Book news, reviews and recommendations
Back in 2009, after a long and illustrious career as a novelist, Margaret Drabble called time on writing fiction, following her announcement with the publication of The Pattern in the Carpet, a kind of memoir through jigsaws that I have yet to read but which I’m told is very good. Surprisingly, then, this year saw […]
The Pure Gold Baby by Margaret Drabble: A second swansong? Read More »
This is my fourth literary trip to Iceland this year – Hannah Kent’s impressive debut Burial Rites, Sarah Moss’s Names for the Sea and Michel Rostain’s novel/memoir The Son all took me there in one way or another and now Auđur Ava Ólafsdóttir’s quirky novel Butterflies in November. It opens with the killing of a
Set at the end of the nineteenth century, Equilateral opens in the Egyptian desert where nine hundred thousand Arab fellahin labour to create a vast equilateral triangle which will be seen from Mars, so Sanford Thayer, celebrated astronomer and instigator of the project, has calculated. Inspired by Giovanni Schiaparelli’s maps based on his observations of
Equilateral by Ken Kalfus: A tale of folly, madness and Martians Read More »
I have to confess that I hadn’t heard of And Other Stories until a copy of Ivan Vladislavić’s Double Negative dropped through my letterbox. They’re a not-for-profit organisation who publish books funded by subscriptions from the likes of you and me, readers keen to support new writing and happy to pay an annual subscription for
Double Negative by Ivan Vladislavić from And Other Stories: A new approach to publishing Read More »
Given that it’s ‘best this’ and ‘best that’ time of the year I thought I’d list my own top six favourite reads of 2013, particularly as it’s been one of my best reading years in ages. Unsurprisngly, I’ve failed miserably to keep to my limit so here are my top however many in no particular
Six favourites from 2013, and then some Read More »
Corsair is one of my favourite imprints, a member of a select band that always published far too many tempting books to include them all when I was a reviews editor. One I had to drop, reluctantly, a couple of years ago was Cathleen Schine’s The Three Weissmanns of Westport which had kept me entertained
Fin and Lady by Cathleen Schine: Holly Golightly plays guardian Read More »
If you understand that heading you’ll know what Alan Connor’s book is all about. It’s the crossword’s centenary this year – 21st December to be precise, the date on which the first one appeared in an American newspaper. I’m not a crossword aficionado and I think this proof, which was sent in a bundle by
Two Girls, One on Each Knee (7) by Alan Connor: = patella Read More »
Those who’ve read and enjoyed Per Petterson’s Out Stealing Horses may be pleased to hear that his 1987 debut has been translated into English for the first time. Petterson is a master of the less is more writing style that I so admire and Don Bartlett has proved adept at keeping to the spirit of
For me, Alice McDermott belongs to a small, select band of authors who write slim, elegant novels, each word carefully chosen and none wasted. It includes Colm Tóibín, John McGahern and Anne Enright. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that they’re all Irish or of Irish extraction although Helen Dunmore is no slouch at this kind of
Someone by Alice McDermott: A quiet masterpiece Read More »
Three German soldiers – Bauer, Emmerich and an unnamed narrator – stride out into the frigid Polish winter, their minds on keeping warm and their empty stomachs. They’ve missed breakfast, determined to avoid the daily round of executions by volunteering to hunt down Jews and bring them back to the camp. Emmerich frets about his
It’s been some time since I’ve read a Peter Ackroyd novel – Hawksmoor was wonderful and I enjoyed Chatterton but somehow I couldn’t get on with his later fiction – however something about Three Brothers appealed so I thought I’d try again. Opening in the 1950s it tells the story of the Hanways who live
Three Brothers by Peter Ackroyd: Only connect Read More »