Book news, reviews and recommendations
I have to admit I was a little sceptical about The President’s Hat. I thought it might be a tad whimsical for me but it turns out to be an absolute delight from start to finish. It begins with an accountant, a little out of sorts with his job, treating himself to a solitary meal […]
Saturday was absolutely gorgeous in my part of the world. Two weeks ago we had planned to spend it wandering around eleven open gardens in a village not too far from us fully expecting that it would come to nothing as we couldn’t quite believe the weather would hold. The village is Mells and it’s
A quintessential English summer’s day and The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit Read More »
Yesterday the ICA hosted a conference for the Independent Alliance of publishers, a get together to devise a creative strategy for the tricky future which faces the book trade. I’m sure that they will have come up with some imaginative ideas. Rather like Foyles who reached out to all manner of people including other booksellers,
Hurrah for independent publishers! Read More »
The winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction will be announced tonight. I’m hoping for a Kate Atkinson victory but still reeling a little from the thought that I’ll soon have to refer to it as the Baileys Prize. Perhaps I’m being snobby. Let’s be honest – I am being snobby. But it’s hard to
Dirty Work by Gabriel Weston: Counting the cost Read More »
On Friday afternoon I sat reading in my garden in glorious sunshine. No missiles landed, no guns were fired. I wasn’t worried about whether the power would stay on or if I would be able to find basic supplies at my local Co-op. If I’d wanted to, I could have bought a cheap plane ticket
Meet Me in Gaza by Louisa B. Waugh: Sometimes we forget how lucky we are Read More »
I’m not sure how much notice most readers take of publishers or their imprints when choosing a book but Alma Books are well worth loking out for. They’re a small press and their list isn’t long but each book is well chosen and always worth a look. When I was a reviews editor for print
Sketcher by Roland Watson-Grant: A child narrator that works Read More »
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 »