Book news, reviews and recommendations
I’m not a fan of dystopian fiction. There’s quite enough of that in the twenty-four-hour news misery cycle playing out every day which seems even more miserable in 2016 than usual – or perhaps that’s just me. The blurb for Jenni Fagan’s The Sunlight Pilgrims sounded as if it might have a distinctly dystopian bent […]
The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan: A touch of the Iain Banks Read More »
If you’re a fan of Jay McInerney’s series of novels which began with Brightness Falls way back in 1992, you won’t need to be told who the Calloways are nor will you need to have explained to you why I was thrilled at the prospect of a new one despite my disappointment with The Good
Bright, Precious Days by Jay McInerney: Revisiting the Calloways Read More »
Remarkably slim paperback pickings this October which some of you may be relieved to hear. Just two to look out for one of which I’ve already reviewed. Lorna Gibb’s A Ghost’s Story is somewhat different from the more traditional scare-yourself-rigid variety, not so much a ghost story as the ‘autobiography’ of one of the most
Paperbacks to Look Out for in October 2016 Read More »
Bear with me – this is likely to turn into a long post. After last year’s successful jaunt in the Baltic states H and I decided that this year we’d take to the central European railways. We started in Berlin where, after two winter trips visiting a multitude of museums, we hoped to explore the
Eighteen Days in Central Europe and Two Books Read More »
Back from my travels in central Europe – more of that later in the week – with a look at what’s on offer in October’s publishing schedules. Robert Seethaler’s A Whole Life was one of my books of last year: elegant, beautifully expressed and deftly translated, this slim novella encapsulated the life of an ordinary
Books to Look Out for in October 2016 Read More »
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. There was something about Buddha Da’s blurb that instantly appealed to me: ‘a working-class Glaswegian man who discovers
Blasts from the Past: Buddha Da by Anne Donovan (2003) Read More »
Both Joan London’s previous novels – Gilgamesh and The Good Parents – stand out for me as fine examples of clean, elegant writing, free of unnecessary ornament. Both also share the theme which runs through The Golden Age: the plight of the outsider, or in this case, outsiders. Frank is the thirteen-year-old son of Jewish-Hungarian
The Golden Age by Joan London: The healing power of love Read More »
I was undecided about Billie Livingston’s novel at first. There was something about the jacket that made me think it might be a little slushy, a little too ‘heartwarming’. Then once I’d started it, every character seemed to have so many punches thrown at them that I faltered again but Livingston somehow managed to draw
The Crooked Heart of Mercy by Billie Livingston: Enduring love Read More »
I read Rowan Hisayo Buchanan’s debut immediately after Sara Taylor’s The Lauras. Both deal with themes of identity and the parent/child relationship but whereas Taylor’s novel had me foxed as to how to refer to her determinedly androgynous narrator, things are very much more straightforward with Buchanan’s protagonists. After his Canadian father dies en route
Harmless Like You by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan: Identity and not belonging Read More »
Sara Taylor’s debut, The Shore, was a masterclass in storytelling: a set of stories spanning a century and a half in the lives of the inhabitants of three small islands off the coast of Virginia which were so closely interconnected that it read like a novel. The Lauras is also stuffed full of stories as
The Lauras by Sara Taylor: One name, many stories Read More »
Some particularly delectable paperback treats in store for September, all but one of which I’ve already read and reviewed, beginning with Francesca Kay’s The Long Room set in the last few weeks of 1981 when terrorism was in full swing in Northern Ireland. In an MI5 back office, Stephen listens to tapes of tapped phone
Paperbacks to Look Out for in September 2016 Read More »