Margaret Iyer

@margaretreadsJoined July 2025

Thirty-one years behind a school library desk, now reading whatever I like without having to justify it on a form. I keep a card index of everything I finish, which my daughter finds hilarious.

Lists: 3
Reviews: 26
Books shelved: 90
Followers: 15
Following: 17

Reviews

Siddhartha reviewed by @margaretreads
8 out of 10
A slim one, and I never have known where to shelve it
Siddhartha
The Haunting of Hill House reviewed by @margaretreads
7 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
Becoming reviewed by @margaretreads
7 out of 10
The South Side chapters are the book. Everything after the second campaign reads as though a committee sat in on it, politely. I've reserved it twice for other people since, which is my only real measure of anything.
Becoming
The Remains of the Day reviewed by @margaretreads
9 out of 10
Have you ever watched somebody rehearse an apology they will never make? That's Stevens, the whole of him. I put it down at the pier and sat for a while. My only quarrel is with Miss Kenton's letters, which I never quite believed.
The Remains of the Day
Persepolis reviewed by @margaretreads
8 out of 10
Shelved at 741.5
Persepolis
12 readers agree with this review
Educated reviewed by @margaretreads
9 out of 10
Priya's mother rang me about this one, which had not happened in thirty-one years. Finished it in three evenings. The scrapyard chapters I could barely stand; the Cambridge ones I understood completely, and that's what unsettled me.
Educated
The Diary of a Young Girl reviewed by @margaretreads
9 out of 10
Not the saint they made of her
The Diary of a Young Girl
12 readers agree with this review
Quiet reviewed by @margaretreads
8 out of 10
155.232, and it never stayed put
Quiet
And Then There Were None reviewed by @margaretreads
8 out of 10
A machine of a plot, and the machine is flawless; the people in it are cardboard and I did not mind
And Then There Were None
The Book Thief reviewed by @margaretreads
8 out of 10
Death narrates. It mostly works.
The Book Thief
The Warmth of Other Suns reviewed by @margaretreads
9 out of 10
The best history book I have read since I stopped having to read them
The Warmth of Other Suns
The Hobbit reviewed by @margaretreads
9 out of 10
Read it aloud or don't bother. The songs are dull on the page and marvellous out of a mouth; Dean sat through eleven lunchtimes of it in 1994 and asked for the map on the last day! Bit saggy round the eagles, mind.
The Hobbit
Matilda reviewed by @margaretreads
9 out of 10
The library bits are nonsense
Matilda
2 readers agree with this review
Small Things Like These reviewed by @margaretreads
9 out of 10
In one sitting, in a hospital chair, waiting on Ruth's scan results. Keegan doesn't waste a syllable. Bill Furlong going up that lane is the only thing I've read this year that made me sit forward in the chair.
Small Things Like These
Pride and Prejudice reviewed by @margaretreads
9 out of 10
Nineteen ninety-one, a paperback with a dreadful pastel cover, and I've still got it. Mr Collins remains the funniest thing in English. The one deduction: Lydia's disposal is hurried; Austen was tired by then, I think.
Pride and Prejudice
To Kill a Mockingbird reviewed by @margaretreads
7 out of 10
Seven, and by the end I'd rather have taught something else
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reviewed by @margaretreads
6 out of 10
Six, and Ruth will be furious
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Man's Search for Meaning reviewed by @margaretreads
10 out of 10
I keep buying copies.
Man's Search for Meaning
Charlotte's Web reviewed by @margaretreads
10 out of 10
Still the one.
Charlotte's Web
Where the Wild Things Are reviewed by @margaretreads
10 out of 10
The best thing on the picture book trolley, and it isn't close
Where the Wild Things Are

Reviews

Siddhartha reviewed by @margaretreads

The Haunting of Hill House reviewed by @margaretreads

Becoming reviewed by @margaretreads

The Remains of the Day reviewed by @margaretreads

Persepolis reviewed by @margaretreads

Educated reviewed by @margaretreads

The Diary of a Young Girl reviewed by @margaretreads

Quiet reviewed by @margaretreads

And Then There Were None reviewed by @margaretreads

The Book Thief reviewed by @margaretreads

The Warmth of Other Suns reviewed by @margaretreads

The Hobbit reviewed by @margaretreads

Matilda reviewed by @margaretreads

Small Things Like These reviewed by @margaretreads

Pride and Prejudice reviewed by @margaretreads

To Kill a Mockingbird reviewed by @margaretreads

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reviewed by @margaretreads

Man's Search for Meaning reviewed by @margaretreads

Charlotte's Web reviewed by @margaretreads

Where the Wild Things Are reviewed by @margaretreads

Reviews

Siddhartha reviewed by @margaretreads

The Haunting of Hill House reviewed by @margaretreads

Becoming reviewed by @margaretreads

The Remains of the Day reviewed by @margaretreads

Persepolis reviewed by @margaretreads

Educated reviewed by @margaretreads

The Diary of a Young Girl reviewed by @margaretreads

Quiet reviewed by @margaretreads

And Then There Were None reviewed by @margaretreads

The Book Thief reviewed by @margaretreads

The Warmth of Other Suns reviewed by @margaretreads

The Hobbit reviewed by @margaretreads

Matilda reviewed by @margaretreads

Small Things Like These reviewed by @margaretreads

Pride and Prejudice reviewed by @margaretreads

To Kill a Mockingbird reviewed by @margaretreads

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reviewed by @margaretreads

Man's Search for Meaning reviewed by @margaretreads

Charlotte's Web reviewed by @margaretreads

Where the Wild Things Are reviewed by @margaretreads