It’s the near future and society is divided into those who are necessary and needed, and those who are dispensable. Any woman over the age of 50 – or any man over the age of 60 – who is single and childless, and who doesn’t work in certain industries that are considered essential to the economy, is [...]
All posts in category Books
The Unit – Ninni Holmqvist
Posted by davidbarb on February 17, 2012
http://thelockedroom.com/2012/02/17/the-unit-ninni-holmqvist/
Jamrach’s Menagerie – Carol Birch
“I was born twice. First in a wooden room that jutted out over the black water of the Thames, and then again eight years later in the Highway, when the tiger took me in his mouth and everything truly began.“ It’s eighteenth century London and eight-year-old Jaffy Brown is roaming the streets of the East [...]
Posted by davidbarb on February 15, 2012
http://thelockedroom.com/2012/02/15/jamrachs-menagerie-carol-birch-2/
The Sisters Brothers – Patrick deWitt
Patrick deWitt’s The Sisters Brothers is an odd, quirky and compelling novel. Set in the American west in 1851, the brothers Eli and Charlie Sisters are hired guns working for a shadowy figure known as Commodore. They are given instructions to kill a gold prospector called Herman Kermit Warm, and the novel tells the story [...]
Posted by davidbarb on November 7, 2011
http://thelockedroom.com/2011/11/07/the-sisters-brothers-patrick-dewitt/
We Need To Talk About Kevin – Lionel Shriver
I didn’t know much about Lionel Shriver’s critically acclaimed 2003 novel until recently. I’d heard of it, knew that it had won the Orange Prize for Fiction several years ago, and that it was a much-loved book for many people, but beyond that I didn’t even know the detail of what it was about. Now [...]
Posted by davidbarb on October 31, 2011
http://thelockedroom.com/2011/10/31/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin-lionel-shriver/
Born Free – Laura Hird
I’ve read a lot of very good novels this year but one of the absolute very best is Born Free by Laura Hird. Published in 1999, and shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the Whitbread First Novel Award, Hird’s novel is a mesmerizing portrait of a family in meltdown. It’s set in Edinburgh and tells [...]
Posted by davidbarb on July 23, 2011
http://thelockedroom.com/2011/07/23/born-free-laura-hird/
A Kiss Before Dying – Ira Levin
Browsing through the Amazon kindle summer sale, I chanced upon this 1953 novel by Ira Levin. I’d never read anything by him before, but it looked like the sort of novel that I would enjoy, and at only 99p I thought I’d give it a go. Wow! Really – wow! This book is a classic, [...]
Posted by davidbarb on July 11, 2011
http://thelockedroom.com/2011/07/11/a-kiss-before-dying-ira-levin/
Whatever You Love – Louise Doughty
In Whatever You Love, Louise Doughty tells the story of what must be every parent’s worst nightmare - the death of a child. It’s a lyrical and painful book, but the subject matter is sensitively, confidently handled, and ultimately it is a compelling and gripping novel. The novel opens with the death of nine-year-old Betty. [...]
Posted by davidbarb on July 9, 2011
http://thelockedroom.com/2011/07/09/whatever-you-love-louise-doughty/
On Owning a Kindle…
I’ve now had my kindle for a few months, and I’ve mostly been very happy with it. I’d always been suspicious of e-readers, and instinctively balked at the thought of reading a book on one – wouldn’t I miss the sensory, tactile, pleasure of holding a book in my hands? The touch, smell, heft and [...]
Posted by davidbarb on May 25, 2011
http://thelockedroom.com/2011/05/25/on-owning-a-kindle/
Room – Emma Donoghue
It is Jack’s fifth birthday and like any child he is excited about it. His Special Day! Cake! Presents! And a year older; ‘Mr. Five’, his mother calls him, which thrills him! But Jack is no ordinary child, and the life he lives is far from ordinary. The clues are there in the first few [...]
Posted by davidbarb on May 22, 2011
http://thelockedroom.com/2011/05/22/room-emma-donoghue/
The Girl who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest – Stieg Larsson
Larsson’s sprawling and electrifying Millennium series comes to, sadly, its premature conclusion with this third and final book of the trilogy. Having written about the first two books on here, I feel that my blog would be bloody incomplete if I didn’t also mention the third. In a nutshell: I am a huge fan and [...]
Posted by davidbarb on August 4, 2010
http://thelockedroom.com/2010/08/04/the-girl-who-kicked-the-hornets-nest-stieg-larsson/
