I first began writing book reviews after purchasing online a badly edited book which I deemed it my duty to warn others about. My initial efforts were focused on advising potential purchasers on what to expect BEFORE they read the book, but I soon tired of this and began to think of producing criticism for its own sake: something for people to read AFTER they had finished the book.

I liked the idea of dissecting the structure of a story and discussing it's shortcomings and brilliancies and so for this reason I offer this warning right here:

BEWARE - FREQUENT PLOT SPOILERS IN THESE REVIEWS

I thought of reviewing every book I read for a while, but I quickly realised that most of them would become irrelevant in a few years and my work would be pointless. For this reason I have made a deliberate effort to criticise works that are famous, and likely to remain so for many years. Within this group are the great enduring classics, whether written in English or translated into it, such as Joyce, Scott, Dickens, Tolstoy, Proust, Stendahl etc. I intend to get around to reviewing at least one work of each of the great masters at some point. Also within this group are works of lesser merit that had obtained considerable fame at the time.

I also feel duty bound to review the books that are my personal long-time favourites, whether they are highly regarded or not. Such writers include Vance, Snicket, Pratchett and Lindsay.

In addition there are miscellaneous reviews that I have included, just because I felt like reviewing them!

Enjoy!