Author Archives: LH Johnson

Rescue in Ravensdale by Esme Cartmell My rating: 4 of 5 stars Oh this was interesting. I picked this up from one of my local bookshops with a healthy section in vintage children’s fiction. I’ve found some interesting titles there before and this, with the local – ish, connections caught my eye. I didn’t knowContinue reading “Rescue In Ravensdale by Esmé Cartmell”

Danger at Dead Man’s Pass by M.G. Leonard My rating: 5 of 5 stars I was just looking back at my prior reviews of this series and every single one has five stars. And so it is with Danger At Dead Man’s Pass that takes the series to somewhere spooky and spectral and (when theContinue reading “Danger at Dead Man’s Pass by M.G. Leonard and Sam Sedgman”

The Yearbook by Holly Bourne My rating: 5 of 5 stars I have such time for what Holly Bourne does. I like how smart and fearless and honest her writing is. I really like how she’s unafraid of giving people complex endings. Life isn’t neat. Things don’t cleanly web together. We knot, we fray, weContinue reading “The Yearbook by Holly Bourne”

Night of the Red Horse by Patricia Leitch My rating: 5 of 5 stars There’s a point in the Jinny books where they step up into a whole new gear, and I rather suspect that it’s here. The Night Of The Red Horse picks up the themes that have been within the series and flipsContinue reading “Night of the Red Horse by Patricia Leitch”

The Last Word and Other Stories by Graham Greene My rating: 4 of 5 stars I think I’m in love with Graham Greene now and I’m not sure how to feel about that. In many senses, I’d written him off as somebody who wrote about things that I wasn’t interested in. A sweeping statement IContinue reading “The Last Word and Other Stories by Graham Greene”

The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota My rating: 3 of 5 stars It was only when I finished The Year Of The Runaways that I managed to figure out what wasn’t working for me. There’s a lot here that does; it was nominated for the Booker in 2015 and rightly so, it’s aContinue reading “The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota”

The Cage by Alberts Bels My rating: 4 of 5 stars My journey into Latvian literature continues, thanks to my friends at Latvian Literature who hooked me up with a review copy of The Cage by Alberts Bels. As problematic as it is to classify a nations output on the very few titles I’ve readContinue reading “The Cage by Alberts Bels”

The Complete Shorter Fiction of Virginia Woolf by Virginia Woolf My rating: 5 of 5 stars I am circling around the work of Virginia Woolf, dipping in my toe every now and and then and trying to figure out what this author is for me and what her work can be. I struggled a lotContinue reading “The Complete Shorter Fiction of Virginia Woolf edited by Susan Dick”

Fracture: A Novel by Andrés Neuman My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’ve been making a deliberate push for a while to read more translated fiction, a reaction, I suppose, to the world we find ourselves within at the moment and the way that even the bottom of the road seems a little unknowable andContinue reading “Fracture by Andrés Neuman”

Pennington: A Trilogy by K.M. Peyton My rating: 5 of 5 stars I bought this primarily because of the hideous cover, dazzled as I was by this rendering of Patrick Pennington in a way I had never quite imagined him before. And for a long while it stayed unread and at the bottom of myContinue reading “Pennington by KM Peyton”

Seven Men of Gascony by R.F. Delderfield My rating: 4 of 5 stars (And what do we do in a a pandemic, but turn to the stalwart classics of the bookshelf?) I do not remember the first time I read Seven Men of Gascony but I know that it was a long time ago. ItContinue reading “Seven Men of Gascony by R. F. Delderfield”

The Other Americans by Laila Lalami My rating: 4 of 5 stars A lyrical exploration of tragedy, The Other Americans is an incredibly poised and eloquent novel. One night Driss Guerraoui crosses the road and is killed by a speeding car; the novel follows what happens next, spiralling through a series of chapters told byContinue reading “The Other Americans by Laila Lalami”

Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr My rating: 5 of 5 stars There are some books you know – or at the very least, think that you know – before you get anywhere near to reading them. Bridge to Terabithia is one for me, and Marianne Dreams is – was – another. I thought I knewContinue reading “Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr”

