Book news, reviews and recommendations
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 »
Unlike October, the November paperback schedules appear to be packed with far too much temptation, at least for me. I’ve only read one of the titles that snagged my attention so I’ll start with that. I’m a great fan of Alice McDermott’s fiction. She’s in the quiet understated school that if you’re a regular reader
Paperbacks to Look Out for in November 2014 Read More »
Aren’t We Sisters? put me in a bit of a quandary. The author contacted me asking if I would review her novel, not an unusual experience as I’m sure fellow book bloggers know only too well. Usually, I politely decline but she’d heard of me through a mutual acquaintance whose opinion I trust and I’d
Aren’t We Sisters? by Patricia Ferguson: A lesson in not judging a book by its cover Read More »
I’m not sure how well most people know their postie. After long years working at home answering the door to receive bulky parcels of books, I have regular cheery exchanges with mine. I don’t think he’s the type to steam open letters before popping them through the door which is what Québécois writer Denis Thériault’s Bilodo
This is not an easy book to write about, nor to read. Short it may be, but it’s dense and its style takes a little getting used to but if you’re prepared to make the effort it pays dividends. Narrated by Anna Brown, a celebrated portrait painter, it begins with a cry of anguish at
All the Days and Nights by Niven Govinden: Attentive reading and its rewards Read More »
This slim, very beautiful novel is a love story, a work of aching nostalgia and a glorious celebration of language. Its gorgeous, colourful jacket suggests something pulsing and tropical but although that was partly what attracted me to it in the first place the writing is infinitely more subtle, shading into more variations of pearlescent
I’ve been reading Susan Cain’s Quiet, and feeling much better about myself. In it Cain posits the idea that the modern world is designed to be lived in and run by extroverts. We’re all made to feel we should be out there bouncing around the world, meeting as many people as we can and having
Quiet by Susan Cain: A vindication Read More »
It’s been a little while since I read a novel with a First World War setting. Several popped up here earlier in the year but I think I’ve managed to avoid most of the deluge of books published on it recently. It was the Charles Rennie Mackintosh thread running through Mr Mac and Me rather
Mr Mac and Me by Esther Freud: That’s Charles Rennie Mackintosh to you Read More »
There’s a curiously old-fashioned feel to Sebastian Hampson’s debut. It’s about a naïve gauche young man about to start his art history studies at the Sorbonne and his encounter with an older, sophisticated woman who decides to make something of him. The press release suggests Brief Encounter and there’s certainly a cinematic feel about Hampson’s
The Train to Paris by Sebastian Hampson: More than just a romp Read More »