Book news, reviews and recommendations
I’m fortunate to be in a long and happy relationship which is perhaps why I’m drawn to novels about couples who’re are still together after many years. The novels below explore five long relationships, some similar, others very different, all but one with links to a full review. Set in Morecambe, Cath Barton’s In the …
I remember choosing not to read New Zealand writer Anna Smaill’s Man Booker longlisted debut The Chimes thinking it sounded a little too fantastical for me, although I may well overcome that objection having read her new novel, Bird Life. Set in Tokyo, it’s the story of two women, both suffering terrible loss, each seeing …
Bird Life by Anna Smaill: A beautiful novel of madness and grief Read More »
I enjoyed Hiroko Oyamada’s Weasels in the Attic this time last year, ending my review saying that I was keen to explore more of her writing. Originally published in Japan in 2013, The Factory is set in the world of work. Despite the increasingly surreal thread which runs through the novella, it struck a chord …
The Factory by Hiroko Oyamada (transl. David Boyd): Busy doing nothing Read More »
There’s something about the idea of two people inextricably linked since before they were born that fascinates many of us, eyes drawn to the double buggy pushed down the street. So much so that I’m surprised I haven’t read more novels with a set at their centre, not to mention the plot twist possibilities. Below …
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 – Western Lane to Water 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 into as many hands as I could. If you’re a regular visitor to this blog you’ve probably twigged that I’m a fan of Irish writing, …
Blasts from the Past: The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor (2002) Read More »
I was intrigued when I spotted John Boyne’s Water in The Bookseller, billed as the first in a series of four interlinked novellas each named after the elements, something of a departure from his usual doorstoppers of which I’ve read and enjoyed several including his last, The Echo Chamber. It begins with a woman arriving …
I’m beginning to sound like a broken record, as we used to say in days of yore, but November offers the slimmest of paperback pickings for me, although I’m starting with one of my books of 2022. Set in snowy New York state, Lynn Steger Strong’s Flight follows three siblings and their families facing their …
I loved Bryan Washington’s Lot and Memorial, both written with empathy and a wonderful fluency which made Family Meal a dead cert for me. While Lot was particularly striking in its evocation of Houston, Memorial’s loving descriptions of food and cooking stood out vividly. Unsurprisingly, there’s more of that in Family Meal which sees Cam …
Family Meal by Bryan Washington: ‘Love is a tangible thing’ Read More »
This was our first big rail jaunt since 2018 when we’d taken the Eurostar to Amsterdam, flying home from Warsaw two weeks later. Our plan for the next one was to venture into Ukraine, sadly no longer an option. Instead, we decided to wend our way though Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to Budapest, …
Christmas is well and truly in publishers’ sights come November with lots of big hitting titles taking centre stage. Fewer appealed to me than usual, just enough for one lengthy post rather than the two I was expecting, starting with one from an author who was once a favourite of mine. There was a time …