https://authorbuzz.co.uk/groups/book-reviews-by-dogwood-tales-feed/ Activity feed for the group, Book Reviews by Dogwood Tales feed. Mon, 27 Apr 2026 18:13:32 +0100 https://buddypress.org/?v= en-GB 30 hourly 2 58ec8c8728e1072fb744c43b85f7b86e https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2026/03/look-who-it-is-by-alan-carr.html Sat, 28 Mar 2026 19:02:00 +0000 Alan Carr is now well on the way to the rarefied status of a national treasure, but this autobiography goes back to his roots as an awkward teenager and fledgling […]

]]> 0 b107434099b058c83ba6508e23ce801b https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2026/03/cold-comfort-farm-by-stella-gibbons.html Sun, 22 Mar 2026 12:54:00 +0000 Stella Gibbons began her writing career as a journalist in the late 1920s with spells at the Evening Standard and The Lady, reviewing books for the latter and […]

]]> 0 6ceedcbb3997469f69484f5d4932d2fc https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2026/03/spider-man-and-x-men.html Thu, 05 Mar 2026 18:50:00 +0000 I’ve been playing Spider-Man 2 on the Playstation recently so this comic book caught my eye as a free download on Prime Reading. I’m very out of touch with current […]

]]> 0 55f7f78c2f71977caccbafdc50fa7e7f https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2026/03/alice-in-sunderland-by-bryan-talbot.html Sun, 01 Mar 2026 18:48:00 +0000 A reread for this book, after I was inspired to get it down from the shelf after reading Luther Arkwright recently. I first read this way back in 2008 and reviewed […]

]]> 0 1afd877b67c8430695a8beaf44dea01f https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2026/02/heart-of-empire-by-bryan-talbot.html Sun, 15 Feb 2026 10:11:00 +0000 This story picks up twenty or so years after the previous volume. The main protagonist is Victoria, the Princess Royal, daughter of Queen Anne and Luther Arkwright. […]

]]> 0 9d025f06b109dc5dec681465982c693d https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2026/02/designers-dragons-vol-3-by-shannon.html Sun, 08 Feb 2026 17:42:00 +0000  This exhaustive history of the RPG industry covers the fate of the companies that were founded in the 1990s as well as the trends and developments during that […]

]]> 0 a773d8508a7717db5864cdea1dce2410 https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-adventures-of-luther-arkwright.html Tue, 03 Feb 2026 17:35:00 +0000 Graphic novels written and drawn by a single author/artist are perhaps the truest vision of what the form can be. Brian Talbot is certainly one of the best creators […]

]]> 0 6e5aefc18e4066b2fabff5583ddabd2b https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-princess-bride-by-william-goldman.html Sat, 24 Jan 2026 18:03:00 +0000 I wasn’t impressed by the Princess Bride when I first saw clips of it. It looked like a cheap and corny fantasy film, on a par with something like Hawk the Slayer. […]

]]> 0 eaf84621c02ba831bcb51d36f3711444 https://authorbuzz.co.uk/activity/p/17425/ Wed, 07 Jan 2026 07:30:28 +0000 0 0dd6ded702dad1024de676a9949a9bf3 https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2026/01/american-vampire-by-scott-snyder-and.html Sun, 04 Jan 2026 11:42:00 +0000 This one came up in the suggested reading section on my Kindle, so I took a chance on it, mainly for the Stephen King connection. It’s a nice take on the well worn […]

]]> 0 f357520cc55e9595a96e82af4fb7789e https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2025/12/2025-in-books.html Sat, 27 Dec 2025 12:20:00 +0000 01/01/2025 The Great God Pan Arthur Machen02/01/2025 Intellivision Tom Boellstorf07/01/2025 The Man Who Was Thursday GK Chesterton13/01/2025 The Terror Beneath […]

]]> 0 40fcaa01bebc449a9751b8d2bbf08a26 https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2025/12/transition-by-iain-banks.html Sat, 27 Dec 2025 11:15:00 +0000 There’s a tradition with Iain Banks that his sci fi novels are credited using his middle initial as part of his name, whereas his more grounded and literary works […]

