Book news, reviews and recommendations
Back in 2013, I wrote about meeting Beatrice Hitchman at what was supposed to be a summer afternoon Pimms party in a neighbour’s garden, unsurprisingly relocated to their living room thanks to the British weather. Hitchman’s debut, Petite Mort, was just about to be published. I enjoyed it very much and was delighted when All …
All of You Every Single One by Beatrice Hitchman: Choosing your own family Read More »
I started seeing Sarah Gilmartin’s Dinner Party in my Twitter timeline a good eight or nine months before it was due to be published, something that tends to put me off more often than not, but I liked the sound of this novel that begins with the titular gathering then explores the fraught family dynamics …
This second instalment of October’s new titles starts with a treat for Elizabeth Strout fans. Just as Olive, Again revisited a much-loved character so Oh William! renews our acquaintance with the narrator of My Name is Lucy Barton, now widowed, who has unexpectedly bumped into her first husband. William has a few troubles to share …
I spotted Anthony Veasna So’s short story collection, Afterparties, on Twitter quite some time ago and was delighted when a copy dropped through my letterbox. Just as Souvankham Thammavongsa’s wonderful collection, How to Pronounce Knife, explored the experiences of the Laotian diaspora through its second generation, So’s is about young Cambodian-Americans whose parents and grandparents …
Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So: ‘Generational Differences’ Cambodian-American style Read More »
I’ve been meaning to visit Edinburgh for ages and managed to track down a lovely flat in New Town for the week, complete with a quirky guard at the door. It took us all day to get there and when we arrived, we had the curious feeling of being somewhere at once very different and …
Back from lovely Edinburgh (more of which later in the week) with the first of a healthy two-part preview, kicking off with a novel eagerly anticipated by many, I’m sure. Amor Towles’ The Lincoln Highway sees Emmett about to take his little brother off in search of a spanking new future when two pals turn …
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 Second Place to Wait for Me, Jack Read More »
I became interested in utopian societies as an idealistic teenager when I learnt about Welsh philanthropist Robert Owen‘s experimental socialist community in New Harmony, Indiana. Then I read about the Whiteway Colony in Gloucestershire whose original owners burnt their deeds in the name of egalitarianism. Anna Neima’s The Utopians explores six such communities, their aspirations, …
The Utopians by Anna Neima: ‘Absurdity, possibility and hope’ Read More »
It took me some time to get around to reading a John Boyne novel probably because they tend to be chunksters rather than the pared-back novellas I favour. I took A Ladder to the Sky on holiday to Portugal then read and thoroughly enjoyed The Heart’s Invisible Furies. The Echo Chamber follows the Cleverleys, made …
The Echo Chamber by John Boyne; ‘Cancelling the Cleverleys’ Read More »
This is the second set of novels with an art theme in this series of posts. I introduced the first wondering why I’d read so much recent fiction featuring artists, speculating about a publishing trend or that it was simply my own interest in the subject but perhaps it’s because artists often lead interesting lives …
It was Nickolas Butler’s ringing endorsement that sold Ash Davidson’s Damnation Spring to me. The cover suggested it might have the same gorgeous descriptions of the American landscape I’d loved in his Cowboy Lovesongs and Godspeed. Spanning a single year from 1977-78, Davidson’s tale of environmental despoilation is set in a small Californian community where …
Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson: Profit trumps all Read More »