Vanessa Young

It's Jane Austen

Reviewed: 30-04-2020

When you buy an audiobook of a Jane Austen novel, you know what you are getting so it all comes down to the reader as to how great your enjoyment is going to be. Juliet Stevenson is the best reader of Jane Austen I have heard. The language can sound stilted or arch with other readers but Juliet sounds very natural.

Another gem from Sarah

Reviewed: 28-03-2020

I really enjoy Sarah, it is not merely that her voice has a unique sound; she is thought provoking, amusing and has a point of view like no other writer of history.

A cracking read

Reviewed: 14-02-2020

This is an extremely clever political thriller; the premise of which was both awful and all too believable at the same time. It was well read and moved along at such a pace that there was never a second where it flagged. I have only ever given one other of the over 200 books I have had on Audible five stars, but Bruny is well worth a five star review.

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Chimamanda is a beautiful writer

Reviewed: 01-02-2020

I purchased Americanah because it was our book club selection and, I am ashamed to say, I had not heard of the author before. This is an important book, full of very large ideas, the writing is flawless and poetic. There is one minor plot point that jarred, but it was not enough to spoil the overall impact of the book which I will not easily forget and I will be reading other works by this author.

Another good mystery from Jill Paton Walsh

Reviewed: 10-12-2019

This is the third in a series of four and I really enjoy the lead character Imogen Quy, the college nurse/detective, because the stories remind me of the "Golden Age" detective writers like Christie, Sayers and Marsh. These are gentle mysteries with a slow burning fuse, so persist through the first chapters of this one which has a really clever twist near the end. Beautifully read by Suzannah Hampton.

Quite amusing in parts.

Reviewed: 21-11-2019

This book only suffers from being a little out date because so much has happened since Siege was published. It is very revealing and unexpectedly laugh out loud in parts. it is well read and moves along at a cracking pace.

Book of the year for 2019 for me.

Reviewed: 03-11-2019

I bought this book after hearing the author interviewed on local radio and it did not disappoint. There seems to be a plethora of people coming out with stories of parents who betrayed them and/or who lived double lives. My own father did this and I always wanted to know more about his layers of deceit but after hearing Axton's story I have let go of that idea. It is particularly fitting that Axton managed to turn a catastrophic upbringing into a useful field of study. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Book is better than the movie

Reviewed: 27-10-2019

I did not enjoy the movie, but the book is far better and offers an interesting perspective (whether you agree with it, or not) on why political reporting changed, why Hart was a victim of that change and how politics has adjusted.
The book stops at the Obama campaign and , while I did not agree with everything the author said, I would have been interested to hear his views on the Trump campaign.

Rushed

Reviewed: 03-10-2019

I would have given this a better rating if I had not previously heard David Marr's Quarterly Essay on the same topic. He has taken his Essay and added a little to it and presented it as a book. A most disappointing offering from an author I admire.

Not an enjoyable listen.

Reviewed: 30-09-2019

I am a big fan of Georgette Heyer and think the author may have been attempting a more modern, slightly more explicit, dare I say sexier, take on the Regency Romance. Heyer did not need to be adopt this approach towards sex or the heroine's 'monthly cycles' because she kept the story going with plenty of action and the characters were fully fleshed out. In The Devil You Know, the main characters seemed petulant and immature where Heyer's are usually drawn with humour and are brave, witty and full of heart. This book began well and ended with a bit of action, but the middle was a drag. There were two minor characters in the book, whose story might have been better expanded upon; the hero's best friend and Lucy, who were, potentially, interesting people. It is a shame, because I think there is a big market for well written Regency Romance.