Book news, reviews and recommendations
I was keen to read Stewart O’Nan’s Ocean State having enjoyed his sympathetic, wryly humorous portrait of ageing, Henry, Himself, a few years ago. This new novel sounded entirely different. Opening just before Halloween in 2009, it arrived with a handful of American sweets as part of the marketing package including Tootsie Rolls which frequently […]
Ocean State by Stewart O’Nan: A keeper of secrets Read More »
Following on from her non-fiction handiwork, described as a ‘sister publication’ by the publishers, Sara Baume’s Seven Steeples is the latest in what I hope will be a continuing line of excellent books by Irish women writers this reading year. It spans eight years in the lives of Bell and Sigh who move into an
Seven Steeples by Sara Baume: Leaving the world behind Read More »
The first part of June’s paperbacks started with a novel hyped to the skies ahead of publication as does the second, although this time it’s a debut. Set in a prestigious New York publishing house, Zakiya Dalila Harris’ The Other Black Girl follows Nella, the only Black employee on the editorial staff until Hazel is
Paperbacks to Look Out For in June 2022: Part Two Read More »
Both its blurb and that empty chair on its cover warned me that Sarah Manguso’s Very Cold People was likely to be a bleak read but it was also what attracted me to this brief novella. Set in a small New England town, buttoned up and demarcated between rich and poor, Very Cold People sees
Very Cold People by Sarah Manguso: ‘I felt indistinct, like someone else’s dream’ Read More »
Five years ago, I reviewed Jennifer Egan’s Manhattan Beach, noting that it was seven years since her Pulitzer Prize-winning A Visit from the Goon Squad had been published. I was a little disappointed in it, truth be told, but when I spotted The Candy House in the schedules, I put up my hand, attracted by
The Candy House by Jennifer Egan: Virtual dystopia Read More »
Enough June paperbacks to more than make up for the lack of new titles that caught my eye I’m pleased to say, beginning with a book surrounded by huge amounts of brouhaha last year. Readers would have to have been living on Mars not to know about Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You. She’s
Paperbacks to Look Out For in June 2022: Part One Read More »
We’d rented an apartment in Milan, planning to give our stomachs a rest after a week of delicious but rich food although the excellent bakery just a few metres from our front door put paid to that. Unsurprisingly, the weather in Milan was very different from the Lakes, justifying my-pack-for-every-temperature tendency. We headed off to
Seven days in the Italian Lakes, Four Days in Milan and Four Books: Part Two Read More »
This is a first for me: a two-part what-I-did-on-my holidays piece. Our city and lakeside stays were so different I couldn’t fit them comfortably into one post, at least, that’s my excuse We’d booked a holiday in Italy just a few weeks before Covid knocked the world for six in February 2020, finally making it
Seven days in the Italian Lakes, Four Days in Milan and Four Books: Part One Read More »
Back from lovely Italy (more of which later in the week) with a disappointingly short June preview although I have read four of the eight that caught my eye so those come tried and tested beginning with the one that’s most likely to be on readers’ radars already. Miriam Toews’ Fight Night takes the form
Books to Look Out For in June 2022 Read More »
I’ve been a fan of Amy Bloom’s writing for many years. Both her short stories, collected together in Rowing to Eden, and her novels are marked by clarity, elegance and insight. It’s been over four years since White Houses was published and In Love, her memoir, explains the saddest of reasons why. In 2019, Bloom’s
In Love by Amy Bloom: ‘He is a strong, determined man of mettle and courage’ Read More »
I wasn’t at all sure I’d read Michael Arditti’s The Young Pretender but when I tweeted its arrival several people including Linda Grant and Amanda Craig sang its praises to the skies which persuaded me to give it a try and I’m glad they did. Subtitled ‘The Dramatic Return of Master Betty’, Arditti’s novella is
The Young Pretender by Michael Arditti: ‘I shall surely die if I may not be a player’ Read More »