Book news, reviews and recommendations
As you can tell from the title there are so many tasty paperbacks on offer in April that I’m gong to have to spread them across two posts. Such a shame! I’ll kick off with the novel that will no doubt be top of many readers’ lists, Ali Smith’s Baileys Prize longlisted How to Be […]
Paperbacks to Look Out For in April 2015: Part 1 Read More »
This is the first novel I’ve read by Karen Campbell. Her last, This is Where I Am, appeared on my radar at some stage but I didn’t get around to reading it for some reason. Rise is one of those novels that occupies the middle ground between literary and commercial fiction for me: polished writing
Rise by Karen Campbell: Drama in the glens Read More »
I wasn’t at all sure about James Hannah’s debut when it arrived. The press release claimed it was for David Nicholls fans of which I have been one since the immensely enjoyable One Day but I’ve been suckered by that kind of comparison before. Having decided to give it a try, I was distracted by
The A-Z of You and Me by James Hannah: A lexicon of love Read More »
Recently I was asked by a friend what I thought she ought to put in her biographical notes for a novel she’s submitting to a few agents. She’d been looking through those short paragraphs which preface most books – sometimes only a line or two if the author’s particularly cagey. I always look at them
A Writer’s Life: Interested or not? Read More »
You may remember Ann-Marie MacDonald’s name from her second novel, The Way the Crow Flies. It was about a Canadian murder case – a miscarriage of justice – and I seem to remember that it had quite a lot of favourable attention when it was published in the UK ten years ago. Adult Onset is
Adult Onset by Ann-Marie MacDonald: Things get better Read More »
Now here’s a book you can knock off in a few hours and have a great deal of fun while doing so. H spotted it before I did which must be a first given that it’s a novel. He was chortling so much at a review that I felt I had to read the book.
Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher: Letters from the front Read More »
Spring’s on the horizon at last here in the UK and with it comes a fair few temptations in the publishing schedules, several of which stand out for me. Melissa Harrison’s debut, Clay, was much praised for her lyrical descriptions of nature when it was published in 2012. I didn’t get around to it until
Books to Look Out For in April 2015 Read More »
Made up of only nine short chapters, Yuri Herrera’s novella weighs in at just over one hundred pages. You might be forgiven for thinking you could knock it off in a few hours and move onto the next pressing book on the list that only seems to get longer but that would be a mistake.
I was surprised to find Seth Greenland’s novel on the Europa Editions list. They’re the publishers responsible for publishing the Elena Ferrante novels which took the literati Twitterati by storm last year and it’s still raging, although rhapsodising would be a better word. I’d associated them with fiction in translation but I see that at
I Regret Everything by Seth Greenland: A love story Read More »
It’s that time of year again. The Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction judges are putting the finishing touches to their longlist, due to be announced shortly. Only novels written by women in English published between April 1st 2014 and March 31st 2015 qualify for the award. It’s the one prize I pay attention to these
My wish list for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction 2015 Read More »
Claire Fuller’s flash fiction is one of my regular treats. Most weeks, usually on Wednesdays or Thursdays, she posts a hundred words inspired by a photograph. Sometimes funny, sometimes thought-provoking, they’re always inventive. She has a knack of making you look at the world in a slightly different way. Given all that, it’s no surprise
Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller: The incredible made credible Read More »