Raynor Reads Stuff

Category: Non-fiction

  • REVIEW: Warrior Queens and Quiet Revolutionaries

    I’ve read a lot of Kate Mosse’s historical novels and I absolutely love them. They are great hulks of books and often flit between time periods, but are mainly based in Languedoc in France. I find them great page-turners. So when Ms Mosse brought out Warrior Queens at the end of last year, I had…

  • REVIEW: Burial Rites

    Oh my god this book is good. Go buy, borrow or steal it and read it immediately (actually don’t steal it, stealing is bad and wrong). I could leave it there, but I won’t obviously. It wouldn’t make for a very good blog post and this book deserves so much more than a one-liner. Burial…

  • REVIEW: Red Sky at Night

    If you have ever tried and failed to race a ferret then Red Sky at Night is probably just what you need to improve your training techniques. This book is a little like a Schott’s Miscellany for the British countryside, containing a wealth of information compiled in an orderly manner that you can dip into…

  • Raynor’s reading round-up

    It’s the final day of 2022 and I’m going to take a quick look back at my reading year. This year I’ve been a little more organised about my reading by keeping a notebook with a list of all the books that I’ve read so I know I have consumed 177 books this year. There…

  • A very merry Christmas for this booklover

    It’s that time between Christmas and New Year when no-one knows what day of the week it is and I start itching to take the decorations down and get everything back to normal. I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas and was well and truly spoilt – well as much as the fiscal climate allows.…

  • REVIEW: Sky Burial

    The Good Women of China are stories from her radio show. Some of these stories are heart-breaking – I have never been able to come to terms with the chapter on the mothers who endured earthquakes. I enjoy Xinran’s journalistic style. She does not add her opinion to these stories, she tells the story in…

  • REVIEW: The Silk Roads

  • A literary trip around the world

    This huge chunk of gorgeousness was a present to myself on my 40th birthday in 2005. Yes, I know that makes me as old as the hills but that’s neither here nor there. I bought it because I love travelling and photography – there are some stunning pictures inside. It cost me £40, which seemed…

  • REVIEW: The Penguin Lessons

    “It feels like you are wrapped in a blanket in front of a warm fire on a cold day and eating toasted crumpets.”