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.
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