Book news, reviews and recommendations
I jumped at the chance to read James, Percival Everett’s reimagining of Mark Twain’s American classic, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which I read as a child, oblivious to the fact that Twain meant it as a satire. Everett’s novel turns the narrative around, unfolding the story from the point of view of Jim, the slave […]
James by Percival Everett: ‘I am a sign. I am your future. I am James.’ Read More »
Scarlett Thomas is an idiosyncratic writer several of whose novels I’ve enjoyed, not least the slightly bonkers The Seed Collectors. I was a little disappointed in her last novel but was keen to read The Sleepwalkers when I spotted it on NetGalley. It follows a newly married couple who’ve been booked into a hotel on
The Sleepwalkers by Scarlett Thomas: Cliffhanging to the end Read More »
All but one of the books in this second instalment of May’s new fiction are by Irish writers, beginning with one from one of my favourites. Colm Tóibín’s Long Island is the sequel to his much-loved Brooklyn, taking up the story of Eilis Lacey in the 1970s, twenty years after we left her. Eilis is living
Books to Look Out For Out for in May 2024: Part Two 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 – Lonely Planet Guide to Budapest and Hungary to The Plot Read More »
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. I still remember the delight at hearing the news that the quietly brilliant Larry’s Party had won what
Blasts from the Past: Larry’s Party by Carol Shields (1997) Read More »
I so enjoyed both Naomi Wood’s Bauhaus themed thriller The Hiding Game and Mrs Hemingway, a wry take on what it might have been like to be married to Ernest, that I jumped at the chance to read her short story collection. This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things comprises nine lengthy stories, all
This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things by Naomi Wood: A debut short story collection Read More »
I’m beginning May’s first batch of new fiction with a novel I dived into as soon as I spotted it on NetGalley having loved the author’s previous two books. Sarah Leipciger returns to her native Canada for Moon Road, the story of a missing girl and her parents who receive news decades after she disappeared.
Books to Look Out For Out for in May 2024: Part One Read More »
I took a chance on Paul Yoon’s collection The Hive and the Honey, not having come across this Korean American author before. Comprising seven stories, it ranges far and wide across time and continents exploring Korean experiences of displacement and identity. As ever, I’ll pick out my favourites although almost all deserve a mention. I
The Hive and the Honey by Paul Yoon: A quietly striking collection Read More »
I didn’t read Lisa Ko’s debut, The Leavers, but I do remember it being very well received. It was that and its structure that made me plump for her new novel, Memory Piece, which follows three Asian American women who first meet in 1983, aged twelve, and maintain a connection into their seventies when the
The first part of April’s paperback preview began with one of last year’s favourites as does the second. Ex-bookseller Alice Slater’s Death of a Bookseller took me so vividly back to my own bookselling days I felt I’d been restocking the shelves only yesterday. Set during the run up to Christmas, Slater’s hugely enjoyable novel
Paperbacks to Look Out For in April 2024: Part Two Read More »
That subtitle is Help Wanted’s touching dedication which had me predisposed to like Adelle Waldman’s novel from the outset. My only experience of retail is bookselling which has left me with a fellow feeling for all who work in this low wage sector which has become increasingly insecure. Help Wanted is about the logistics section
Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman: ‘To all retail workers’ Read More »