Book news, reviews and recommendations
Slim pickings for November’s paperbacks with just five that stand out for me, two of which I’ve already read. I’ll begin with one of my favourite books from last year which saw the return of the irascible yet essentially warm-hearted Olive Kitteridge, familiar to fans of Elizabeth Strout’s eponymous Pulitzer Prize-winning book published in 2008. …
Not a huge selection of paperbacks for October but enough to merit two posts I’m pleased to say. I’ve read three of the first batch already including one which at first sight seemed to be a piece of opportunistic publishing. Originally published in the US back in 2011, Tayari Jones’ Silver Sparrow was released here …
Paperbacks to Look Out for in October 2020: Part One Read More »
This October’s publishing schedules has fewer attention-grabbing novels than I’d hoped, given all the slipping and sliding earlier in the year but perhaps November’s Christmas sparklers will be brighter. I’ll begin with Bill Clegg’s The End of the Day. I read his first novel, Did You Ever Have a Family, back in 2015 when it …
Six Degrees of Separation is a meme hosted by Kate over at Books Are My Favourite and Best. It works like this: each month a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six others to form a chain. A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the titles on the list, …
Six Degrees of Separation – From Rodham to Spider Read More »
Just a one-part new title preview for September despite it being jam-packed with pandemic-postponed books. I’m beginning with one originally slated for much earlier in the year, Megan Hunter’s The Harpy, which I’ve already read. This brief novella is about a couple in the aftermath of infidelity, narrated from the perspective of Lucy whose husband …
I’m beginning this second instalment of August paperbacks with one I’ve already read. Linda Grant’s A Stranger City looks at how we’re all both connected and unconnected, portraying a post-referendum London through a set of disparate characters brought together by their links with a woman whose body has been pulled from the Thames. Each character’s …
Paperbacks to Look Out for in August 2020: Part Two Read More »
Another year, another Booker Prize longlist in the offing although this year has been far from normal both in the book world and beyond with titles bouncing around the publishing schedules like tennis balls thanks to the pandemic. I’d half expected a postponement of the longlist announcement but the Booker brigade seem to be sticking …
I’m beginning the first all-American instalment of August’s two-parter paperback preview with a book that was a standout for me in 2019. Bryan Washington’s Lot comes billed as a collection of short stories – some snapshots, others much longer – but for me it read like a fragmentary novella. Through it runs the story of …
Paperbacks to Look Out for in August 2020: Part One Read More »
The first batch of August’s new titles began with a book by a favourite author of mine as does this second, although I got off to a slow start with his writing. After being a wee bit underwhelmed by Donal Ryan’s The Thing About December, I loved From a Low and Quiet Sea and All …
Publishing schedules are beginning to look much more tempting now that the worst of the pandemic-related slippage has worked its way through, at least let’s hope so. I like to kick off proceedings with a title that made my heart sing when I spotted it and this time it’s Sarah Moss’ Summerwater. From Names for …
This second instalment of July paperbacks is a bit of a mixed bunch, two of which I’ve already read although I’ll begin with one that I haven’t. Anne Catherine Bomann’s Agatha sees a 71-year-old psychiatrist with no family or friends eagerly anticipating retirement when a young German woman walks into his clinic and demands an …
Paperbacks to Look Out For in July 2020: Part Two Read More »