Book news, reviews and recommendations
The one thing I’m sure about with my first October title is that it will be all over what used to be called the broadsheet review pages. I was not nearly as fond of Alan Hollinghurst’s Man Booker Prize-winning The Line of Beauty as many hence my doubts about Our Evenings which follows two men, […]
Books to Look Out For in October 2024: Part One Read More »
This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy in as many hands as I could. Iain Banks was one of those writers talented enough to excel in at least two genres. Not being
Blasts from the Past: The Crow Road by Iain Banks (1992) Read More »
Jackson Brodie’s last outing came after a gap of nine long years so I was delighted when Death at the Sign of the Rook popped up on Netgalley a mere three years after Big Sky was published. For those who’ve yet to read Atkinson’s crime series or watch Jason Isacc’s brilliant portrayal of Jackson in
Despite a preference for spare, concise fiction, I do enjoy a good chunkster. Done well, they can be the perfect escape when all you want is lose yourself in a good old-fashioned piece of storytelling. Below are five doorstoppers, each with a link to a review on my blog. Set in an Irish seaside town,
Five More Doorstopping Novels I’ve Read Read More »
I jumped at the chance to read Sarah Manguso’s new novel when it was pitched to me. Very Cold People was one of my books of 2022. Written in spare, crisp prose, it’s a bleak novella about an abusive childhood, extraordinarily powerful. Liars is the equally bleak story of a dysfunctional marriage told from the
Liars by Sarah Manguso: ‘I was in charge of everything and in control of nothing.’ Read More »
I was delighted when I spotted a new Evie Wyld on NetGalley but less so when I read the blurb which mentioned a ghost watching his girlfriend grieving his death, the kind of device which sets off alarm bells for me. Set across several timelines and two continents, The Echoes unfolds Hannah’s story, revealing what
The Echoes by Evie Wyld: ‘Distance. The great reliever and creator of pain.’ Read More »
Another disappointingly thin paperback month although it kicks off with a gem, recently longlisted for the Booker Prize, one of two wishes fulfilled for me. Fugitive Pieces author Anne Michaels’ Held is her third novel making three in almost three decades, an indication of the care and thought with which she approaches her craft. It
Paperbacks to Look Out For in September 2024 Read More »
I was delighted to see a new Donal Ryan in the publishing schedules, jumping at the chance to read it as soon as it appeared on NetGalley. Heart, Be at Peace returns to the setting of Ryan’s debut, A Spinning Heart, a decade after many in the town were devastated when the son of the
Heart, Be at Peace by Donal Ryan: Revisiting the past Read More »
Lauren Aliza Green’s debut is one of those novels whose blurb seduced me with a list of comparisons with authors whose names tick my literary boxes. I ought to know better by now although in this case it paid off pretty well. The World After Alice sees the wedding of her best friend to her
The World After Alice by Lauren Aliza Green: ‘How does someone survive this?’ Read More »
This second batch of September’s new fiction kicks off with one of the year’s big titles just as the first did. As Elizabeth Strout fans will know, many of her characters recur throughout her loosely connected series of novels, rather as they do in Kent Haruf’s Holt books. In Tell Me Everything, it’s Bob Burgess
Books to Look Out For in September 2024: Part Two Read More »
I thoroughly enjoyed Charlotte Mendelson’s sharply funny novel, The Exhibitionist, so was delighted when Wife popped through my letterbox. Mendelson does a fine line in dysfunctional families turning her hand to the theme once again with Zoe and her wife Penny whose two daughters have a complicated set of co-parents, all intent on an equal
Wife by Charlotte Mendelson: Marrying a monster Read More »