Michael J. Ritchie's Blog, page 23

“Our Life In A Day” by Jamie Fewery (2018)

“It wasn’t supposed to be a special evening.”

I’m not particularly experienced when it comes to relationships, especially long-term ones, so I admire anyone who can make a happy partnership last. It’s been a while since I dived into a typical romance novel, where the main focus is just on the central couple, but here we are. An interesting time-jumpy kind of novel where everything is out of order.

Tom and Esme have been together for ten years, and no one can say it’s been an easy ride to get to ...

“Dictionary Stories” by Jez Burrows (2018)

“Open this book to a random page and you could find yourself reading a noir thriller, a fantasy epic, a sci-fi romance, a family melodrama, a locker-room pep talk, a eulogy, a recipe, or a drawing-room murder mystery.”

It’s been a shamefully long time since I actually looked at a proper paper dictionary. In fact, the last one I spent any time looking at was a facsimile edition of Dr Johnson’s original one. However, those of you who look more often may recall that there is often a short sentence ...

“The Constant Rabbit” by Jasper Fforde (2020)

“Still on the Westerns, Baroness Thatcher?”

The world stops when a new Jasper Fforde book comes out – or at least it should. Why he isn’t talking about with the regularity and reverence of the likes of Hilary Mantel, Ian McEwan and Margaret Atwood is beyond me. Anyway, while it’s unfortunately not a continuation of a previous book, a new standalone is nevertheless nothing to sniff at. Especially when he’s gone hard for small-minded England.

In 1965, an Anthropomorphising Event occured in Britain...

“The History Of Love” by Nicole Krauss (2005)

“When they write my obituary.”

When all is said, done and written, no matter how hard I try not to, I keep coming back to books about two things – novelists and loneliness. Here we are again.

In three interlocking stories that leap between time and space, we follow the journey of a novel called The History of Love. It was written by Leo Gursky as a young man after he fell in love with a girl called Alma Mereminski. It was published by Leo’s friend Zvi Litvinoff, under his own name, thus scrubbin...

“The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August” by Claire North (2014)

“The second cataclysm began in my eleventh life, in 1996.”

Reincarnation has been dancing around the collective minds of humanity for millennia. In some forms, we get put into a new body and can live out a whole new life. In others, we simply go back to the beginning and start our same life again, but perhaps with the memories of our last one still in tact, allowing us to have another go. Time loops are curious things, perhaps the most famous one in popular culture now being Groundhog Day. Howev...

“Murder On The Orient Express” by Agatha Christie (1934)

“It was five o’clock on a winter’s morning in Syria.”

There are certain books that are truly iconic in their genre. The Lord of the Rings stands out above all others in fantasy. Misery lords it over the other thrillers. Dune sails high above the rest of science fiction. When it comes to murder mysteries, however, there are few titles better known than Murder on the Orient Express.

The world famous Orient Express is regarded as one of the most luxurious trains in the world. Taking passengers of a...

“A Wizard Of Earthsea” by Ursula K. Le Guin (1968)

“The island of Gont, a single mountain that lifts its peak a mile above the storm-racked Northeast Sea, is a land famous for wizards.”

Since April, I’ve been re-reading a chapter of Harry Potter every morning as an anxiety-reducing measure. I know the author is becoming increasingly problematic, but whatever the case is there, I, like many, still find the books very comforting. However, upon several recommendations, I have this week been drawn to another wizarding school, one found in a strange ...

“Turning For Home” by Barney Norris (2018)

“In the first young years of the new century, a team of researchers affiliated with Boston College attempted to collate an oral history of the Troubles, recording the recollections of combatants on both sides.”

I last read Barney Norris in 2017 and hugely admired his prose from the off, but not without a little jealousy about how good it is. I finally made my way back to him with Turning For Home to find that, if anything, he’s somehow got better.

Every year, Robert hosts a birthday party for hi...

“Unnatural Causes” by Dr Richard Shepherd (2018)

“Clouds ahead.”

Death comes to us all. It is the great equaliser. Cultures all deal with death in different ways, but generally the deceased are treated with absolute respect. In many cases, this also means ensuring that if the death wasn’t natural, we do our best to deliver justice. That is where the world of forensic pathology comes into play, and Dr Richard Shepherd is one of the best.

In this staggering memoir, Shepherd explores his career at the forefront of the morgue, with over 23,000 aut...

“The Long Mars” by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter (2014)

“The High Meggers: Remote worlds, most still unpopulated, even in the year 2045, thirty years after Step Day.”

I think we all are dreaming right now of stumbling off into a world that isn’t this one. On that theme, here is a book that dials the dream up to eleven. It is the middle of a series, so beware spoilers ahead if you’ve not read The Long Earth and The Long War. If you don’t care, press on!

The Datum Earth is in chaos. After the Yellowstone supervolcano erupted in 2040, decimating everyth...