Reviews

Member reviews

• Children of Time reviewed by @sam

  8/ 108 out of 10

  Spiders. Then more spiders. Weirdly moved. Eight.

  Children of Time · @sam · 7 Aug 2026

• The Murder of Roger Ackroyd reviewed by @verity_lane

  10/ 1010 out of 10

  I would rather lose a finger than tell you one single thing about this. Read it before somebody wrecks it for you, and somebody will, it's a century old and people are careless. Top of my year and it's only May.

  The Murder of Roger Ackroyd · @verity_lane · 7 Aug 2026

• The Name of the Wind reviewed by @tinyapartmentbigtbr

  6/ 106 out of 10

  Better in the university bits.

  The Name of the Wind · @tinyapartmentbigtbr · 6 Aug 2026

• The Haunting of Hill House reviewed by @margaretreads

  7/ 107 out of 10

  That opening paragraph! Nothing else in it reaches that pitch again, and I say so as somebody who lent it out constantly. Eleanor is superb; the house is a bit of a set. I'd take Jackson's short stories over it, honestly.

  The Haunting of Hill House · @margaretreads · 6 Aug 2026

• The Second Sex reviewed by @annotatedannie

  9/ 109 out of 10

  Volume Two is the one. Volume One I read with a pencil and a great deal of pink.

  The Second Sex · @annotatedannie · 6 Aug 2026

  22 readers agree with this review

• The Colour of Magic reviewed by @rereader

  6/ 106 out of 10

  Second read. Should have left it alone.

  The Colour of Magic · @rereader · 6 Aug 2026

  44 readers agree with this review

• Gone Girl reviewed by @libbyoverdrive

  7/ 107 out of 10

  Borrowed it on a Friday, done by Sunday, and then spent the whole of Monday arguing with a colleague about whether you're supposed to like anyone in it. Seven. Great queue turnover on this one, three days.

  Gone Girl · @libbyoverdrive · 6 Aug 2026

• The Night Circus reviewed by @tinyapartmentbigtbr

  6/ 106 out of 10

  All icing, no cake. I ate it anyway.

  The Night Circus · @tinyapartmentbigtbr · 5 Aug 2026

  22 readers agree with this review

• The Shadow of the Wind reviewed by @pageandvine

  8/ 108 out of 10

  Barcelona, rain, a bookshop, a cemetery of forgotten books — it is exactly as delicious as that sounds and about a chapter too pleased with itself. Winter, heating right up, hot chocolate, which is the correct way to take it.

  The Shadow of the Wind · @pageandvine · 5 Aug 2026

• My Brilliant Friend reviewed by @bookclubdropout

  8/ 108 out of 10

  This one split us clean down the middle.

  My Brilliant Friend · @bookclubdropout · 4 Aug 2026

  22 readers agree with this review

• Walden reviewed by @theodore_p

  4/ 104 out of 10

  His mother did his laundry. I don't raise that to score a point; I raise it because the book's rhetorical force depends on a self-sufficiency it quietly doesn't have. The prose on ice and on birds is superb. The moralising is insufferable.

  Walden · @theodore_p · 3 Aug 2026

• Behave reviewed by @annotatedannie

  7/ 107 out of 10

  Best when he's one second before the behaviour, worst when he's a million years before it. I abandoned the appendices about forty pages in. Nine green tabs, every one of them on a footnote rather than the main text.

  Behave · @annotatedannie · 2 Aug 2026

• Stoner reviewed by @sam

  8/ 108 out of 10

  Devastating

  Stoner · @sam · 2 Aug 2026

• The Structure of Scientific Revolutions reviewed by @ivor_stack

  8/ 108 out of 10

  I lived through one of these. Permissible stress gave way to limit state design over about a decade, and the older men never converted; they simply retired. He has the mechanism right and nearly everything else vague. Eight.

  The Structure of Scientific Revolutions · @ivor_stack · 1 Aug 2026

• The White Album reviewed by @mx_marginalia

  8/ 108 out of 10

  Somewhere around the migraine essay I stopped taking notes and simply read, which is about the highest compliment I know how to pay another critic.

  The White Album · @mx_marginalia · 1 Aug 2026

• In the Woods reviewed by @commuterfiction

  6/ 106 out of 10

  Rob Ryan investigates the death of a girl in the wood where two of his friends disappeared when he was twelve. He works with Cassie Maddox. One of the two cases is closed by the end of the book.

  In the Woods · @commuterfiction · 31 Jul 2026

• Atomic Habits reviewed by @books_and_bins

  3/ 103 out of 10

  Pish.

  Atomic Habits · @books_and_bins · 31 Jul 2026

• The Overstory reviewed by @dnf_diaries

  8/ 108 out of 10

  Finished, and I don't finish much. The opening section is eight short stories and it's the best thing I read all last year; the novel that grows out of it is baggier and I forgave it. Eight.

  The Overstory · @dnf_diaries · 31 Jul 2026

• Being Mortal reviewed by @nightshiftnurse

  9/ 109 out of 10

  every nurse should read this. every daughter too

  Being Mortal · @nightshiftnurse · 31 Jul 2026

• Midnight in Chernobyl reviewed by @ivor_stack

  9/ 109 out of 10

  The reactor is explained properly, which is more than most manage.

  Midnight in Chernobyl · @ivor_stack · 30 Jul 2026

  22 readers agree with this review

• Oathbringer reviewed by @three_chapters_in

  7/ 107 out of 10

  still on part two

  Oathbringer · @three_chapters_in · 30 Jul 2026

• Station Eleven reviewed by @quietcarriage

  9/ 109 out of 10

  Read a novel about the end of the world on public transport, surrounded by strangers coughing, and I'd do it again! The Travelling Symphony in the snow. Survival is insufficient, yes, fine, put it on a caravan — it worked on me.

  Station Eleven · @quietcarriage · 29 Jul 2026

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone reviewed by @three_chapters_in

  8/ 108 out of 10

  the one book I have definitely, actually finished

  Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone · @three_chapters_in · 28 Jul 2026

• Leaves of Grass reviewed by @saltmarsh

  7/ 107 out of 10

  Too much of him. When he goes quiet he's very good. I keep the grass parts and leave the rest.

  Leaves of Grass · @saltmarsh · 27 Jul 2026