schopflin's reviews
686 reviews

Last Friends by Jane Gardam

Go to review page

funny informative medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Strictly for those of us who have been foll wing the Filth story and hugely enjoyable if you have. Actually I want to go back and reread them. 
The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki

Go to review page

funny reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This is a very good book, and has lots of touch points for me (librarianship, materiality of the book, even media monitoring) but there was something just a bit soft-centred and sprawling about it. It's highly readable though, don't let that put you off. It has echoes of Helen DeWitt's The Last Samurai which is less pageturning and more cynical, and which I preferred. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman

Go to review page

adventurous funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.0

A cracking good read on a day when I needed a distraction from all The Sads. 
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Go to review page

adventurous funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Highly enjoyable, just the right side of cosy. Got me through 24 hours of a sad patch (including sleep). Data protection professionals: be warned, part of its premis is based on something that would have been a data breach in 1998 never mind today. 
All the Devils Are Here by David Seabrook

Go to review page

funny informative medium-paced

3.5

This book is marginally less about Kent than 'The Rings of Saturn' is about East Anglia. I enjoyed it for the most part but he is no Sebald. He writes like Iain Sinclair, making obscure references of the 'If You Know You Know' kind. But whereas Sinclair leaves them unexplained, Seabrook breaks them as the punchline. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
The American Senator by Anthony Trollope

Go to review page

funny informative reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I wasn't sure how much I would like a book where so much of the content was given to discussing fox hunting and English manners, as those haven't been my favourite bits of other Trollopes. But I really enjoyed them this time - there's something wonderful in how silly he makes hunting sound despite his own love of it. And other aspects of this book were wonderful - Arabella Trefoil is a great character and characterisation of how few options were open to women of her class and dreadful parenting. I think the early part of Mary Masters' romance was undercharacterised but it was very sweet later. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Quiet Dell by Jayne Anne Phillips

Go to review page

challenging dark sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This is a many-layered book: a mix of fact, historical fiction and mystical fantasy. I found it fairly slow to begin with but it makes sense if you persevere. I am not thoroughly convinced by so many things being tied up in a bow by the end. In a way I think it detracts from the more powerful message
that older women can be preyed upon and simply disappear
. However, I must give the book credit for its ambition and the fact that once past the middle, I wanted to read to the end. 
Brother of the More Famous Jack: rejacketed by Barbara Trapido

Go to review page

funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This is an absolutely lovely book - I enjoyed it so much! I have a slight issue with it in that the family portrayed at the centre are the quintessence of 60s and 70s middle class lefties who made up the tiny British cultural establishment in those years. The character of Jake is like a very benign Jonathan Miller. But that's a problem for me, and needn't be one for anyone else. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

Go to review page

challenging emotional funny inspiring sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

There's a lot of fun to be had in this novel, and a lot of human observation. But it was also challenging and informative for a straight cis woman like myself. Highly recommended. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married by Marian Keyes

Go to review page

funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Last year I read 'Grown Ups' and stayed up until 2am unable to put it down. This isn't as complex and mature as that but it's still insightful as well as entertaining. The 1990s setting makes it a period piece and sparked lots of memories of that period in my life, when I was doing similar kinds of things to the characters here. There are things I don't think Keyes would write now - some cartoonish fat-shaming for example - but god knows what I was like at the time. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings