Book news, reviews and recommendations
Based on real life figures, Philippe Collin’s The Barman of the Ritz isn’t an obvious choice for me, but I’ve enjoyed several novels translated by Frank Wynne so decided to give it a try. Collin reimagines bartender Frank Meier’s four years at the Parisian hotel during the Occupation, from 1940 to Liberation in August of […]
I’m a big fan of linked short stories. Some can almost read like novels and are often marketed as such, I suspect because short stories can be a hard sell. Below are five collections whose stories share a location, all with links to my reviews. Jhumpa Lahiri’s exquisite, Roman Stories, has at its centre a
Five Linked Short Story Collections I’ve Read Read More »
I had no idea that novelist Charlotte Wood had written a foodie memoir, already published for a decade and a half in her native Australia. I’m partial to this kind of non-fiction so snapped up Love and Hunger when it appeared on NetGalley. Using the combination of anecdote and recipes which makes this genre so
Love and Hunger: Thoughts on the Gift of Food by Charlotte Wood Read More »
Andrew Cunning’s debut, Clara and Christina, instantly appealed with its premise of a friendship which grows between a young academic and the author whose first novel entranced her, picked up by chance at her university bookshop when she was a first-year undergraduate. Clara is in her early thirties and Christina in her seventies, a reclusive
Clara and Christina by Andrew Cunning: A literary treat Read More »
As I mentioned in my first post on this theme, British bookshops are awash with fiction from the US, not so much from its neighbour. A shame, as I often enjoy Canadian writing when I do come across it. Here are five more favourites, four with links to my reviews, beginning with one by an
Five More Canadian Novels I’ve Read Read More »
I thoroughly enjoyed Laura Sims’s How Can I Help You with its increasingly unhinged librarian narrator prompting me to read The Man. Set in the 1960s, it follows Judith Stanley, an unassuming, middle-aged housewife whose formidable photographic talent is immediately apparent to her instructor when she shows her work to him after class ends. As
The Man by Laura Sims: Not one, but two unreliable narrators. Read More »
Donal Ryan is the author of seven bestselling novels, six of which I’ve reviewed on this blog, plus a short story collection, all within fourteen years: quite a feat. His latest novella follows twelve-year-old Jack over the two years after a terrible loss sees his grandmother and grandfather take him into their home. And they
Where Are the Kings by Donal Ryan: Grief will out Read More »
In a lean month for paperbacks, September’s preview begins with two books by Danish poet/novelists, one of which was a 2025 favourite for me. Set in the seventeenth century, Olga Ravn’s The Wax Child is narrated by the titular child moulded by an impoverished noblewoman charged with witchcraft. Christenze lives in a friend’s household, helping
Paperbacks to Look Out For in September 2026 Read More »
I’d not come across Louise Wallace before I spotted her first novel on NetGalley. She’s a poet from New Zealand whose work isn’t easily available in the UK. Ash is a brief novella which follows a country vet on maternity leave living with her young family in the shadow of a volcanic mountain. Work is
Ash by Louise Wallace: Risky but impressive Read More »
August’s snapshot includes the same short story collection I was reading last month, an account of art thievery by a young aesthete, keen to differentiate himself from common crooks, and a novel about time travelling historical figures. The short story collection I’m (still) reading is Tessa Hadley’s After the Funeral thanks to Andrew O’Hagan’s thumping
A Snapshot of My Reading #18 Read More »
The second instalment of September’s new fiction begins with one by an author I’ve been a fan of since her debut in the mid-1990s. Set in 1951, Kate Atkinson’s Our Noble Selves follows Harry Flynn who becomes involved in the organisation of the Festival of Britain. Despite his unassuming manner, Flynn is a magnet for
Books to Look Out For in September 2026: Part Two Read More »