Book news, reviews and recommendations
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 – From Phosphorescence to The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Read More »
I can’t resist a novel with a college reunion theme. There’s something about the idea of catching up with a group of people who met when young, although in the case of Ceridwen Dovey’s Life After Truth, the five main protagonists have remained good friends since Harvard, two of them married to each other. Dovey’s
Life After Truth by Ceridwen Dovey: Harvard revisited Read More »
I’m not sure what it was about Layla AlAmmar’s Silence is a Sense that made me put my hand up when I spotted it in my Twitter timeline. It’s not one of those titles which seem to be tweeted every half hour or so, although it certainly deserves that kind of exposure. Told through the
Silence is a Sense by Layla AlAmmar: Giving voice to the voiceless Read More »
Hard as it may seem to credit, it’s already nearly time for the announcement of The Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist: Wednesday, 10th March is the date to add to your jam-packed diary. Only novels written by women in English published between April 1st 2020 and March 31st 2021 qualify. Over the past few years
My Wishlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021 Read More »
Given that it was praised to the skies by the likes of Donal Ryan and John Banville, I’ve no idea how I managed to miss Conor O’Callaghan’s debut, Nothing on Earth, but I did. Fortunately, We Are Not In The World caught my eye on Twitter, looking very much up my literary alley. O’Callaghan’s novel
We Are Not In The World by Conor O’Callaghan: The unbearableness of loss Read More »
Annabel Lyon’s Consent has been on my radar for some time thanks to Naomi and Marcie’s coverage of the Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist, always a prize worth keeping an eye on. Both Naomi’s Consumed by Ink and Marcie’s Buried in Print are excellent blogs to follow if you’re interested in Canadian fiction although not nearly
Consent by Annabel Lyon: Who gives permission and who is to blame? Read More »
The second part of March’s paperback goodies starts with three books I’ve already read, two of which were favourites from last year, beginning with Eley Williams’ The Liar’s Dictionary in which a young woman, interning for the publisher of an unfinished encyclopaedic dictionary, fields the threatening phone calls made to its office with monotonous regularity.
Paperbacks to Look Out For in March 2021: Part Two Read More »
I was very taken with Nightshift’s premise of an obsessive relationship between two women set against a backdrop of nocturnal London when I spotted it on Twitter and put up my hand for a proof. Kiare Ladner’s debut follows Meggie’s attempt to exorcise Sabine’s influence, two decades after they last saw each other. Their toxic
Nightshift by Kiare Ladner: A disquieting tale of seduction and obsession Read More »
I’d registered the big splash Patricia Lockwood’s memoir Priestdaddy had made back in 2017 but hadn’t got around to reading it. She’s known for her presence on Twitter, something that had passed me by but it was the social media theme that made me put up my hand when her first novel, No One Is
No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood: Living life on your phone Read More »
March’s first batch of paperbacks kicks off with two excellent Irish novels, both of which I’ve read beginning with Naoise Dolan’s Exciting Times. Set in Hong Kong, it explores the supremely dysfunctional relationship between Ava and Julian. Ava is living in a scuzzy Airbnb and working as a EFL teacher when she meets Julian in
Paperbacks to Look Out For in March 2021: Part One Read More »
Lauren Oyler’s Fake Accounts is the first of two novels taking a swipe at social media’s pervasive influence that caught my eye in February’s publishing schedules. I’ll be reviewing the other next week. Set in 2016 with Trump freshly elected, Oyler’s debut follows her unnamed narrator who is shocked to find that her apparently liberal
Fake Accounts by Lauren Oyler: Scrolling, scrolling, scrolling… Read More »