Book news, reviews and recommendations
I read the Stinging Fly Press edition of Wendy Erskine’s Sweet Home a while ago mainly because I’ve yet to read anything published by them that hasn’t impressed. I enjoyed its quiet stories of everyday people very much which is what made me put up my hand for Dance Move and it didn’t disappoint. I’ve […]
Dance Move by Wendy Erskine: Quiet brilliance Read More »
It only seems a blink of an eye since the announcement of the last Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist, or at least that’s how it feels to me. Nevertheless, it is that time again and Tuesday, 8th March is the date to add your diary should you be as keen as I am on this
My Women’s Prize for Fiction 2022 Wishlist Read More »
The second part of March’s paperback preview begins with two novels on an art theme: one I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed; the other I haven’t but it comes highly recommended. Maylis de Kerangal’s Painting Time follows one of three students who meet in Brussels while on a trompe l’œil course. Paula shares her small apartment
Paperbacks to Look Out For in March 2022: Part Two Read More »
Irish writer Sheila Armstrong’s debut collection How to Gut a Fish came with a glowing endorsement from Roddy Doyle which was part of the lure for me; that and the hint of the surreal in its blurb. The collection comprises fourteen stories, none more than twenty pages long, each very different from the other. As
How to Gut a Fish by Sheila Armstrong: A striking, idiosyncratic collection Read More »
Peirene Press novellas are reliably excellent but rarely cheery reads. Katja Oskamp’s Marzahn, Mon Amour bucks that trend with its tender, affectionate portrait of a community told through a set of thumbnail sketches of her clients by an unnamed writer turned chiropodist. Regular readers might notice that this is the second visit to Berlin in
Marzahn, Mon Amour by Katja Oskamp (transl. Jo Heinrich): An everyday gem Read More »
With spring on the horizon here in the UK, perhaps more in hope than in reality after last week’s storms, I’m starting March’s paperback preview with two books that should raise a smile. Set in a small American town, Katherine Heiny’s Early Morning Riser follows Jane who meets the handsome Duncan when she locks herself
Paperbacks to Look Out For in March 2022: Part One Read More »
Telling a city’s story through a single building and its inhabitants is such an appealing device. Żanna Słoniowska did it memorably with Lviv in The House with the Stained-glass Window. Emma Harding’s Friedrichstrasse 19 takes a similar tack with the added lure of exploring the history of Berlin, always a favourite setting, through the lives
Friedrichstrasse 19 by Emma Harding: ‘You will endure. What else can we do?’ Read More »
This is the second novel I’ve reviewed this year with a backdrop of The Troubles. Set in the 1979 on a tiny remote Irish island rather than in a 1993 Ulster village, Audrey Magee’s The Colony is very different from Jan Carson’s The Raptures. Two men make their way to the island, planning to spend
The Colony by Audrey Magee: Two sides of the story Read More »
There was a definite family theme running through much of the first part of March’s fiction preview; this second part is more of a mixed bag although it does start with a novel about a family, and an infamous one at that. As I say all too often on here, then promptly read the exception
Books to Look Out for in March 2022: Part Two Read More »
I’m a sucker for novels about long term relationships, the complicated kind rather than the reasonably straightforward happy ones although they, too, have their turbulent moments. Marijke Schermer’s Love, If That’s What It Is looked right up that particular alley with its story of the breakdown of Terri and David’s 25-year marriage, told from the
I’m a big fan of debuts, always hoping to read something by an author whose career I can settle into and enjoy. It doesn’t always pay off but sometimes I come across one that I have to keep reminding myself is a first novel such is the assurance and accomplishment of the writing. Daphne Palasi
Brown Girls by Daphne Palasi Andreades: Growing up brown in Queens Read More »