Book news, reviews and recommendations
I’m not a thriller fan, although I have been known to read one or two. Metafiction on the other hand fascinates me which is what attracted me to Delphine de Vigan’s Based on a True Story whose narrator, Delphine, finds her life entirely taken over by a woman she meets at a party. Hard to […]
The second batch of February’s new titles is something of a mixed bag. I’ll begin with Tyler Keevil’s No Good Brother which sounds like a slice of adventure. Two brothers – one honest, the other not – set off on a journey to settle a debt with a notorious gang which will take them across
Books to Look Out for in February 2018: Part Two Read More »
Robin Sloan’s Mr Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore was a 2013 favourite for me. I’ve been waiting patiently for something else from him having been a little disappointed by Mr Penumbra’s prequel, Ajax Penumbra 1969, and was delighted to spot Sourdough on the January horizon. It’s the story of a young woman who is given a sourdough
Sourdough by Robin Sloan: A tasty bit of fun Read More »
There’s nothing like getting your reading year off to a good start. Jim Powell’s Things We Nearly Knew continues 2018’s satisfying trend for me with its slice of American smalltown life seen through the eyes of an unnamed bartender. I’d enjoyed Powell’s second novel, Trading Futures, a couple of years back, admiring its narrator’s waspishly
Things We Nearly Knew by Jim Powell: The enigma of other people Read More »
February’s shaping up quite nicely with lots of new titles and paperbacks to ease us through those dark, dank days and long nights here in the Northern Hemisphere. I’ll begin with Hallgrímur Helgason’s The Woman at 1000 Degrees whose eighty-year-old narrator lives alone in a garage, laptop and hand grenade at the ready. Herra recounts
Books to Look Out for in February 2018: 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 other books to form a chain. A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the others on the
This collection is an unusual one: it was written for radio rather than print. The BBC commissioned Jon McGregor to write a set of stories that together comprise a prequel to the sublime Reservoir 13 which won the Costa Novel Award earlier this week, much to my delight. Unsurprisingly, given that was my book of
The Reservoir Tapes by Jon McGregor: Podcast in print Read More »
Last year’s reading got off to a very satisfying start with a book by an Australian author – Jennifer Down’s compassionate, clear-sighted and lovely debut, Our Magic Hour. Coincidentally, this year’s has also begun with a beautifully crafted, thoroughly engaging Australian novel. I’d read and enjoyed Michelle de Kretser’s Questions of Travel a few years
The Life to Come by Michelle de Kretser: The way we live now 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 into as many hands as I could. Last year Cathy from 746 Books was kind enough to ask me to take part in her Books
Blasts from the Past: That They May Face the Rising Sun by John McGahern (2001) Read More »
You might think I’d had enough of rehashing 2017’s reading what with Reading Bingo and all those books of the year posts but I came across this on Cathy’s blog and couldn’t resist. The rules are simple: answer the questions with the titles of books you read this year. If you decide to play along,
My Life in Books (2017 Edition) Read More »
I first saw this year’s Reading Bingo on Cleo’s blog – she was the one who put me on to it a few years back. Then Marina at Finding Time to Write posted hers and it seemed rude not to join in even if mine is a little tardy. It’s one of those posts which
Reading Bingo 2017 Read More »