Book news, reviews and recommendations
Despite the rain outside and the woolly cardigan I’m desperate to abandon but can’t seem to shrug off, it’s almost June and the holiday reading season is upon us. I’ve spent the last few days alternating between She Left me the Gun, Emma Brockes’s superb but harrowing account of finding out about her mother’s South […]
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter: A good old fashioned bit of escapism Read More »
Thanks to the miracle of a gloriously sunny Bank Holiday there’s been more walking than reading over the past few days. With its episodic style, Evan S. Connell’s Mrs Bridge fitted this kind of weekend nicely. Written in understated elegant prose, it’s made up of 117 short pieces following Mrs Bridge from her newly wed
Mrs Bridge by Evan S. Connell: A1950s gem Read More »
For those of us who don’t live in London the National Theatre’s link up with the Picturehouse cinema group is a godsend. Last night we went to see the much lauded This House, partly in the line of duty for H but also for some stonking entertainment. The play opens in 1974. Edward Heath has called
This House by James Graham and Joy by Jonathan Lee Read More »
I hope that all went well for the many booksellers working their socks off yesterday selling Dan Brown’s new novel but I can’t help feeling sad that so much depends upon a handful of authors to keep the book trade afloat. So many excellent books sink without trace or leave little impression. I haven’t read
Alice by Judith Hermann (transl. Margot Bettauer Dembo): Small but perfectly formed Read More »
Catching the train home after Philip French’s fascinating Fifty Years as a Film Critic talk on Saturday we had ten minutes to spare at the station. I walked into W H Smiths and H gave a barely audible sigh. Now that I’m no longer a reviews editor I think he’d got it into his head
What’s in a genre? A reprise Read More »
I’ve been reading Marcel Theroux’s Strange Bodies for a review and wondering where I’d shelve it if I was back in my old bookselling days. It reads like a polished piece of literary fiction but it’s clear from the start that things are going to become pretty visceral, and indeed they do. Not to spoil
Strange Bodies by Marcel Theroux: What’s in a genre? Read More »
I’ve been circling warily around Andrew Miller’s Costa Prize winning Pure for some time now. Miller’s first novel, Ingenious Pain, is one of my favourite books. Set in the 18th century, its main protagonist, James Dyer, is conceived on an icy night as a result of an adulterous coupling with a stranger. James cannot feel
The second novel conundrum Read More »
The Authors’ Club Best First Novel shortlist has just been announced, not one that’s likely to send many readers rushing to check out who’s on it but it’s well worth a look. The prize was established in 1954 and although many of the winners have sunk into obscurity some went on to have a very
Another day, another prize list Read More »
Having enjoyed a couple of holidays in Morocco, I was drawn to Lawrence Osborne’s new novel, The Forgiven, although its synopsis – bickering couple get lost and knock down a young Moroccan on their way to a hedonistic party thrown by two gay men in their lavishly restored desert retreat – seemed unlikely to bring
Morocco bound by Lawrence Osborne Read More »
I read this on the train yesterday, on my way to London to meet M at the wonderful Dishoom in Covent Garden. I usually take a slim novel on a train journey, something around 150-200 pages fits neatly in my bag, and on Wednesday evening I picked out Susana Fortes’s Waiting for Robert Capa. I
Waiting for Robert Capa by Susana Fortes: Love and war Read More »
I’m half-way through Jane Feaver’s An Inventory of Heaven, due out in paperback next month. It’s far from a bad book, although it does explore the rather well trodden territory of childhood and dark secrets, but I’ve been keeping company with Haruki Murakami and Kate Atkinson for most of this month and so perhaps have
A tip top reading month Read More »