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. 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 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 »
I was surprised and delighted when a proof of Mary Costello’s new short story collection popped through my letter box. I’d had no inkling that there was a new one on the horizon from her. Academy Street, her 2014 novella, is one of my favourite books, epitomising the spare, quietly understated style I so admire.
Barcelona by Mary Costello: A curate’s egg Read More »
Some very tempting paperbacks to look out for as we head into proper spring in my part of the world, beginning with one of my books of last year. Caleb Azumah Nelson’s achingly beautiful Small Worlds proved to be even better than his Costa First Novel Prize-winning Open Water. Beginning in 2010, it follows Stephen,
Paperbacks to Look Out For in April 2024: Part One Read More »
The blurb for Alex Schulman’s Malma Station was so impenetrable I’d have passed it by had I not been so impressed by The Survivors back in 2021. Schulman’s new novel explores similar themes following three journeys to the eponymous station deep in the Swedish countryside, separated by several decades. Often, when her parents fought, she
Malma Station by Alex Schulman (transl. Rachel Willson-Broyles) ‘You are never alone’ Read More »
It’s been well over three years since The Mission House was published, perhaps an indication of the care and attention paid in writing Carys Davies’ latest brief, vivid novella. Clear is set in 1843 against the backdrop of two massive upheavals in Scottish history: the continuing, brutal clearance of its estates by voraciously greedy landlords
Clear by Carys Davies: A love story Read More »