» Curious Book Fans

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.¹ As Gregor Samsa awoke that morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.² The dog was lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs Shears’ house.³ Curiouser and curiouser!, cried Alice.⁴ ‘It’s today!’ said Piglet. ‘My favourite day,’ said Pooh.⁵

That was the day the Curious Book Fans site was born. We built a small room on the world wide web. The door is open for all readers who want to hear and talk about books. Welcome to our room full of books…

Most popular reviews in 2012

The Kashmir Shawl – Rosie Thomas

1.The Kashmir Shawl by Rosie Thomas is a story of two women separated by 70 years but linked by a shawl and a lock of hair. It’s a mystery story, a historic novel and several love stories all rolled into one.

Monday to Friday Man, Alice Peterson

2. Overall, ‘Monday to Friday Man‘ is a very enjoyable read about relationships and friendship. It is also a little bit about following your heart and not worrying about the things that you cannot change...

All That I am Anna Funder

3. As a novel this is the story of a small group of individuals, it doesn’t aim to look at what happened to the German left/far left in the Weimar period, but it is ground which has not been so thoroughly covered in the books about the period I have read...

Sleeping Patterns, J. R. Crook

4. With Sleeping Patterns, Crook proves he has both the imagination and the bravery to give us something out of the ordinary, and I’m certainly looking forward to his next endeavor.

Before I Met You, Lisa Jewell

5. Before I Met You is an immensely enjoyable and moving story that had me hooked from the very first pages. I particularly liked the way that the story kept switching between the past and the present...

No Child of Mine by Susan Lewis

6. No Child of Mine is a beautifully written book that is sad, happy, harrowing and intriguing. It’s the perfect read!

These Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach

7. Whether it’s this book or any of her others you choose, Moggach’s talent lies in painting believable characters that the reader can’t fail to engage with and in many instances to care about deeply.

Curious Book Fans talked to:

Will Schwalbe

Will Schwalbe: Mom would have wanted readers to be proud of themselves as readers — to realize that reading is one of the most important things you can do — it’s how you know what you need to do in life and how you join the human conversation.

Essie Fox

Essie Fox: Oddly enough, when I first started to write I was planning on something contemporary. But every time I began, a character or some ‘item’ from the past would crop up and intrude on the novel’s plot

Sonia Faleiro

Sonia Faleiro: I met Leela through a source in what I call the ‘bar and brothel business’. She was 19 at the time, and one of the smartest young women I’d met anywhere. I immediately knew I wanted to write about her...

Patrick Bishop

Patrick Bishop: I am of the view that most Talibs are fighting for the same reasons that young men fight – for the excitement of it and to test themselves. In this respect they are not much different to their British and American opponents.

Abbas Kazerooni

Abbas Kazerooni: It is very mentally challenging for a child to deal with loneliness, boredom and the idea of knowing that there is no one that he can turn to for help with small and complex matters.

Christie Watson

Christie Watson: Everyone in Nigeria is interested in politics. You can’t buy a bottle of Coca-Cola without the shopkeeper selling talking about their political views on the Niger Delta.

Oliver Burkeman

Oliver Burkeman: The kitchen timer (I carry one everywhere I go!) is a great way to turn confusing, intimidating, unmanageable or boring tasks into doable ones.

Martin Pevsner

Martin Pevsner: I had a different name for the novel originally – Companions of the Garden – a reference to the Qur’an. An agent told me people browsing in a bookshop would presume it was a gardening book.

Deborah Harkness

Deborah Harkness: In some ways I’ve been reading and researching this book since around 1984 when I first took a course that explored the relationship between magic and science.

Farahad Zama

Farahad Zama: Yes, my wife’s uncle was our neighbour and that’s how the marriage was arranged. I met my wife for the first time in October and we were married on New Year’s eve, six weeks later.

Alex Marsh

Alex Marsh: I used up the best bits of my life in Sex and Bowls and Rock and Roll and don’t want to do a diminishing returns thing… but I have been floored by some of the nice things that people have said about this one.

Urmilla Deshpande

Urmilla Deshpande: The Kashmir in my book is no more real, I think, than is the Alexandria in Durrell’s quartet or the London that Sherlock Holmes lives in.

Sorayya Khan

Sorayya Khan: The inspiration for Five Queen’s Road is drawn from real events in my family’s history. Five Queen’s Road, in fact, was once the real address of my father’s parents’ home in Lahore ...