Book news, reviews and recommendations
It’s unlikely that readers won’t already know about Booker Prize-winning Douglas Stuart’s new novel. Young Mungo has been all over my Twitter timeline for months. Despite the usual reservations about second novels, I was champing at the bit for a copy then circled around it in the same way I did with Shuggie Bain, suspecting […]
Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart: ‘He had so little to fear now’ Read More »
The second instalment of May’s new fiction kicks off with Georgi Gospinov’s Time Shelter. There are a multitude of novels about dementia but Gospinov’s takes a very different tack with its ‘clinic for the past’ offering rooms set up to mirror various time periods. As the rooms become more authentic, the healthy and wealthy book
Books to Look Out For in May 2022: Part Two Read More »
Back in 2018, I was sent a beautifully jacketed novella with an interesting premise. The press release included a puff from Jon McGregor which swung it for me. Its pared back, evocative description of the Spanish landscape and fable like story landed Luis Carrasco’s El Hacho on my books of the year list. His second
Ghosts of Spring by Luis Carrasco: Homelessness and hope Read More »
I’d not been to Manchester since I can’t remember when but I do recall going to a Rock Against Racism gig there which tells British readers of a certain age something. It was soon clear that the derelict, grimy city of those days had been replaced by a prosperous shiny updated version, at least in
Four Days in Manchester and Half a Book Read More »
Lots of tempting books to look out for in May before the summer reading bonanza begins when fewer books tend to snag my attention. I’ll begin with Benjamin Myers’ The Perfect Golden Circle, one I’m keen to read having enjoyed The Offing with its beautiful descriptive writing. Myers’ new novel is set in 1989 when
Books to Look Out For in May 2022: Part One Read More »
Six Degrees of Separation is a meme hosted by Kate over at Books Are My Favourite and Best. It works like this: each month a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six others to form a chain. A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the titles on the list,
Six Degrees of Separation – Our Wives Under the Sea to Frost in May Read More »
Back from Manchester (more of which next week) with a rare thing for me: a review of a book whose author approached me directly. I tend to politely turn these down to avoid any disappointment or awkwardness but I liked the sound of Clare O’Dea’s Voting Day which follows four women over the course of
Voting Day by Clare O’Dea: The importance of having your say Read More »
The premise of Heather Marshall’s Looking for Jane immediately appealed to me: the chance discovery of a misdelivered letter sets the woman who stumbled upon it on a quest to find the addressee, long since gone elsewhere. Marshall uses this trigger to explore the underground networks that existed in both Canada and the USA providing
Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall: ‘There will always be a need’ Read More »
This is the third novel in as many weeks I’ve read with a writing theme although it’s entirely different from either Antoine Wilson’s Mouth to Mouth or Andrew Lipstein’s Last Resort. It was part of my attraction to Lee Cole’s Groundskeeping but if I’m honest it was that lovely jacket that first snagged my attention.
Groundskeeping by Lee Cole: ‘Isn’t that what fiction is, though? Sanctioned lying?’ Read More »
Just one post for April’s paperbacks which includes five I’ve already read, beginning with a novel by an author who doesn’t get nearly the attention she deserves. Georgina Harding’s Harvest is the third in a loosely linked trilogy about the Ashe family and echoes both The Gun Room and Land of the Living in its
Paperbacks to Look Out For in April 2022 Read More »
Regular readers won’t be surprised to hear that it was the art theme that first drew me to Charlotte Mendelson’s The Exhibitionist but it’s a background note to the overriding one of dysfunctional families, another favourite, and they don’t come much more dysfunctional than the Hanrahans. Mendelson’s novel follows the family over a weekend when
The Exhibitionist by Charlotte Mendelson: ‘Hearts are elastic, but only up to a point’ Read More »