The Commons

Reviews

Reviews from across the whole catalogue, written as the back cover closes. A score out of ten and a summary that earns it.

Showing 577 to 600 of 613 reviews

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Meditations reviewed by @annotatedannie
10 out of 10
Seven complaints, in the order they bothered me, followed by a verdict that contradicts all seven. I have argued myself round twice on this and I am standing by both halves.
Meditations@annotatedannie25 Oct 2025
Crime and Punishment reviewed by @an_ordinary_tuesday
8 out of 10
A young man's conscience eating him alive from the inside out over one long hot summer. The epilogue redeemed it for me; my book group thought the epilogue ruined it. We are still arguing in the car park.
Crime and Punishment@an_ordinary_tuesday21 Oct 2025
The Black Prism reviewed by @grimdarkgareth
7 out of 10
Solid 7. Gavin's a great lying bastard and the colour magic is a proper system rather than vibes. Drops a point for Kip, who spends the entire book being told he's fat by the narration. Mate. We got it.
The Black Prism@grimdarkgareth21 Oct 2025
Thinking, Fast and Slow reviewed by @ivor_stack
10 out of 10
Eleven sittings, fourteen hours, and twice I put it down to write something out on paper, which I don't often do. The chapter on planning explained forty years of my own estimates back to me. A ten.
Thinking, Fast and Slow@ivor_stack19 Oct 2025
The Shining reviewed by @bleakhouse_bex
8 out of 10
Not the twins. Not the lift. The HEDGE ANIMALS, and have you tried walking past a garden centre since?
The Shining@bleakhouse_bex19 Oct 2025
Wolf Hall reviewed by @margaretreads
8 out of 10
One has to give it fifty pages before the pronouns stop being a nuisance; after that it carries you. I lost the thread twice around Anne's arrival and didn't much mind. Ruth gave up on page nine and I shan't hold it against her.
Wolf Hall@margaretreads19 Oct 2025
Der Große Gatsby / The Great Gatsby reviewed by @an_ordinary_tuesday
9 out of 10
The green light. I am undone.
Der Große Gatsby / The Great Gatsby@an_ordinary_tuesday18 Oct 2025
The Secret History reviewed by @bleakhouse_bex
9 out of 10
I would have joined that class and I'd have been the first one caught
The Secret History@bleakhouse_bex18 Oct 2025
Night Angel reviewed by @bleakhouse_bex
6 out of 10
Wetboys!! They're assassins, but they're called wetboys, and I heard it in my nan's voice every single time, which is either the funniest thing in fantasy or entirely a me problem. Plot's fine. Six.
Night Angel@bleakhouse_bex17 Oct 2025
A Farewell to Arms reviewed by @an_ordinary_tuesday
9 out of 10
It rains all the way through and I did not notice until my sister told me.
A Farewell to Arms@an_ordinary_tuesday15 Oct 2025
4 readers agree with this review
Middlemarch reviewed by @mossandink
9 out of 10
I had to be forty-six to like Dorothea, and I'm not proud of it.
Middlemarch@mossandink15 Oct 2025
The Sound and the Fury reviewed by @theodore_p
7 out of 10
I gave up twice before I got past Benjy. The third attempt, with the Norton and its chronology beside me, worked; the fourth section is the reason to persist, and the appendix Faulkner added in 1946 should not be read first.
The Sound and the Fury@theodore_p10 Oct 2025
Devotions reviewed by @mossandink
9 out of 10
Not a soft poet.
Devotions@mossandink9 Oct 2025
Rebecca reviewed by @bleakhouse_bex
9 out of 10
Mrs Danvers!! A whole novel, and the two best characters in it are the housekeeper and a dead woman who never appears once. The narrator hasn't got a name and it took me half the book to notice.
Rebecca@bleakhouse_bex5 Oct 2025
The Secret Garden reviewed by @margaretreads
7 out of 10
Superb in the middle, indefensible at the start
The Secret Garden@margaretreads2 Oct 2025
The Year of Magical Thinking reviewed by @an_ordinary_tuesday
10 out of 10
Grief as an actual room you are locked inside. She keeps his shoes because he will need them. I put the book down at the shoes and went and stood in the garden for a while.
The Year of Magical Thinking@an_ordinary_tuesday29 Sept 2025
The Prince reviewed by @theodore_p
8 out of 10
Shorter and stranger than its reputation
The Prince@theodore_p26 Sept 2025
2 readers agree with this review
Atomic Habits reviewed by @ivor_stack
8 out of 10
Ordinary advice, unusually well arranged; the two-minute business got me back onto the exercise bike after eleven months of not touching it. I skipped perhaps a third of the anecdotes and didn't lose a thing. The eight is for the system, not the selling.
Atomic Habits@ivor_stack20 Sept 2025
Mistborn reviewed by @rereader
9 out of 10
Third time, first since 2019. I had completely misplaced where the mists come in — I had it in the wrong book entirely. The heist assembling is still the best thing he's done and Kelsier still carries the whole first half.
Mistborn@rereader18 Sept 2025
A Wizard of Earthsea reviewed by @rereader
9 out of 10
Third go. The boat bit is shorter than I thought.
A Wizard of Earthsea@rereader14 Sept 2025
Sapiens reviewed by @ivor_stack
7 out of 10
Two thirds of a serious book, then a man talking.
Sapiens@ivor_stack12 Sept 2025
Oathbringer reviewed by @hollowknightfan99
9 out of 10
book three!! the one Priyesh calls bloated. is it bloated? yes. on purpose though, which is a completely different thing. the flashbacks are the best writing in the series. read the last stretch in one sitting and then had to phone somebody.
Oathbringer@hollowknightfan9911 Sept 2025
Kindred reviewed by @w_okonkwo
9 out of 10
Gave it to my nephew when he told me history was boring. He came back two days later, furious.
Kindred@w_okonkwo11 Sept 2025
The Overstory reviewed by @mossandink
6 out of 10
Enormous, and it will not once let you look at a tree without telling you how to feel.
The Overstory@mossandink8 Sept 2025
1 reader agrees with this review

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Member reviews

Meditations reviewed by @annotatedannie

Crime and Punishment reviewed by @an_ordinary_tuesday

The Black Prism reviewed by @grimdarkgareth

Thinking, Fast and Slow reviewed by @ivor_stack

The Shining reviewed by @bleakhouse_bex

Wolf Hall reviewed by @margaretreads

Der Große Gatsby / The Great Gatsby reviewed by @an_ordinary_tuesday

The Secret History reviewed by @bleakhouse_bex

Night Angel reviewed by @bleakhouse_bex

A Farewell to Arms reviewed by @an_ordinary_tuesday

Middlemarch reviewed by @mossandink

The Sound and the Fury reviewed by @theodore_p

Devotions reviewed by @mossandink

Rebecca reviewed by @bleakhouse_bex

The Secret Garden reviewed by @margaretreads

The Year of Magical Thinking reviewed by @an_ordinary_tuesday

The Prince reviewed by @theodore_p

Atomic Habits reviewed by @ivor_stack

Mistborn reviewed by @rereader

A Wizard of Earthsea reviewed by @rereader

Sapiens reviewed by @ivor_stack

Oathbringer reviewed by @hollowknightfan99

Kindred reviewed by @w_okonkwo

The Overstory reviewed by @mossandink