Book news, reviews and recommendations
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 »
I’d already managed to overcommit myself when Alex Hyde’s Exhibition appeared on NetGalley. It ticked so many boxes for me, I had to have it. Spanning several decades, it follows the musings of photographer Rabble Stone on her relationship with the unnamed artist whose work is about to be the subject of a major retrospective.
Exhibition by Alex Hyde: ’Who is the artist, and who is the muse?’ Read More »
Over recent years, I’ve enjoyed several novels which explore the idea of who owns the story which is what attracted me to Marta Pérez-Carbonell’s debut, I Made You Up Inside My Head. That, and the strangers on a train trope described in the blurb which sees a writer, his friend and a translator meet on
The first part of September’s preview includes several titles I’ve already read beginning with Patrick deWitt’s Dodge City. Set in 1967, it follows Lee who takes to the road after his draft notice is served. He’s set himself up with a drive-away, ostensibly delivering an E-Type Jaguar to New Jersey, which will take him across
Books to Look Out For in September 2026: Part One Read More »
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 – Land to Porterhouse Blue Read More »
This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy in as many hands as I could. I’d not come across Ethan Canin’s writing before a rep gave me a copy of For Kings and
Blasts from the Past: For Kings and Planets by Ethan Canin (1998) Read More »