Book news, reviews and recommendations
It was impossible for me to read this collection without thinking of breach, Olumide Popoola and Annie Holmes’ short stories about refugees living in Calais’ now disbanded Jungle. Whereas breach is based on Popoola and Holmes’ research carried out in and around Calais, The Refugees was written by an author who fled with his parents […]
The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen: Listen up, Mr President Read More »
There’s a timeline flowing neatly through this first batch of March titles, beginning with Helen Dunmore’s Birdcage Walk set in 1792 in her home town of Bristol with the French Revolution still playing out across the Channel. Recently married, Lizzie comes from a Radical background but her husband is a property developer whose future prosperity
Books to Look Out for in March 2017: Part One 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. I first heard about The Cutting Room when I began what turned into a decade-long stint as the
Blasts from the Past: The Cutting Room by Louise Welsh (2002) Read More »
Someone at Oneworld has a very sharp editorial eye, or maybe there’s a whole team of them. They managed to bag both the last two Man Booker Prizes, first with Marlon James’ A Brief History of Seven Killings then Paul Beatty’s The Sellout. They also published Sweetbitter, one of my favourites from 2016, and The
Another Brooklyn by Jaqueline Woodson: Girls growing up in the ’70s Read More »
The first instalment of February’s paperback preview took a few steps outside my comfort zone but this one’s stuffed with tried and tested favourites, four of which made it onto my books of 2016 lists, and the fifth narrowly missed doing so only because things seemed to be getting out of hand. My only disappointment
Paperbacks to Look Out for February 2017: Part Two Read More »
I first spotted The Nix back in September last year on our riding the Central European railways holiday. It was sitting on a table in the English bookshop wing of Dussmann’s in Berlin, too chunky to justify including in the luggage that had to be hefted on and off the train. It looked right up
The Nix by Nathan Hill: Nothing ventured, nothing gained Read More »
Back in 2015, Claire Fuller’s much acclaimed Our Endless Numbered Days made it on to my books of the year list. I have a track record of disappointment with second novels, either expecting too much on my part or perhaps just one excellent novel in them on the author’s. Nothing wrong with that, of course:
Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller: Knowing the worst or hoping for the best? Read More »
This is a turn up for the books, so to speak: the first part of my February paperback preview includes three short story collections. No, don’t go – I was like you once, dismissing short stories as not for me, but somewhere along the line, I’m not sure how, I’ve undergone a conversion. It used
Paperbacks to Look Out for in February 2017: Part One Read More »
Regular readers of this blog will know that I have a thing about books and their jackets. Without the right jacket, readers can be disappointed – promised something that wasn’t delivered through no fault of the author – and writers can be let down, not reaching as many readers as they should. This particular jacket,
Wait for Me, Jack by Addison Jones: Marriage and how to survive it Read More »
Such a striking cover for this debut, and entirely fitting given it’s set in the English countryside although animal lovers may get a bit more than they bargained for in this novel about a young Slovakian woman who leaves London to work as an au pair for a couple at Fairmont Hall, the house which
English Animals by Laura Kaye: An outsider’s view… Read More »
The second part of February’s preview begins with its feet firmly planted in the US – New York to be precise – before nipping over to continental Europe for the last two titles. I’m not sure why but Tim Murphy’s Christodora has been on my radar for quite some time, probably something to do with
Books to Look Out for February 2017: Part Two Read More »