Book news, reviews and recommendations
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 into as many hands as I could. Water Music is the first T. C. Boyle novel I read back when he was T Coraghessan Boyle. […]
Blasts from the Past: Water Music by T. C. Boyle (1981) Read More »
I’ve often mentioned the power of novellas on this blog, how in the right hands a few pages can convey much more than several hundred. Mai Ishizawa’s prize-winning debut, The Place of Shells, is a fine example of that for me. Set during the pandemic, it’s narrated by an unnamed academic from Tōhoku, whose coastline
The Place of Shells by Mai Ishizawa (Transl. Polly Barton): Trauma, grief and memory Read More »
This second instalment of August paperbacks begins with Lissa Evans’s Small Bomb at Dimperley, one of last year’s favourites for me. There’s no money for the patching up Dimperely so desperately needs when Valentine returns from the war in 1945, finding himself elevated to the baronetcy when his missing eldest brother is declared dead, but
Paperbacks to Look Out For in August 2025: Part Two Read More »
Liadan Ní Chuinn’s debut collection comes garlanded with praise from a fistful of my favourite Irish writers including Wendy Erskine, Louise Kennedy and Lucy Caldwell, all heralding the arrival of a brilliant new talent. Every One Still Here comprises six stories, several quite brief, bookended by two lengthier pieces, all more than worthy of a
Every One Still Here by Liadan Ní Chuinn: A hard legacy Read More »
Not my favourite prize but, for some reason, I can’t resist putting together a wish list for the Booker. To be eligible for this year’s prize all books must be published in the UK or Ireland between 1st October 2024 and 30th September 2025 and have been written in English. The judges usually stick to
My 2025 Booker Wish List Read More »
August’s first batch of paperbacks begins a step or two outside my usual reading territory with Sam Mills’s The Watermark. Trapped in reclusive, once renowned author Augustus Fate’s work-in-progress, Jaime and Rachel are desperately trying to escape. To do so they move from Victorian Oxford to utopian Manchester landing themselves in a Russian winter before
Paperbacks to Look Out For in August 2025: Part One Read More »
I’d not read anything by Benjamin Wood when Seascraper was pitched to me. It’s his fourth book but this is his first novella, beautifully packaged with a cover that fits it well. Set sometime in the 1950s, it takes place over a single day which sees Thomas Flett lifted out of his hardscrabble life for
Seascraper by Benjamin Wood: Vividly atmospheric Read More »
This month’s snapshot includes a novel about three astronauts preparing to travel to Mars, a short story collection from an Irish national literary treasure and a memoir about living alone and unattached well into old age. The novel I’m reading is Meg Howrey’s The Wanderers which I bought having loved They’re Going to Love You,
A Snapshot of My Reading #6 Read More »
The second part of August’s preview kicks off with a new novel from Robbie Arnott, an author who’s become a favourite of mine. Dusk sees outcasts Iris and Floyd head to the highlands after hearing about a puma killing sheep and now humans. Travelling through a starkly beautiful landscape, they find a tavern, oddly enclosed
Books to Look Out For in August 2025: Part Two Read More »
I’ve had several successes with Swift Press, notably Ben Shattuck’s The History of Sound, one of last year’s favourites, enough to keep an eye on their upcoming titles. Alexander Starritt’s Drayton and Mackenzie is very different. Opening in the early 2000s, it follows James Drayton and Roland Mackenzie whose chance meeting a couple of years
Drayton and Mackenzie by Alexander Starritt: The odd couple Read More »
I liked the premise of Hal Ebbott’s debut and the starry endorsements from the likes of Miranda Cowley and Cate Lombardo suggested that it might appeal at a time when I was after a bit of quality easy reading. Beginning with a weekend when two wealthy New York couples celebrate a birthday in the country,
Among Friends by Hal Ebbott: A curate’s egg Read More »