Book news, reviews and recommendations
Five short thematically linked reviews
This is my second post featuring novels I’ve enjoyed set in London, a city I’ve visited almost every year of my adult life but still find places I’ve not seen before to delight me as I discovered on my first post-lockdown holiday. It’s a city of many different faces some of which you’ll find in …
Before writing this, I thought I’d check the definition of gothic literature of which, naturally, the internet being what it is, there are many to pick from. There seems to be general agreement that a gothic novel includes terror, the macabre or the bizarre which fits the five novels below, all written in recent years, …
I’m fortunate to be in a long and happy relationship which is perhaps why I’m drawn to novels about couples who’re are still together after many years. The novels below explore five long relationships, some similar, others very different, all but one with links to a full review. Set in Morecambe, Cath Barton’s In the …
There’s something about the idea of two people inextricably linked since before they were born that fascinates many of us, eyes drawn to the double buggy pushed down the street. So much so that I’m surprised I haven’t read more novels with a set at their centre, not to mention the plot twist possibilities. Below …
I’ve long enjoyed campus novels but much more so since my partner became an academic. They frequently have a satirical bent as if the author’s getting things of their chest which I’ve come to understand is quite often the case. Here, then, are five of many campus novels I’ve read, three with links to my …
I’m much more of an optimist than a pessimist, sometimes a silly one particularly regarding the weather although an excellent German app is helping me over that. Perhaps that’s why dystopian fiction is far from my favourite genre. That said, I’m surprised by how many novels I’ve read which might be described in that way. …
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 …
Given its importance in most of our lives, friendship doesn’t seem to figure in fiction as much as might be expected, often part of characters’ backstories rather than its central focus, or perhaps that’s just the kind of fiction I read. I’ve already posted once on it but it’s a theme I’m sufficiently keen on …
I’m more of a novella than a doorstopper reader but now and again one comes along that sounds irresistible, a novel you can lose yourself in. Your definition and mine may differ but anything over 400 pages has me worrying about whether at least 100 of those could have been cut by a discerning editor. …
I’ve long had a weakness for American small town novels. I’m not entirely sure why. Perhaps it’s the idea of a small canvas onto which universal human traits are projected together with a curious nostalgia for a country where I’ve spent quite a few holidays but never felt I’d entirely got to know. Hard to …
Door-stopping chunksters often fit the bill if you’re in the mood for a good old-fashioned bit of storytelling but if it’s a succinct, finely-honed literary punch you’re after, it’s hard to beat a novella. This is my fourth Five Novels I’ve Read post devoted to novellas which gives you some idea of how much I …