Book news, reviews and recommendations
A new novel by Jane Smiley is always something to look forward to but the premise of Some Luck is a particularly attractive one. It’s the first in a trilogy which tells the story of an American century reflected and refracted through one family – the Langdons – beginning in 1920. Each chapter of this […]
Some Luck by Jane Smiley: An American century in microcosm Read More »
Now there’s a title certain to be mangled in bookshops throughout the land and a brave one for a debut. I wonder if Judy Chicurel’s publishers tried to talk her out of it. It’s the title of the final chapter of the book whose meaning becomes clear towards its end. Set in the summer of
December publishing schedules often have little or nothing to tempt me unless they’re titles published in the final few days when a few juicy morsels often appear designed to catch the book token trade and perk up readers jaded by family Christmas shenanigans. The following four buck that trend, though, all published at the beginning
Books to Look Out for in December 2014 Read More »
Irish – and Irish-American – writers seem to specialise in a particular style of pared-back, elegant prose from which shines out the occasional lyrical gem: William Trevor, John McGahern, Colm Tóibin, Sebastian Barry, Jennifer Johnston, Elizabeth Bowen, Deirdre Madden, Alice McDermott… I could go on. Mary Costello joins that (very long) list with her debut
Academy Street by Mary Costello: ‘A life fitting on one page’ Read More »
Don’t you just love that jacket? Having sounded off about the ghastliness of the Aren’t We Sisters? cover a few weeks ago I had to mention it. Brightly coloured, eye-catching and surprisingly well suited to what’s inside it’s perfect, well for me at least. This Should be Written in the Present Tense is a quiet,
The most teeth-grindingly annoying comment that I heard from customers when I was a bookseller was ‘Books are so expensive, aren’t they.’ Obviously the answer is ‘No’ but let me explain quite why that is. Bear with me – I’ve been wanting to get this off my chest for some time. Let’s think about just
Books: Knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing Read More »
You don’t read Per Petterson for his cheeriness but I Refuse seemed even more sombre than usual to me. In it two men, close friends when they were young, meet briefly one morning by coincidence. Expensively dressed, Tommy has just parked his car when he spots Jim, shabby in his old reefer coat. Each recognises
I Refuse by Per Petterson (transl. Don Bartlett): Best read when cheerful Read More »
I don’t read as much fiction in translation as I should but when I see a novel translated by Carol Brown Janeway in the publishing schedules I sit up and take notice. It was through her that I first discovered Daniel Khelmann’s fiction, beginning with the very fine Measuring the World about two eighteenth-century German
F by Daniel Kehlmann (transl. Carol Brown Janeway): A match made in heaven Read More »
I’ll read anything by Philippe Claudel. His prose has a lovely, elegant expressiveness to it, trimmed of the flourishes and curlicues that some writers indulge in. All four of his novels are very different, from the dystopian The Investigation to Monsieur Linh and his Child, one of the most heart-wrenching novels I’ve ever read. He’s
Michel Faber’s The Crimson Petal and the White is a favourite of mine. A playful, sprawling, vibrant novel that takes you from the rancid, stinking alleys and raucous bawdy-houses of nineteenth-century London into the heart of its supposedly respectable upper echelons guided by seventeen-year-old Sugar, one of the smartest narrators you could possibly hope for.
The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber: SF, Jim, but not as we know it Read More »
Six Feet Under sits alongside The Wire, The West Wing and The Killing as one of the best television series in recent times in my book. In case you haven’t seen it – and if that’s the case I’d advise you to beg borrow or steal at least the first series – it’s set in
The Undertaker’s Daughter by Kate Mayfield: Six Feet Under in the American South Read More »