Book news, reviews and recommendations
I’ve done my best to avoid all the reviews and brouhaha around The Goldfinch justifiable though it is – it’s been a decade since The Little Friend and two since The Secret History had us all entranced – but I wanted to come to it fresh. As a result I missed the Kirsty Wark interview, […]
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt: ‘Density and speed’ – it’s all you want in a novel’ Read More »
When I was a bookseller the phrase ‘gift edition’ was enough to bring me out in a rash. It usually meant a non-book, dressed up in frills and spangles, meant to catch the eye at the till point in the way that sweeties do in the supermarket. They also served as desperation presents on Christmas
All My Friends Are Superheroes by Andrew Kaufman: A quirky little classic Read More »
Back in the summer we were invited to an afternoon Pimms party by a couple of our neighbours. Lovely idea for what was turning out to be sunny summer but sadly when the day came it was the wettest Saturday afternoon in August. Being British, though, we didn’t let a bit of rain get in
Petite Mort by Beatrice Hitchman and a wet afternoon Pimms party Read More »
There’s been a lot of talk about long books over the past ten days: the Man Booker-winning The Luminaries weighs in at 832 pages and Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch, for which many of us have been waiting for a decade, stretches to 784 pages. My heart always sinks a little when a big book comes
The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert: Not one unnecessary page Read More »
The Novel Cure is an absolute treat for bibliophiles, guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. Compiled by Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin who set up what must be the first bibliotherapy practise in 2008, it’s a set of literary prescriptions for ailments, worries and all that life throws at us, from coping with
The Novel Cure by Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin: Good for whatever ails you Read More »
With its puff from J. Courtney Sullivan, Ann Leary’s The Good House looked a promising choice for my cold-befuddled brain – absorbing but relatively unchallenging. Set in the kind of small New England seaside town where families have lived for so long that there are coves named after them, it’s narrated by Hildy Good, successful
The Good House by Ann Leary: Secrets and lies Read More »
Forgive me if this review is not the best you’ve ever read here: I’m sliding down the same slippery slope H did last weekend and my head is full of cotton wool but having just finished Diane Setterfield’s Bellman & Black I need to get my thoughts down before my brain is entirely sodden. It
Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield: A right gothic tale Read More »
Poor H was afflicted with a nasty cold this weekend, sliding into a runny-nosed heap late Saturday afternoon fit only for sitting in front of the TV watching Gladiator. We have the kind of open plan house in which it’s difficult to get away if one wants to watch what the other doesn’t so I
We are Here by Michael Marshall: Which turns out to be far better than expected Read More »
Those of us who read a lot of fiction have reason to feel a bit smug after The Guardian‘s piece based on research suggesting that reading novels develops empathy. Easy to feel pleased with yourself for doing something which for many of us is an enormous pleasure but I do read fiction to find out
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri: My Man Booker favourite: Read More »
Humans look for patterns in everything: we seek the reassurance of predictability in a world which is chaotic and random. It helps to keep us sane rather than face a future in which a chance accident may rob us of all that is dear to us. At least that’s what I think. You, of course,
I’ve just started Joe Moran’s Armchair Nation. Only a few chapters in but I can tell that it’s going to be both entertaining and enlightening as well as a treasure trove of factoids, as H likes to call them. I’ve already stashed away one eye-popping nugget: Anthony Burgess was apparently such a passionate fan of
Armchair Nation by Joe Moran: Life in front of the gogglebox Read More »