]]> 0 c9d530ff121eebfdf24023fbac6d89cb https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2025/12/moominland-midwinter.html Sun, 21 Dec 2025 13:55:00 +0000 An old childhood favourite that I always revisit at this time of year. As someone who struggles with the darkness, this tale of Moomintroll waking up early from his […]

]]> 0 3c348d8743bd193b9068fd9d2c1d3215 https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2025/12/sharpes-storm-by-bernard-cornwell.html Wed, 17 Dec 2025 14:58:00 +0000 The original run of Sharpe novels by Bernard Cornwell, featuring the eponymous hero brought to life by Sean Bean on the telly, ran from the battle of Talavera in […]

]]> 0 f7081297be0f18b0c7fca42f50b41245 https://authorbuzz.co.uk/activity/p/17292/ Fri, 12 Dec 2025 03:46:58 +0000 0 0731be8c0ea3156fb6e0970721382247 https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2025/12/designers-dragons-80s.html Sun, 07 Dec 2025 14:13:00 +0000 This is second volume of Shannon Applecline’s history of the roleplaying industry, this time covering the 1980s – from the boom years to the almost inevitable crash […]

]]> 0 fc5ecd02793214856a966690dcdacf60 https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2025/11/what-carve-up-by-jonathan-coe.html Sun, 23 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000 Another entry in the humour strand of our book club and one that I’m a bit ambivalent about to be honest. The story starts with a potted history of the Winshaws of […]

]]> 0 14d3040694553454c7f12e82e73edee1 https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2025/11/invincible-compendium-one-by-robert.html Sun, 09 Nov 2025 16:39:00 +0000  Mark Grayson is, by all appearances, a regular American teenager struggling with the usual adolescent concerns of schoolwork and girlfriends. However, he has a […]

]]> 0 bbaf01bc42ac30228f69ead3239fc4f9 https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2025/11/designers-and-dragons-by-shannon.html Sun, 02 Nov 2025 12:43:00 +0000  The seventies can rightly be called the golden age of role playing game design. The history of TSR and the creative duo of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson is well […]

]]> 0 7e1449253e2a2f1773124a73cd8268fa https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2025/10/pavane-by-keith-roberts.html Sun, 19 Oct 2025 14:42:00 +0100 This book takes the premise that Queen Elizabeth I was assassinated in July 1588, triggering a civil war between protestants and catholics, allowing the Spanish […]

]]> 0 44853e12d8d73a7577a665cc0927d46b https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2025/09/of-dice-and-men-by-david-m-ewalt.html Sun, 28 Sep 2025 10:54:00 +0100 People have always played games, going back to the very earliest days of civilisation. Conflict of various sorts has been a popular theme, with chess being the […]

]]> 0 2fade1b4e015d4d7700f3d308c645e6e https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2025/09/night-watch-by-terry-pratchett.html Mon, 15 Sep 2025 10:18:00 +0100 Sam Vimes is one of Terry Pratchett’s most enduring characters in the Discworld series. First appearing in Guards! Guards! as a washed up Captain of the ineffectual […]

]]> 0 abd025355a02a878a87077646a4d4c0d https://authorbuzz.co.uk/activity/p/16829/ Sun, 24 Aug 2025 15:31:15 +0100 0 16ad63014bd4e605fb3caa8e1f6929f0 https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-man-in-high-castle-by-philip-k-dick.html Sun, 24 Aug 2025 10:13:00 +0100  It’s a standard trope of alt-history to imagine what might have happened if the Nazis had won the second world war. In this book, the point of divergence is that […]

