Matt's Updates en-US Sun, 09 Mar 2025 12:16:38 -0700 60 Matt's Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review7389217662 Sun, 09 Mar 2025 12:16:38 -0700 <![CDATA[Matt added 'NW']]> /review/show/7389217662 NW by Zadie Smith Matt gave 4 stars to NW (Hardcover) by Zadie Smith
Haven’t liked the previous books I’ve read by Zadie Smith, but really enjoyed this. Shamelessly stealing from the critic James Wood, this book is a much more mature White Teeth. Without the needless flourishes and over-forced ‘connections� between random characters within the network narrative, the characters are infinitely more nuanced and the narrative less fraught. ]]> Review7292894539 Wed, 05 Feb 2025 07:36:25 -0800 <![CDATA[Matt added 'The New Life']]> /review/show/7292894539 The New Life by Tom Crewe Matt gave 4 stars to The New Life (Hardcover) by Tom Crewe
]]> Rating807144052 Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:52:31 -0800 <![CDATA[Matt Simpson liked a review]]> /
Matt Simpson liked Sylvie Craig's review of If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler:
If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
"Fascinating to enjoy a novel that doesn't really have characters or a plot"
]]> Rating807143608 Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:50:22 -0800 <![CDATA[Matt Simpson liked a readstatus]]> /
Matt Simpson liked Reb’s status update
Reb Comer Reb Comer is currently reading My Brilliant Friend (Neapolitan Novels, #1)
]]> Review7029742415 Sun, 24 Nov 2024 03:04:03 -0800 <![CDATA[Matt added 'Intermezzo']]> /review/show/7029742415 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney Matt gave 4 stars to Intermezzo (Hardcover) by Sally Rooney
Definitely her best yet, managing to combine the compulsive narrative of ‘Normal People� with a more nuanced and ambitious exploration of the complex power dynamics that are inherent in many of the familial and romantic relationships of the 21st century. The central relationship of the brothers is far more engaging than that of the romantic relationships, which at times felt a bit one-dimensional. ]]> Review6984272159 Wed, 06 Nov 2024 13:27:14 -0800 <![CDATA[Matt added 'The War Against Cliché: Essays and Reviews 1971-2000']]> /review/show/6984272159 The War Against Cliché by Martin Amis Matt gave 3 stars to The War Against Cliché: Essays and Reviews 1971-2000 (Paperback) by Martin Amis
Amis� essays have definitely aged better than his novels. On the whole, Amis is a perceptive and illuminating critic - especially when he clearly respects the writer. On the occasions when he takes against a (in his eyes) lesser writer, however, his essays transform from criticism into diatribes which seem to have the sole purpose of proving to the reader how much cleverer and more eloquent he is than the writer in question. Sadly, these latter essays bear uncanny resemblance to many of his novels. ]]> Rating783454052 Thu, 24 Oct 2024 11:37:10 -0700 <![CDATA[Matt Simpson liked a readstatus]]> /
Matt Simpson liked Claudia’s status update
Claudia Barclay Claudia Barclay wants to read My Beloved Monster: Masha, the Half-wild Rescue Cat Who Rescued Me
]]> Review6925937397 Mon, 14 Oct 2024 09:32:33 -0700 <![CDATA[Matt added 'Exam Nation: Why Our Obsession with Grades Fails Everyone � and a Better Way to Think About School']]> /review/show/6925937397 Exam Nation by Sammy Wright Matt gave 5 stars to Exam Nation: Why Our Obsession with Grades Fails Everyone � and a Better Way to Think About School (Kindle Edition) by Sammy Wright
So many books on education adopt one of the two prominent and polarising educational ideologies currently in vogue. In my opinion, this book is one of the few that correctly treats this dichotomy as false and is all the better for it while successfully outlining a potential middle ground that is achievable within the English state school system.

Recommend even for non-teachers. ]]> Review6841766100 Thu, 12 Sep 2024 13:59:58 -0700 <![CDATA[Matt added 'The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read [and Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did]']]> /review/show/6841766100 The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read [and Your Children Wi... by Philippa Perry Matt gave 3 stars to The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read [and Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did] (Kindle Edition) by Philippa Perry
]]> Review6841744029 Thu, 12 Sep 2024 13:49:58 -0700 <![CDATA[Matt added 'The Passenger']]> /review/show/6841744029 The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy Matt gave 3 stars to The Passenger (The Passenger #1) by Cormac McCarthy
McCarthy’s prose is always a delight and the final passage was especially beautiful even in its nihilism. However, this was definitely my least favourite of the many McCarthy books that I have read. To search for a coherent narrative in his novels is usually futile, but I felt here that a few of the narrative strands never coalesced. I struggled to see why he began the novel with the missing plane - I kept expecting him to return to it- and the sister’s hallucinations got tiresome after a while.

Read it to the new Cormac on the block and it sent him to sleep, so not sure he was a fan either. ]]>