About

Welcome to FictionFan’s Book Reviews!

I’ve been reviewing books for several years now and have got into the habit of reviewing everything I read. I do it mainly for my own pleasure, to remind me of what I liked (or didn’t) about a book, but I hope other people might find them interesting too.

My tastes tend to fluctuate over time, though there’s always a basic core mix of quality fiction, crime and factual. Currently I’m reading a lot of classics, including getting to know the classic literature of my own country, Scotland, better. In contemporary fiction, I look for books that tell me something about the world, often with a political edge.

I’ve fallen in love with all the great vintage crime that several publishers are doing  such a great job of bringing back to general notice, and am probably reading more of that at the moment than contemporary crime, although I do still read a fair amount of it too. I enjoy good historical crime – that is, where the setting is well researched and the characters’ attitudes are true to their time.

My factual reading tends to be a mix of heavyweight history, political memoirs, popular science and true crime, with some quirkier books thrown in from time to time.

In the winter months I read a lot of vintage horror, especially of the late 19th/early 20th century period, and am slowly developing a taste for weird fiction. Vintage sci-fi is another interest, particularly of the early to mid-20th century.

I cross-post my reviews to Amazon UK, where I’m currently a Top 500 reviewer, and Goodreads. (The Amazon links given on reviews on the blog are intended merely to be helpful. I am not an affiliate and make no money from this blog.) I am also a member of NetGalley and enjoy the wide range of titles they offer. And they give me badges…

badges 7

I’m happy to consider requests from publishers for reviews of books in one of the genres I enjoy. However, I don’t participate in blog tours or any other form of advertising. I can be contacted at FictionFan@virginmedia.com. As always, my review will reflect my honest opinion. I regret that I won’t accept requests from self-published authors.

Please browse the site and I’d love to hear what you think of the blog, the reviews or the books, so all comments will be gladly received.

159 thoughts on “About”

  6. Hmmmm….something weird has happened…I’ve been wondering if all is ok with you as you’ve been very quiet for ages….or so I thought…for some reason my “follow” of you got undone. I have no idea why…makes me worry about who else is “quiet” at the moment but actually a glitch in the follows. So, sorry that I’ve missed your posts – I’ll be catching up again. I should be following you again.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  11. Hi there. I can’t find any contact details for you so am posting my request here. I am writing a review of Emilie Conway’s concert set “You Won’t Forget Me”, her tribute to Maeve Brennan. The best photograph I have been able to find for Ms Brennan is the one used in your piece about her from 1st August 2014. I would love to use that in my own piece and wonder if you know from whom I need to obtain permission for such use. Please reply to me at flparker1941@gmail.com.
    I intend to publish my review later today at my WP site: https://flparker.com

    Like

    Reply

    • Thank you! Haha – it was only after I’d set up my blog that I discovered how creative and inventive everyone else is with their blog names. Oh well! 😉

      Like

      Reply

  15. […] Fiction Fan wrote about her cats being named after Tommy and Tuppence (an Agatha Christie detective duo), and Dora shared an anecdote about her mom introducing her to the great Dame Christie: “My mother was originally the one who read everything she’s written (or at least tried), she talked about them a lot and she has I think more than 60 of her books, so naturally when I was old enough to finally read them (12 maybe) I don’t even know which one of us was more excited!” […]

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  16. I love the photograph of your cat! It drew me to you from Neeru’s blog. I am also a fan of Scotland. One tip: people often misuse “crime” as a synonym for mystery…. but it is only one kind. My favourite is non-crime mysteries; actual mystery-solving adventures! I don’t think anyone means to exclude it when they say they read “crime”, instead of mystery as a whole. Great examples of those who have authored pure mysteries are: Robin Sloan, Chris Grabenstein, Simone St. James, Augusta Huiell Seaman, Lyn Hamilton, Kate Morton. Sincerely, Carolyn.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thank you – she looks so sweet, but looks can be deceptive… 😉 Ha, yes, I tend to use crime and mystery interchangeably or to see mystery as a sub-genre of crime rather than the other way round. Probably, I think, because I read so much contemporary crime for years where often there isn’t a huge mystery element, not of the traditional clues/red herrings kind anyway. But now that I’m reading more vintage crime again they most definitely are more mystery than crime.

      Thanks for popping in and welcome to the blog! 😀

      Like

      Reply

  17. Eek, mystery is surely the umbrella that comes first: solving a question. Solving crimes is one possibility but it is the mystery genre either way. I love old authors and books too and am a physical book person, as my cats would tell you. But the more they are about any mission or goal besides crimes, the better. Thank you for finding my blog as well. Readership matters to writers!

    Like

    Reply

    • Haha, I guess it’s a matter of what kind of crime/mystery novel you read most of. I mostly read paper books, but I love my Kindle too and have recently been getting into audiobooks though I still have to work quite hard at keeping my concentration for them. I hope you’ll feel like blogging again at some point – it’s such a great way of making connections with people who share a love for books! 😀

      Like

      Reply

      • I read mysteries all the time. Sometimes there is a crime in those mysteries. That is the best way one can clarify it.

        I do indeed blog. I do not jot things down weekly like some folks “just because” but save it for articles that come to mind. I have replied at my account just now more thoroughly, three other reasons have made my articles more sporadic than usual.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

Please leave a comment - I'd love to know who's visiting and what you think...of the post, of the book, of the blog, of life, of chocolate...

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.