Book news, reviews and recommendations
Quite some years ago now I read Michael Crummey’s The River Thieves while on holiday. Having thoroughly enjoyed it, I eagerly snapped up Galore when it was published but, sadly, was a little underwhelmed – it wasn’t a bad book but lacked the impact of his previous novel, at least for me. The 2011 IMPAC […]
Sweetland by Michael Crummey: No man is an island Read More »
I’ve had my eyes on Sara Taylor’s beautifully packaged debut for some time now. It’s not just the gorgeous jacket that attracted me, it’s also the novel’s structure: a set of interconnecting stories that span a century and a half in the lives of the inhabitants of three small islands off the coast of Virginia.
The Shore by Sara Taylor: The whole being greater than its parts Read More »
My second April paperback selection begins with a book whose jacket which will either charm you or make you feel as if you’ve stumbled into a Barbie nightmare. You might also be forgiven for thinking that there’s nothing new or original to say about the Kennedy assassination but having already read and enjoyed Nicole Mary
Paperbacks to Look Out For in April 2015: Part 2 Read More »
Jill Alexander Essbaum’s debut is one of those books about which there’s been a good deal of eager anticipation in my neck of the Twitter woods. That way disappointment often lies but this twenty-first century take on Emma Bovary turns out to live up to all that’s been tweeted. Although Hausfrau is Essbaum’s first novel
Hausfau by Jill Alexander Essbaum: Emma Bovary, a twenty-first century reprise Read More »
Regular visitors to this blog may have noticed my tendency to bang on about jackets and how they so often do not fit the book in question. It’s long been a bugbear of mine. If the jacket’s eye-catching, attractive and reflects the book’s contents chances are the readers it’s aimed at will pick it up.
The Ladies of the House: A book that perfectly fits its cover Read More »
As you can tell from the title there are so many tasty paperbacks on offer in April that I’m gong to have to spread them across two posts. Such a shame! I’ll kick off with the novel that will no doubt be top of many readers’ lists, Ali Smith’s Baileys Prize longlisted How to Be
Paperbacks to Look Out For in April 2015: Part 1 Read More »
This is the first novel I’ve read by Karen Campbell. Her last, This is Where I Am, appeared on my radar at some stage but I didn’t get around to reading it for some reason. Rise is one of those novels that occupies the middle ground between literary and commercial fiction for me: polished writing
Rise by Karen Campbell: Drama in the glens Read More »
I wasn’t at all sure about James Hannah’s debut when it arrived. The press release claimed it was for David Nicholls fans of which I have been one since the immensely enjoyable One Day but I’ve been suckered by that kind of comparison before. Having decided to give it a try, I was distracted by
The A-Z of You and Me by James Hannah: A lexicon of love Read More »
Recently I was asked by a friend what I thought she ought to put in her biographical notes for a novel she’s submitting to a few agents. She’d been looking through those short paragraphs which preface most books – sometimes only a line or two if the author’s particularly cagey. I always look at them
A Writer’s Life: Interested or not? Read More »
You may remember Ann-Marie MacDonald’s name from her second novel, The Way the Crow Flies. It was about a Canadian murder case – a miscarriage of justice – and I seem to remember that it had quite a lot of favourable attention when it was published in the UK ten years ago. Adult Onset is
Adult Onset by Ann-Marie MacDonald: Things get better Read More »
Now here’s a book you can knock off in a few hours and have a great deal of fun while doing so. H spotted it before I did which must be a first given that it’s a novel. He was chortling so much at a review that I felt I had to read the book.
Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher: Letters from the front Read More »