Beautifully observed and bitingly funny.

Released at York meet up. Theme of author name beginning with 'E'.

Biting satire, but occasionally lacking in humanity... Worth reading definately

I love Waugh - Brideshead Revisited and the Sword of Honour trilogy in particular. And this didn't disappoint - he's bitingly sharp about human nature, genuinely funny, and the ending is one of the most hideous things I've ever read.

To be released at the May York Bookcrossing meetup.

I picked this up at a York meet-up some time ago and have just got round to reading it. Waugh seems particularly good at making me want to read on and find out what happens to the characters without particularly liking them.
Content warning - there's quite a lot of racism in this book and although it's presented through the eyes of characters and not as views necessarily to be agreed with, it does make for uncomfortable reading at times.

Releasing at the monthly York Book Crossing meet at The Eagle and Child

Picked up at the November York BookCrossing meetup.

I am not an enormous Waugh fan as a rule, and actually tend to prefer his more serious later stuff to his satire, since in the former works at least his moralising tendencies are out in the open where you can see them. However, this book has a lot to recommend it in terms of amusing imagery and ludicrous situations. There's a very jarring tonal shift about halfway through, which appears without warning and is passed over quite swiftly, and then the ending is also unexpectedly upsetting. It's all quite fun but, in the end, rather empty.

Released at the December York BookCrossing meetup.