]]> 2 e07e47959517ddf5ebcb3292140222ac https://authorbuzz.co.uk/activity/p/16749/ Sat, 16 Aug 2025 17:46:08 +0100 0 36afffcd153e5e02f68bb5a5bfae7a29 https://authorbuzz.co.uk/activity/p/16725/ Sat, 16 Aug 2025 13:20:08 +0100 0 5b95b3fdba9547cedc7cce2a905c8887 https://authorbuzz.co.uk/activity/p/16707/ Thu, 14 Aug 2025 21:49:11 +0100 0 5a4c0cd05e7c4b911b483eeb33092651 https://authorbuzz.co.uk/activity/p/16706/ Thu, 14 Aug 2025 21:43:14 +0100 0 ed9da5f2cd06def47594277c14de7e55 https://authorbuzz.co.uk/activity/p/16705/ Thu, 14 Aug 2025 21:42:27 +0100 1 7a7382405526056a56f98ea49958d3f7 https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2025/08/stone-and-sky-by-ben-aaronovitch.html Sat, 09 Aug 2025 15:38:00 +0100 The tenth book in the Rivers of London series finds our heroes a long way from home – there have been reports of a giant cat in the Scottish highlands, possibly […]

]]> 0 96e99d25b262c77373ae0c2f015b95c4 https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-inimitable-jeeves-by-pg-wodehouse.html Sun, 13 Jul 2025 15:52:00 +0100 Although I’ve watched and enjoyed all of the Jeeves and Wooster tv series starring Fry and Laurie, this is my first time reading any of the original stories, and I […]

]]> 0 d29fd6606c6158a5f2dddaeedae50b88 https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2025/07/i-love-you-byeee-by-adam-buxton.html Sat, 05 Jul 2025 14:43:00 +0100 Adam Buxton is probably best known now as a podcaster, but this second volume of his autobiography goes back to his days working with school friend and collaborator […]

]]> 0 5029345f35660ca42a9c29a6bd803cf0 https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2025/07/starve-acre-by-andrew-michael-hurley.html Sat, 05 Jul 2025 14:35:00 +0100 This book is set in the Yorkshire Dales, with a young couple living in a bleak cottage by a field where nothing grows. They are both grieving for the death of their […]

]]> 0 136d156f96c4d7fd7acbad997ee90928 https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2025/06/moominsummer-madness-by-tove-jansson.html Sun, 22 Jun 2025 15:11:00 +0100 Another re-read that’s appropriate for the time of year, and probably the least read of the Moomin books because I somehow didn’t have a copy of this one gro […]

]]> 0 312bc22743281c31ca596f08d733cb52 https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2025/06/lords-and-ladies-by-terry-pratchett.html Sat, 21 Jun 2025 14:51:00 +0100 I have a complete set of Discworld books on my shelves, albeit a mix of paperbacks, hardbacks and those mid format bookclub editions. I’ve been putting off r […]

]]> 0 c97c4b7f70e5ae77a78b9abd74d94a34 https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-spy-who-came-in-from-cold-by-john.html Sun, 18 May 2025 14:52:00 +0100 The book opens in Cold War era Berlin, in the early 60s. Spymaster Alec Leamas has just seen his network of agents systematically eradicated by his opposite number […]

]]> 0 539c98ccd69d9672c8f598a7fb87eeac https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-house-on-borderland-by-william-hope.html Fri, 25 Apr 2025 10:29:00 +0100 William Hope Hodgson was an interesting character – he ran away from school at the age of 13 to become a sailor, developed a series of physical exercises to defend […]

]]> 0 1ced91bec04bad9bf3ae8490f049d210 https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2025/04/tai-pan-by-james-clavell.html Sun, 13 Apr 2025 11:39:00 +0100 This was Clavell’s second book, after the semi-autobiographical King Rat and the second chronologically in his Asian Sequence after Shõgun. It’s set in 1841 and […]

]]> 0 9ee090df41d6ae832192cdd5a232b780 https://dogwoodtales.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-masquerades-of-spring-by-ben.html Mon, 17 Mar 2025 14:22:00 +0000 Another short Rivers of London novella, this one being based in prohibition era New York, complete with jazz clubs, mobsters, and lashings of bathtub gin. The […]

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