Review Policy

I like to choose what I read and most of the reviews on this site are of books I have obtained for myself by either purchasing or borrowing.  This is an independent site and I have never been paid to write a review nor have I ever written a review as a favour to a friend or other contact.

I do accept a number of review copies and if  you would like me to review a book first browse my site for a few minutes and get an idea of whether their book would be of interest to me.

Broadly, I like to read books in the following categories:

- literary fiction
- history of the 20th century,
- literary biography
- serious travel writing.

I am particularly interested in contemporary European fiction in translation to English.  And I like to support that brave band of independent publishers who work so bravely to publish the books they believe in.  I rarely accept self-published books for review mainly because there are just too many of them about for me to have the time to sort out the good from the bad.

I definitely do not want to read about vampires, zombies, ghosts, mysticism, astrology, ancient wisdom, conspiracy theories, secret societies that govern the earth etc, etc.

I  rarely write reviews of books I don’t like, mainly because life is too short to even finish reading them.  So, if I review your book, the chances are you’ll be pleased with the result.  I will copy a shorter version of the review to Amazon UK where  my reviews appear with a little badge saying Amazon TOP 50 REVIEWER.

Please remember to tell me if the review is embargoed until a particular date. Otherwise I will publish the review as soon as I have read the book.

I do not collect books but neither do I return them to the publisher. Please do not send me a book if you want it back.  I dispose of the vast majority of books sent to me by taking them to an Oxfam charity shop a few months after I receive them.