Book news, reviews and recommendations
I put my hand up for Jem Calder’s first novel having very much enjoyed his linked short story collection, Reward System. He’s one of those writers who’s attracted puffs from the likes of Sally Rooney which may or may not predispose some readers towards him. Set in London, I Want You to Be Happy follows […]
I Want You to Be Happy by Jem Calder: ‘What are we?’ Read More »
Emma Straub writes reliably enjoyable fiction, tending more towards the commercial than the literary. I’ve read most of her novels but was surprised to find I’d only reviewed The Vacationers back in the early days of the blog. American Fantasy has an unusual premise: a full-on nostalgia cruise for over two thousand mostly female fans
American Fantasy by Emma Straub: ‘Who’s ready for the best weekend of their lives?’ Read More »
Part two of June’s paperback preview begins with one of my 2025 favourites. Opening in the early 2000s, Alexander Starritt’s Drayton and Mackenzie follows two very different men. Driven and intensely competitive, even with himself, James is the affable, indolent Roland’s antithesis. He’s a rising star with McKinsey’s consultancy, set on becoming their youngest partner;
Paperbacks to Look Out For in June 2026: Part Two Read More »
Hunger and Thirst is Claire Fuller’s sixth novel, all but one of which I’ve reviewed on here. Narrated by Ursula, now in her fifties, it follows a group of young people brought together in the ‘80s by Sue, intent on becoming a film maker, who’d sought out the perfect location for a slice of gothic
Hunger and Thirst by Claire Fuller: Madness, manipulation and suspense Read More »
Rupert Thomson’s one of those authors who delivers well turned out, interesting fiction with little brouhaha. His work ranges widely from the early days of Soft!, a satire on the advertising world, to Secrecy, set in the Medici court of seventeenth-century Florence. Dark is the Morning takes us to a small town in Abruzzo where
Dark is the Morning by Rupert Thomson: An evocative tale of rural Italy Read More »
June’s paperback preview begins with one I was sure would appear on the Women’s Prize for Fiction list. Set during Italy’s Years of Lead, marked by violent clashes between the extreme Left and Right, Olivia Laing’s The Silver Book follows Nicholas who’s fled London for Venice. After a chance encounter with costume and set designer,
Paperbacks to Look Out For in June 2026 Part One Read More »
I’m not a Mahler fan but put up my hand as soon as I spotted Robert Seethaler’s brief novella, The Last Movement, which sees the composer on his last transatlantic voyage to Europe, a few months before his death. I’ve read all four of Seethaler’s translated novels, beginning with A Whole Life over a decade
This month’s snapshot includes one for ardent David Bowie fans, a pandemic novel but don’t let that put you off, and a collection of short stories which begins with a brief novella set in Manhattan. The short story collection I’m reading is Lore Segal’s Ladies’ Lunch and Other Stories of which I’ve only read the titular
A Snapshot of My Reading #15 Read More »
June’s second fiction preview begins with one I took a punt on largely because of the publisher, World Editions, whose list is always interesting. Kit Fan’s Goodbye Chinatown explores events in Hong Kong since the 1997 handover through the experience of Amber whose parents brought her to London after the horrors of Tiananmen Square in
Books to Look Out For in June 2026: Part Two Read More »
As Elizabeth Strout fans will already know, The Things We Never Say is a standalone novel set in a small Massachusetts town rather than Crosby, Maine with which we’ve become so familiar. Spanning several years either side of the 2024 presidential election, it follows Artie Dam, a popular high school history teacher whose life is
Elizabeth Arnott’s The Secret Lives of Murderers’ Wives caught my eye on NetGalley with its arresting cover, but it was its 1960s California setting that swung it for me together with a mention of Mad Men in the blurb. It has an interesting premise, too: three women, all once married to convicted serial killers, are