Book news, reviews and recommendations
This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy in as many hands as I could. Eating is one of life’s joys for me which is perhaps why I’m drawn to novels about cooking, […]
Blasts from the Past: The Book of Salt by Monique Truong (2003) Read More »
I’ve read so little Korean fiction that when Gu Byeong-Mo’s Your Neighbour’s Table popped up on NetGalley I decided to give it a try. It’s set in an apartment building for which there is a long waiting list and strict rules to obey: tenants must have at least one child and produce two more. You’d
Much of October was taken up with a trip to Portugal where we were lucky enough to snatch a last blast of summer. Hard to leave Lisbon on a balmy blue-skyed day but a standout book in my first week back eased the pain. Set on his beloved Shetland, singer-songwriter Malachy Tallack’s That Beautiful Atlantic
Books of the Year 2024: Part Four Read More »
Six Degrees of Separation is a meme hosted by Kate over at Books Are My Favourite and Best. It works like this: each month a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six others to form a chain. A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the titles on the list,
Six Degrees of Separation – Sandwich to Much Depends on Dinner Read More »
Summer still hadn’t got off the ground by August. Very little time was spent on our new deck, reading or otherwise, and only one book stood out that month, too. Written in spare, crisp prose, Sarah Manguso’s Very Cold People was one of my books of 2022. Liars is the equally bleak story of a
Books of the Year 2024: Part Three Read More »
April marks the real start of spring although I tend to be on the lookout for it from the beginning of March. I certainly felt it had finally arrived sitting in the gardens around Manchester Cathedral when we visited the city for the second time in three years. Just one title stood out for me
Books of the Year 2024: Part Two Read More »
Last year I managed to keep my books of the year to a mere twenty and felt very pleased with myself. This year, much to my surprise, I’ve done the same. Perhaps I’ve finally learnt some self-restraint. As with previous years, I have four posts planned, each roughly equivalent to a calendar quarter. Set in
Books of the Year 2024: Part One Read More »
Waiting for a Party is the second novel I’ve read by Vesna Main. I was so impressed by Good Day? I included it on my 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction wishlist, knowing it didn’t stand much chance, and so was pleased to see it on the Goldsmith’s Prize shortlist later that year. Her new one
Waiting for a Party by Vesna Main: ‘Memory is all. Memory is her life now.’ Read More »
I’ve had mixed experiences with Tessa Hadley’s novels. I enjoyed Late in the Day but others I’ve read have left little impression on me. I’ve often thought her short fiction would suit me better so put up my hand for The Party. Hadley’s written many short stories, but this is her first novella which sees
The Party by Tessa Hadley: Coming of age in post-war Britain Read More »
I’m surprised it’s taken me so long to do a second Five Books I’ve Read post on Irish novels given how many excellent ones I’ve read since I started this feature. The five below are a mix of Irish and Northen Irish all with links to reviews on this blog, beginning with a writer who’s
Five More Irish Novels I’ve Read Read More »
I raced through Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The Plot while on last year’s Central European rail jaunt. It’s a literary thriller about a blocked writer who uses the surefire plot a student recounts to him after he learns of the student’s death with dire consequences. I dithered about reading The Sequel, having learnt my lesson with