Book news, reviews and recommendations
Part two of March’s paperback preview begins with one of my books of 2023 although I suspect I wouldn’t have read Victoria MacKenzie’s For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain had I not been sent a copy. MacKenzie’s debut reimagines the lives of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe, alternating the stories […]
Paperbacks to Look Out For in March 2024: Part Two Read More »
I knew I wouldn’t be in for a straightforward piece of linear narrative when I was pitched Helen Oyeyemi’s Parasol Against the Axe but I hadn’t realised that her adopted home city is Prague, the narrator of her new novel which sees a hen party descend on the city. Hardly an unusual event except that
I was intrigued by the premise of Ashani Lewis’ debut when I spotted it on Netgalley, putting my hand up, undeterred by the over-used Donna Tartt comparison in the blurb. Opening in Oregon, Winter Animals sees a thirty-six-year-old woman taken up by four young, privileged British people, whose only object in life seems to be
Winter Animals by Ashani Lewis: Shiny, happy people Read More »
Lots of paperbacks to herald in the spring, which seems to have arrived worryingly early this year, beginning with one by a favourite author. After avoiding Rodham in the wake of fellow Curtis Sittenfeld fans’ disappointment, I was keen to get my hands on Romantic Comedy. Sally’s a script writer, weary of the double standard
Paperbacks to Look Out For in March 2024: Part One Read More »
I’m always up for a bit of academic satire which is why I said yes to a proof of Julius Taranto’s How I Won a Nobel Prize, much lauded in the US. Its central theme is cancel culture which, as my very own academic tells me, is a much bigger deal in American academia than
How I Won a Nobel Prize by Julius Taranto: Cancelling the cancelled Read More »
Laird Hunt’s Zorrie was a surprise hit for me the year before last. The story of an ordinary woman leading a simple life, it reminded me of both Robert Seethaler’s A Whole Life and Elizabeth Strout’s novels, landing a place on my books of the year list. Unsurprisingly, then, I put up my hand for
Float Up, Sing Down by Laird Hunt: If you like Elizabeth Strout… Read More »
Part two of March’s preview begins with a novel I hope to see on a multitude of awards lists. Carys Davies’ Clear is set in 1843 against the backdrop of two massive upheavals in Scottish history: the continuing, brutal clearance of its estates by voraciously greedy landlords and the formation of the Free Church of
Books to Look Out For in March 2024: Part Two Read More »
The Lodgers is acclaimed poet Holly Pester’s first novel. I’m partial to novels by poets and the premise of this one sounded interesting: a woman returns to her hometown, subletting an apartment overlooking her mother’s house, imagining the life of the lodger who’s taken over her room in the last house she lived. Sounds simple
The Lodgers by Holly Pester: Living on the margins Read More »
I’d only read one book by a Syrian author – Nihad Sirees’ Tales of Passion – before Samar Yazbek’s novella which seems a bit of a gap. Yazbek is acclaimed, both within her country and outside it, and has written in an impressively wide number of genres, from journalism to television drama. Where the Wind
Spring’s finally on my horizon, optimist as I am. Quite a few goodies to tide us over until it properly arrives beginning with Adelle Waldman’s Help Wanted set in a superstore where the poorly managed, poorly paid logistics team start their day at 3.55 am, restocking the shelves. With a promotion in the offing, the
Books to Look Out For in March 2024: Part One Read More »
It was its Georgian setting that attracted me to Leo Vardiashvili’s debut, Hard by a Great Forest. It’s a part of the world I know little about although what I’ve read suggests that it’s beautiful enough to make me want to visit were it more peaceful. Vardiashvili’s novel takes its narrator back to the country
Hard By a Great Forest by Leo Vardiashvili: ‘They say you can never go home again.’ Read More »