Book news, reviews and recommendations
Kate Doyle’s I Meant It Once comprises sixteen short stories, some very short indeed which was about all I felt up to when I read it, plagued with a sore throat and headache. As ever, I’ll pick out a few favourites to give you a flavour of what’s on offer in this collection which features […]
I Meant It Once by Kate Doyle: A curate’s egg Read More »
I was a big fan of Chloe Lane’s debut, The Swimmers, which handled the tricky theme of assisted dying with empathy lightly underpinned with humour. A hard act to pull off but Lane did it beautifully which made me keen to read her second novel. Spanning just a few weeks, Arms & Legs follows Georgie
Arms & Legs by Chloe Lane: Playing with fire Read More »
The blurb for Ia Genberg’s The Details begins with the premise of a woman confined to bed by a mild fever, putting me a little in mind of Julia Blackburn’s The Leper’s Companions which I loved when I read it years ago. Genberg’s novel is nothing like Blackburn’s but I was very pleased it snagged
The Details by Ia Genberg (transl. Kira Josefsson): Less is more Read More »
A new Anne Enright is always worth looking out for although it has to be said I still have a copy of Actress, her last novel, sitting unread on my shelves. Of course, that didn’t stop me putting up my hand for The Wren, The Wren when I spotted it. Enright’s new novel follows a
The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright: Mothers and daughters Read More »
I was delighted when a proof of Paul Lynch’s Booker-longlisted Prophet Song dropped through my letter box. I’d been so impressed by his novella, Beyond the Sea, that I’d included it on my 2019 books of the year list. Set in a near future Ireland in the grips of an increasingly authoritarian regime, his new
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch: There but for the grace… Read More »
Our first trip after the 2020 summer of social distancing and lockdowns was to the New Forest, staying at Daisybank Cottage, a delightful Arts and Crafts B & B on the edge of Brockenhurst. It was a slightly odd experience, hardly surprising in the circumstances, but we enjoyed ourselves very much. This time we stayed
Three days in the New Forest and Most of a Book Read More »
Brandi Wells’ debut is one of those novels that could have gone either way for me. I spotted it on NetGalley and liked the blurb which reminded me a little of Jen Beagin’s Pretend I’m Dead. Our unnamed narrator clears up the mess made by the workers on the top floor of an office building,
Cleaner by Brandi Wells: Doing the dirty work Read More »
I’m not a laugh out loud kind of reader, shying away from novels whose blurbs suggest that kind of jollity although I do let fly the odd snigger now and again. I’m partial to a bit of smartarse humour but what most appeals is satire. If done well, ridicule is one of the most effective
Five Novels I’ve Read that Made Me Laugh Read More »
I’d not come across Jamel Brinkley’s writing before I spotted Witness on NetGalley. It’s a collection of short stories all set in New York which, regular readers won’t be surprised to hear, was what attracted me to it. I’ve picked out my favourite pieces below, beginning with the opening coming-of-age story. In the image of
Witness by Jamel Brinkley: Ten New York stories Read More »
I’d somehow got it into my head that Khashayar J. Khabushani was a poet which was part of the attraction of his debut, I Will Greet the Sun Again, but it turns out that its title is a quote from a poem by Forugh Farrokhzad, one of Iran’s foremost female poets, whose work was banned
I Will Greet the Sun Again by Khashayar J. Khabushani: Finding your own way Read More »
September’s second batch of paperbacks begins with two of my books of 2022, the first of which I was reluctant to read despite it being by one of my favourite authors. Elizabeth Strout’s Lucy by the Sea is both the second outing in quick succession for Lucy Barton and a pandemic novel hence the wariness.
Paperbacks to Look Out For in September 2023: Part Two Read More »