Book news, reviews and recommendations
I’m sure readers will have gathered that Naomi Ishiguro is the daughter of Kazuo by now, although that’s not the reason I wanted to read Common Ground. She was once a bookseller at my lovely local indie, Mr B’s, which piqued my interest, that and a glowing quote from Rowan Hisayo Buchanan adorning its rather […]
Common Ground by Naomi Ishiguro: ‘Solidarity and friendship’ Read More »
Part two of April’s paperback preview is a little less starry than the first instalment with its two prize winners but still full of goodies, a few of which I’ve already read beginning with Polly Samson’s A Theatre for Dreamers. Set in 1960, it’s the story of a group of artists, writers and hedonists drawn
Paperbacks to Look Out For in April 2021: Part Two Read More »
I’m not one for wackiness, tending to run in the opposite direction at the mere mention of magic realism. I hope that description doesn’t put you off but I can’t think of a more apposite word: whimsical doesn’t cover it as you’ll see from the list below. Here then are five novels I’ve read with
Five Weird and Wonderful Works of Fiction I’ve Read Read More »
Unsettled Ground is Claire Fuller’s fourth novel. She’s one of those authors whose writing straddles the often very thin line between literary and commercial fiction, not that I’m sure I could define either of those terms. Suffice to say I’ve read and enjoyed all four, beginning with her debut, Our Endless Numbered Days, back in
Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller: No pastoral idyll here Read More »
Another great month for paperbacks should you need to top up that TBR pile after reading your way through a long pandemic winter. This first installment includes two from my 2020 books of the year list, beginning with Douglas Stuart’s Booker Prize-winning Shuggie Bain. Stuart’s novel follows the eponymous Shuggie over a decade from the
Paperbacks to Look Out For in April 2021: Part One Read More »
Georgina Harding is one of those writers whose work I’ve long thought underrated. Her elegant, understated prose is meticulously crafted, never more so than in Harvest, her third novel about the Ashe family which echoes both The Gun Room and Land of the Living in its exploration of the legacy of war. The brooding that
Harvest by Georgina Harding: ‘But this was only a moment of sunlight’ Read More »
Back in 2015, I reviewed Robert Seethaler’s A Whole Life, a beautifully written novella about a man who’d barely left his mountain hamlet, revealing the richness of even the simplest of lives. The following year’s The Tobacconist, set in Vienna in the months before Hitler annexed Austria, was equally striking raising high hopes for his
The Field by Robert Seethaler (transl. Charlotte Collins: Giving voice to the dead Read More »
No contest for the book with which to kick off this second instalment of April’s new fiction. I reviewed Jon McGregor’s Reservoir 13 four years ago beginning with a paean of praise for this writer who seems to excel himself with each new book. Impossible, then, to resist reading Lean Fall Stand as soon as
Books to Look Out For in April 2021: Part Two Read More »
Two years ago, I reviewed Takis Würger’s The Club whose exploration of entitlement through the appalling behaviour of an Oxford University boxing club struck horribly familiar chords. Stella, his new novel, also tackles discomfiting territory this time through a love story about a wealthy young Swiss man and the beautiful artists’ model he meets in
Stella by Takis Würger (transl Liesl Schillinger): In search of truth Read More »
I’d not read anything by Danielle Evans before The Office of Historical Corrections turned up, although the title of her prize-winning, Before You Suffocate your Own Fool Self, had caught my eye. This second collection comprises seven stories, one lengthy enough to qualify as a novella, which explore racism in America and its complicated history.
April signals spring for most of us in the UK although I tend to get excited about it in early March. This year there’s more hope than usual vested in the longed-for change of weather and the possibility of socialising outside. Plenty of books to keep us occupied if that hope proves unfulfilled, four of
Books to Look Out For in April 2021: Part One Read More »