Book news, reviews and recommendations
I’m a sucker for biographical notes and always disappointed when they merely list previous books with a tight little sentence about where the author lives if you’re lucky. Partly nosiness on my part I’ll admit but often a little knowledge of an author’s life illuminates their writing. Reading one of Roma Tearne’s novels without knowing […]
The Road to Urbino by Roma Tearne: Last night I dreamt… Read More »
Not to beat about the bush – there’s a lot of sex in Carrie Tiffany’s novel and most of it not ornithological. I only mention it as the reviewer I commissioned to write about it when it came out in hardback emailed me to say that it was all too much for her. I was
A gloomy weather weekend, a suddenly free Sunday and no Scandi-crime distractions on TV resulted in more reading this weekend than I’d expected. We did manage to meet a friend for lunch at the Pythouse but the lovely gardens were a bit too soggy for any prolonged wandering. A slice of their Ginger Beer and
A World Elsewhere by Wayne Johnston: An unexpected treat Read More »
Maureen Lindley’s A Girl Like You tackles a little talked about episode in American history – the internment of US citizens of Japanese descent during the Second World War. Opening in 1939, this engrossing story is told from the point of view of Satomi Baker, the strong minded, beautiful daughter of a Japanese-American mother and
A Girl Like You by Maureen Lindley: Not America’s finest hour Read More »
I have to admit I was a little sceptical about The President’s Hat. I thought it might be a tad whimsical for me but it turns out to be an absolute delight from start to finish. It begins with an accountant, a little out of sorts with his job, treating himself to a solitary meal
Saturday was absolutely gorgeous in my part of the world. Two weeks ago we had planned to spend it wandering around eleven open gardens in a village not too far from us fully expecting that it would come to nothing as we couldn’t quite believe the weather would hold. The village is Mells and it’s
A quintessential English summer’s day and The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit Read More »
Yesterday the ICA hosted a conference for the Independent Alliance of publishers, a get together to devise a creative strategy for the tricky future which faces the book trade. I’m sure that they will have come up with some imaginative ideas. Rather like Foyles who reached out to all manner of people including other booksellers,
Hurrah for independent publishers! Read More »
The winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction will be announced tonight. I’m hoping for a Kate Atkinson victory but still reeling a little from the thought that I’ll soon have to refer to it as the Baileys Prize. Perhaps I’m being snobby. Let’s be honest – I am being snobby. But it’s hard to
Dirty Work by Gabriel Weston: Counting the cost Read More »
On Friday afternoon I sat reading in my garden in glorious sunshine. No missiles landed, no guns were fired. I wasn’t worried about whether the power would stay on or if I would be able to find basic supplies at my local Co-op. If I’d wanted to, I could have bought a cheap plane ticket
Meet Me in Gaza by Louisa B. Waugh: Sometimes we forget how lucky we are Read More »
I’m not sure how much notice most readers take of publishers or their imprints when choosing a book but Alma Books are well worth loking out for. They’re a small press and their list isn’t long but each book is well chosen and always worth a look. When I was a reviews editor for print
Sketcher by Roland Watson-Grant: A child narrator that works Read More »
Despite the rain outside and the woolly cardigan I’m desperate to abandon but can’t seem to shrug off, it’s almost June and the holiday reading season is upon us. I’ve spent the last few days alternating between She Left me the Gun, Emma Brockes’s superb but harrowing account of finding out about her mother’s South
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter: A good old fashioned bit of escapism Read More »