cancelled. Tickets to be refunded. Has this ever happened to anyone else?
Last night I attended a brilliant production of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' at the Grove Theatre Eastbourne. Superb acting and a great play. But it didn't flinch from exposing the grotesque misogyny of the 1962 original. My full review: daja57.blogspot.com/2026/08/one-...
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
A stunning production of the play of the novel that spawned the Oscar-winning film. I saw this at the Grove Theatre in Eastbourne on 22nd A...
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I was surprised to enjoy 'The Wedding People' by Alison Espach. I didn't think it was my sort of book. But it is beautifully written and combines insight with wit. My full review: tinyurl.com/y5t9uar9 #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky
"The Wedding People" by Alison Espach
This funny, well-observed and sometimes profound novel opens with a stunning hook, when Phoebe, the only guest at the hotel not to be part o...
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Bluemoose Books @ofmooseandmen.bsky.social · last mo.Thank you to Meg Mason in @the-independent.com today. Who has chosen Panenka by @ronanhession.bsky.social as one of her 5 most romantic novels of all time. Alongside Jane Austen and George Eliot. Marvellous. @bookcornerhx.bsky.social @waterstones.bsky.social
“A June morning, the air heavy as a wet sock and the sun hanging unencumbered overhead.” From 'Outside Looking In' by T C Boyle, a novel about the LSD experiments of Timothy Leary. My full review: davesbookblog-daja.blogspot.com/2026/07/outs...
"Outside Looking In" by T C Boyle
A novelisation of the story of Timothy Leary and his promotion of LSD. After a 'Prelude' set in Basel in 1943 in which we learn of the dis...
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“My mind, thought Bill, is like a fly in a matchbox.” 'The Land in Winter' by Andrew Miller My review: tinyurl.com/fpfuuh4u
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Isn't it just a wonderful book, redefining the role of the 'new man'. My review: bit.ly/3YZ1jmw
"Leonard and Hungry Paul" by Ronan Hession
This advertisement for non-toxic masculinity is a gentle book, grounded in normal everyday life, which uses meticulous observation and psych...
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Spike@thegingerman.bsky.social · last mo.Top five book for me. Got another copy tonight to give to a friend who’s moving away this weekend. Can’t wait to introduce someone new to it. #BookSky #Reading @ronanhession.bsky.social @ofmooseandmen.bsky.social
Was the character of Merlin based on a Scottish wild man of the woods with PTSD following a battle of 573 AD? My review of 'Scotland's Merlin' by Tim Clarkson: tinyurl.com/ycy3e974 #Booksky💙📚 #Books 📚
"Scotland's Merlin" by Tim Clarkson
Clarkson, an "independent researcher and historian", claims that the figure of Merlin, the wizard in the Arthurian legends, may in part have...
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It is a fabulous book, written as if it were a play. My review: tinyurl.com/2mfreru4
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Jules@itsjustjules123.bsky.social · 2mo agoI just read “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck. This was a short read,(about 3 hours or so) and I just enjoyed it so much. Really recommend reading this one!The movie with John Malcovich was also really good. Read the things they don’t want you to read. Free your mind!📚💙 #ReadBannedBooks
Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton is Australia’s favourite 21st Century book. Here’s a review of it and a little dive into why that might be. #books #booksky #bookreviews maxpuffins.substack.com/p/australias...
Australia's favourite book? "Boy Swallows Universe" by Trent Dalton - Review/deeper dive
Australians' favourite 21st century book. Why?
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I Nancy Mitford's 'Love in a Cold Climate' a satire or is it simply sneering at those of us who don't have servants? My review: tinyurl.com/2mnk2hy9 #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky
"Love in a Cold Climate" by Nancy Mitford
If you like 'Downton Abbey' and similar work set in the world of the English aristocracy between the First and Second World Wars, you might...
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I started Nancy Mitford's 'The Pursuit of Love' by accident, thinking it was her 'Love in a Cold Climate' but I'd started so I finished. Here is my review: tinyurl.com/43fwyccs #Booksky 💙📚 #Books 📚 #Literaturesky
"The Pursuit of Love" by Nancy Mitford
Anyone who knows the much-publicised history of the Mitford family will know that this is a fictionalised version of that. (And sanitised;...
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