Orion Lost by Alastair Chisholm My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’m always interested when a book does something differently, and this really does. Orion Lost is a big, meaty science-fiction story set aboard a space-ship where everything suddenly goes wrong. And the only people who can put things right are the kids – thirteenContinue reading “Orion Lost by Alastair Chisholm”

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo My rating: 5 of 5 stars (The dizzying joy of finding a copy of this in the charity bookstore, when you’re still the 449302nd reservation on the library copy…) Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo is a novel of such utter articulacy that I scarce know how to handleContinue reading “Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo”

The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman My rating: 1 of 5 stars Here’s the thing: I admire what Pullman can do; I admire the way he can articulate things; I admire the worlds he has creates with all of their wild wonder and glory; but I do not admire this book. It is overlong, overwroughtContinue reading “The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman”

The Highland Falcon Thief by M.G. Leonard and Sam Sedgman My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is such a lot of fun. I went into The Highland Falcon Thief thinking well, I am ancient and absolutely have no interest whatsoever in trains, and I came out and realised that I loved it. There isContinue reading “The Highland Falcon Thief by MG Leonard and Sam Sedgman”

Animal Farm: The Graphic Novel by Odyr My rating: 5 of 5 stars There’s a part of me that can never quite cope with Animal Farm, having read it as a pony-loving child and immediately bonding with Boxer. For those of you who know the story, you’ll know now why I can’t quite cope withContinue reading “Animal Farm : The Graphic Novel by Odyr”

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’d waited a while to read An American Marriage, forced by a long reservation queue (always a good sign), and I was not disappointed. It’s a novel that I went into a little blind, conscious of the noise about it and the factContinue reading “An American Marriage by Tayari Jones”

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood My rating: 3 of 5 stars I have had complicated feelings about The Testaments ever since it was announced, ever since it was nominated for the Booker, ever since it shared the prize with Girl, Woman, Other, ever since all of this and more. It is not that I dislikedContinue reading “The Testaments by Margaret Atwood”

In the Grip of Winter by Colin Dann My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’ve been picking my way through the Farthing Wood series, driven by an urge to revisit these emotionally scarring books of my childhood. Though somebody like Richard Adams will always have the crown of accidentally emotionally traumatising children (Plague Dogs! GeneralContinue reading “In The Grip Of Winter by Colin Dann”

It’s a no-money day by Kate Milner My rating: 5 of 5 stars It’s difficult to tell you how important this gentle, soft book is and so I hope you will forgive me if I jump straight to the punchline: It’s A No-Money Day by Kate Milner should be on your shelves. And if youContinue reading “It’s a No-Money Day by Kate Milner”

Why You Should Read Children’s Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise by Katherine Rundell My rating: 3 of 5 stars My stance is clear, I think, and has been so for a while: children’s literature is important and to assign a value judgement upon it, indeed to assign a value judgement uponContinue reading “Why You Should Read Children’s Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise by Katherine Rundell”

Sensible Footwear: A Girl’s Guide by Kate Charlesworth My rating: 5 of 5 stars It’s difficult to talk about Sensible Footwear by Kate Charlesworth without telling you what an utterly wonderful book it is. It is simply wonderful, this powerful, personal and political story of LGBTQI+ history within the United Kingdom from the 1950s toContinue reading “Sensible Footwear : a girl’s guide by Kate Charlesworth”

Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann My rating: 4 of 5 stars The fact that it’s a book consisting of an internal monologue of a housewife, the fact that it’s juxtaposed against the story of a lioness in the wild, the fact that ‘the fact that’ reappears so much in the first few pages that youContinue reading “Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellman”

Plus+ by Bethany Rutter My rating: 5 of 5 stars Every now and then I am reminded of an interview I read with Beth Ditto, back in the dawn of time when newspapers were still newspapers and still made of paper and print. The author wondered, in the way that was clearly his wont, atContinue reading “Plus+ : Style Inspiration for Everyone, edited by Bethany Rutter”

We Are All Greta by Valentina Giannella My rating: 3 of 5 stars We Are All Greta is interesting to me, as it touches on something incredibly potent and present within children’s books and yet a something that is, at present, somewhat under-explored. Some of this under-exploration can be perhaps ascribed to the nature ofContinue reading “We are all Greta : Be Inspired to Save the World by Valentina Giannella, illustrated by Maneula Marazzi”