Book news, reviews and recommendations
Alexis Schaitkin’s Saint X suffered more than most from the upheavals which struck last year’s schedules, appearing in print nine months or so after it was first due to be published. Truth be told I wasn’t at all sure about it when it arrived. I wondered if it might be a step too far into …
It was its setting and structure that attracted me to Claire Thomas’ The Performance, although that brightly coloured jacket played some part. A clever design which fits the novel well. As its title suggests, the backdrop for Thomas’ novel is a Melbourne theatre where three women are watching a performance of Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days …
The Performance by Claire Thomas: A night at the theatre Read More »
We’ll soon be hurtling into summer reading territory with blockbusters aplenty to read somewhere other than beside a foreign pool again this year, although they may not appear on this blog. I’m more partial to a well turned out novella. I’m kicking off May’s second new fiction preview with an author whose writing often has …
I couldn’t resist that jacket which I spotted on Twitter earlier in the year accompanied by complimentary comments about the book by people whose opinions I trust. The Inverts is Crystal Jeans’ first novel from a large publisher having had two published by Welsh indie Honno Press. With luck, if this one is as successful …
The Inverts by Crystal Jeans: A marriage of convenience Read More »
It was the mention of The Stinging Fly in her biographical notes that made me want to read Louise Kennedy’s The End of the World Is a Cul de Sac. I’ve yet to read a set of stories from one of their contributors that hasn’t hit the spot for me. Someone there has a very …
The End of the World is a Cul de Sac: A smartly delivered collection Read More »
I’m going to risk calling May early summer which it’s hoped will usher in a degree of longed-for liberation here in the UK, although not too much for obvious reasons. Lots of books to enjoy in the sunshine if we’re lucky, beginning with one I’ve read already. Four years ago, I was sent Jhumpa Lahiri …
Six Degrees of Separation is a meme hosted by Kate over at Books Are My Favourite and Best. It works like this: each month a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six others to form a chain. A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the titles on the list, …
Six Degrees of Separation – From Shuggie Bain to 1984 Read More »
That vibrant jacket with its singing colours played some part in my considering Peace Adzo Medie’s His Only Wife for review. It was one of those dreary winter days with little good news to be had and I needed cheering up. Then I noticed Medie lectures at a local university but it was its striking …
His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie: How to be strong Read More »
I’m sure readers will have gathered that Naomi Ishiguro is the daughter of Kazuo by now, although that’s not the reason I wanted to read Common Ground. She was once a bookseller at my lovely local indie, Mr B’s, which piqued my interest, that and a glowing quote from Rowan Hisayo Buchanan adorning its rather …
Common Ground by Naomi Ishiguro: ‘Solidarity and friendship’ Read More »
Part two of April’s paperback preview is a little less starry than the first instalment with its two prize winners but still full of goodies, a few of which I’ve already read beginning with Polly Samson’s A Theatre for Dreamers. Set in 1960, it’s the story of a group of artists, writers and hedonists drawn …
Paperbacks to Look Out For in April 2021: Part Two Read More »
I’m not one for wackiness, tending to run in the opposite direction at the mere mention of magic realism. I hope that description doesn’t put you off but I can’t think of a more apposite word: whimsical doesn’t cover it as you’ll see from the list below. Here then are five novels I’ve read with …
Five Weird and Wonderful Works of Fiction I’ve Read Read More »