Book news, reviews and recommendations
Friendship’s a funny old thing: it can last a life time – I’m often envious when my own friends talk about school friends they’re still close to – or it can be short but intense with a multitudes of variations in between. We talk about relationship breakups but not the breakup of a friendship although […]
Friendship by Emily Gould: Growing up is hard to do Read More »
Recently published in a single volume, Quicksand and Passing are the only two novels – well novellas, really – written by Harlem Renaissance writer Nella Larsen. They each deserve to be treated separately so I’ll start with Quicksand and save Passing for later. Written in 1928, it’s widely considered to be an autobiographical novel –
Quicksand by Nell Larsen: All too relevant today Read More »
My friend, M, came to tea yesterday and took away her annual haul for the breast cancer fund-raiser she’s involved in. She usually warns me a few months in advance so that I can pull some books of the shelves to donate. I haven’t been as methodical as I usually am, just the odd shelf
A Little Light Weeding: The perennial problem of the over crowded bookshelf Read More »
I don’t think I’ve read a book in which the prologue is at the back before and in case you’re thinking of correcting me – it isn’t an epilogue. Rebecca Makkai’s novel is a backward looking history of Laurelfield which we first enter as a family home, albeit a somewhat dysfunctional family. You may know
The Hundred-year House by Rebecca Makkai: A backward kind of history Read More »
It’s a little while since I’ve read a Sue Miller novel. She’s an author that I’ve stayed with for many years, starting with The Good Father published way back in 1986. She writes the kind of quietly insightful novel, often set in small-town America, of which I’m very fond. At the core of her writing
The Arsonist by Sue Miller: Reliably good, emotionally intelligent fiction Read More »
There’s already a nip of autumn in the air in the UK – a bit unexpected but there it is – so it seemed appropriate to take a dekko at a few books to look out for in October. It used to be one of my favourite publishing months but if you’ve read my August
Books to look out for in October 2014 Read More »
There’s a very clear, concise disclaimer at the beginning of Linda Grant’s new novel – ‘This novel is inspired by a particular time in my own life, but the characters and the events are the product of my imagination.’ Whether under instructions from the legal department or because of her own concerns she reiterates it
Upstairs at the Party by Linda Grant: Familar territory for some of us Read More »
I’ve been circling around this book for a while now. I’d read and been impressed by Dinaw Mengestu’s beautifully understated first novel, Children of the Revolution, which won him the Guardian First Book Award, but had found How to Read Air disappointing. Perhaps it was a case of too-high expectations. Anyway, after reading Monique Roffey’s
All Our Names by Dinaw Mengestu: A Novel of Love, Friendship and Identity Read More »
There’s a multitude of tools in the publicist’s kit these days – advertising, social media, reviews, bookshop events, literary festivals all spring to mind – but what about those puffs that adorn book jackets, so often full of promise with seductive famous names attached to them. We all know about quotes full of ellipses where
The Power of the Puff Read More »
I’ve long been a fan of Monique Roffey’s novels – all of them very different, from the slightly fantastical Sun Dog to Archipelago with its lovely descriptions of the natural world. House of Ashes is no exception – a powerfully political novel which makes some cogent points while maintaining the pace of a page-turner. Bookish
House of Ashes by Monique Roffey: ‘Power is Love’ Read More »
This is a book I’ve been looking forward to for some time. I first noticed it at the centre of a little Twitter storm early this year in which several people whose opinion I trust were becoming very excited, then I noticed that not only was it set in Amsterdam which I’d visited at Christmas
The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton: A box of jewels Read More »