Book news, reviews and recommendations
My Salinger Year is Joanna Rakoff’s account of her first job after completing her post-grad studies in London, a year spent working for J. D. Salinger’s literary agent. It’s 1996 and on her first day she wonders where her computer is only to be presented with an electric typewriter then put to work typing up […]
My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff: A book to cherish Read More »
I tend to buy new books in bookshops and backlist online, partly because it’s become more and more difficult to track down less popular titles that have been published for a little while on the High Street. One such, Dorian Lynskey’s history of protest songs – cleverly called 33 Revolutions per Minute – had been
33 Revolutions per Minute by Dorian Lynskey: The perils of buying online Read More »
Olivia Laing’s book opens with a vivid anecdote about two men, both visiting lecturers at the renowned University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. One is a well-established author with many accolades under his belt, the other soon will be. Both of them are in deep trouble: they’re on their way to the liquor store – it’s
The Trip to Echo Spring by Olivia Laing: Why writers drink Read More »
I’ve spent two Christmases in Berlin – one in the old East in the shadow of the TV tower, the other just inside the old West close to Checkpoint Charlie, now a tourist attraction complete with sentry box. You can’t get away from history in this city, although it’s very much more about the Wall
Red Love by Maxim Leo: Life behind the Berlin Wall Read More »
This post was prompted by my finishing Kathleen Jamie’s Findings which seems to me to be a perfect example of what I’ve been calling in my head the ‘new nature writing’. Jamie is an acclaimed poet and it shows in her wonderfully pared back descriptions of tracking the elusive corncrake on the island of Coll,
Findings by Kathleen Jamie: The new nature writing Read More »
This may seem an unusual post from me but I enjoy eating almost as much as I enjoy reading and would do a lot more of it were I not in fear of an exploding waistline. Travel comes a close third which makes Mina Holland’s culinary atlas an attractive prospect, all the more so thanks
The Edible Atlas by Mina Holland: A tasty little post which involves Jaffa cakes Read More »
You’re either brave or happy to court controversy if you choose to write a book with this kind of title unless you mean it to be taken with a pinch of salt. You lay yourself open to be shot down in flames, ridiculed for your ignorance and put right by every Tom, Dick and Henrietta
Fifty Books that Changed the World by Andrew Taylor: A brave, bold claim Read More »
Readers in their 40s or 50s are likely to find themselves smiling, or perhaps grimacing, wryly in recognition within the first few paragraphs of Ben Watt’s poignant memoir of his parents. There’s a point at which roles are reversed and you find yourself worrying about your parents, whether they’re eating enough, drinking too much, living
Romany and Tom by Ben Watt: Comes to Us All Read More »
The Telling Room’s subtitle is ‘A Tale of Passion, Revenge and the World’s Finest Cheese’ which as a connoisseur of quirkiness I found hard to resist. Michael Paterniti fell in love with the idea of Ambrosio Molinos de las Heras’ Páramo de Guzmán cheese, packed in its swanky gold and white liveried tin and selling
The Telling Room by Michael Paterniti: Cheese and Castilian charisma 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 »
Being of a certain age, I have several over-80s in my life and have lost several more dear to me in recent years. Some have aged well – I have a lovely memory of my 90-year-old aunt executing high kicks in her kitchen a few months before she died, delighted when H couldn’t match her
Ammonites and Leaping Fish by Penelope Lively: Ageing with grace and eloquence Read More »