Book Reviews



Share my passion for reading - read my book reviews!


My reading matter is an eclectic mix, but I do have a particular passion for all things watery. The following links will help you find my archive of book reviews but be warned, one man's meat is another man's poison.


I hope that my reviews will inspire you to read some of the gems featured - and to avoid the clunkers...


2014 Book Reviews
(Those without links represent my current reading pile)

1000 Years of Annoying the French by Stephen Clarke (unfinished)
Barrow's Boys by Fergus Fleming
Bedsit Disco Queen by Tracey Thorne
The Chessmen by Peter May
The Girl who fell from the Sky by Simon Mawer
The Lewis Man by Peter May
Never Coming Back by Tim Weaver
The Sea Sisters by Lucy Clarke
Small Boat Down the Years by Roger Pilkington (1987)
Small Boat in the Midi by Roger Pilkington (1989)
Small Boat on the Moselle  by Roger Pilkington (1968)
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

2013 Book Reviews:

1000 Miles in a Rob Roy Canoe by John MacGregor (1866)
A Thousand Pardons by Jonathan Dee
The Aylsham Navigation by The Aylsham Local History Society
Black Country Canals by Paul Collins
The Bridgewater Department by the Manchester Ship Canal Company
Canals and Inland Waterways by the Frith Collection (1996)
Canal Recollections by Julian Holland (1998)
Canals and Inland Waterways by the Frith Collection (1996)
Canals in Camera by John Gagg (1970)
Crescent Dawn by Clive Cussler
The Fear Index by Robert Harris
Journeys of the Swan by John Liley (1971)
London's Lost Route to the Sea by P A L Vine (1973)
Lost Canals of England and Wales by Ronald Russell
Mersey and Irwell Navigation by Alfred Hayman (1981)
Narrowboat by LTC Rolt
Race Against Time by David Boulton
Sail and Storm - the Aylsham Navigation by the Aylsham Local History Society
Slow Boat through Pennine Waters by Frederic Doerflinger (1971)
Small Boat through France by Roger Pilkington (1962)
Small Boat on the Meuse by Roger Pilkington (1967)
Small Boat on the Thames by Roger Pilkington (1966)
Small Boat through Southern France by Roger Pilkington (1965)
Small Boat to Luxembourg by Roger Pilkington (1967)
Snow Drops by A D Miller
Tales from the Old Inland Waterways by Euan Corrie (1998)
Victorian and Edwarding Boating by Neil Wigglesworth
Water under the Bridge by Julian Holland


2012 Book Reviews:

A Short History of England by Simon Jenkins
Adventures of the Hebe by Desmond Stoker (1930)
The Amateur Boatwomen by Eily Gayford 
Before I go to sleep by S J Watson
Birmingham Canal Navigations by the BCN Society (1977)
Britain's Lost Waterways Volume 1 by Michael E Ware (1979)
By Lock and Pound by Vivian Bird (1953)
Canal by Anthony Burton and Derek Pratt (1976)
Canals are my Home by Iris Bryce (1977)
Canals are my Life by Iris Bryce (1982)
Canals are my World by Iris Bryce (1986)
Canals of Birmingham by Richard Dean
A Caravan Afloat by C J Aubertn (1916) 
Claytons of Oldbury by Alan Faulkner (1978)
The Country Canal by Ronald Russell (1991)
Cruising on the Staffs and Worcs Canal  booklet No4 - BW (1963)
Flower of Gloster by E Temple Thurston (1911)
The Hundred Year Old man Who Climbed Out of a Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
Idle Women  by Susan Wolfitt (1973)
The Lost Rivers of London by Nicholas Barton (1960)
Moby Duck by Donovan Hohn
Moon over Soho by Ben Aranovitch
Pennine Passage by Michael and Peter Fox
Small Boat to Bavaria by Roger Pilkington (1962)
Small Boat through Germany by Roger Pilkington (1963)
Small Boat through Holland by Roger Pilkington (1957)
Small Boat through Sweden by Roger Pilkington (1963)
Small Boat to the Skagerrak by Roger Pilkington (1960)
Thames Waters by Roger Pilkington (1956)
The Selected Works of T S Spivet by Reif Larsen
The unlikely journey of Jack de Crow by Alexander Mackinnon
The Worst Journey in the Midlands by Sam Llewellyn (1983)
Too Many Boats by Robert Wilson (1980)
Towpath Tale by Arthur Truby (1978)
Voyage onto England by John Seymour (1966)
Voyages of Princess Matilda - by Shane Spall
Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch


2011 Book Reviews:
Archangel by Robert Harris
The Associate by John Grisham
At Risk by Patricia Cornwell
Birmingham Canal Navigations - A Cruising and Walking Guide by Alan Codling
The Black House by Peter May
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Bread upon the Waters by David Blagrove
British Canals by Charles Hadfield (1970)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Hadden
Dragon by Clive Cussler
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
Hold on a Minute by Tim Wilkinson (late 1940's)
Inca Gold by Clive Cussler
Journal of a Voyage by C & N Abbot
Journey Without End by David Bolton (1987)
Kiwi Afloat by Doris Coppell (1981)
The Last Voyage of the Lucette by Dougal Robertson (1973)
Mary called Magdelene by Margaret George
Pennine Dreams by Keith Gobson
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Quiet Waters By by David Blagrove
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
Rivers of London by Ben Aranovitch
Room by Emma Donoghue
The Sankey Navigation by T C Barker (1948)
Saul Adam by John Poole (1973)
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (2005)
The Shakespeare Curse by J L Carrell
Shropshire Canals - collected articled by Shropshire Libraries (1980)
Theodore Boone by John Grisham
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
Too Narrow to Swing a Cat by Steve Haywood (2011)
Wainwright a Biography by Hunter Davies
When God was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman


2010 Book Reviews
Barging into Bergundy by Gerard Morgan Grenville
The Broker by John Grisham
Dark Fire by C J Sansom 
Dissolution by C J Dansom
The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Steig Larsson
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
The Girl who Played with Fire by Steig Larsson
Godfrey Edition OS Maps - Alan Godfrey
Great Canals by T C Bridges (1936)
In Search of the Lost Canals of the Black Country by Eric Richardson (1996)
Kiwi Afloat by Doris Coppell (1970's)
Lock Keepers Daughter - Pat Warner (1986)
Lustrum by Robert Harris
Neon Rain by Jamie Lee Burke
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
Shakespeare's Avon by Charles Showell (1900)
The Seven Canals of Derbyshire by Edward Garner
Small Boat through France by Roger Pilkington (1962)
The Other 60 Miles by Richard Chester-Brown
This is Birmingham by Jan Bowman
Waterways Journal  Edition1 - 1999
Waterways Past and Present by Derek Pratt


2009 Book Reviews
Barging into France by Gerard Morgan Grenville
Barging into Southern France by Gerard Morgan Grenville
Birmingham Canal Navigations - by Ray Shill
Canal Mania by Anthony Burton
Fred (Dibnah) by David Hall
Half Safe Across the Atlantic by Ben Harlin (1950's)
Huddersfield Narrow Canal - a towpath guide by Bob Gough
Invictus - Playing the Enemy by John Carlin
Mutiny on the Bounty by John Boyne
Narrowboat Dreams by Steve Haywood
One Man and a Narrowboat - Steve Haywood


2008 Book Reviews
Birmingham's Canalside Industries by Ray Shill
A Boy off the Bank by Geoffley Lewis
Canals of England by Robert Riechenfield
Narow Dog to Carcassonne by Terry Darlington
Narrow Dog to Indian River by Terry Darlington
Paint Roses and Castles by Ann Young
Signwritten Art by Tony Lewery