Book news, reviews and recommendations
When I spotted Laura Sims’ How Can I Help You on NetGalley it reminded me of Alice Slater’s dark, funny Death of a Bookseller which I inhaled last year. Set in a library, Sims’ novel follows Margo, who’s not at all who her colleagues think she is, and Patricia, a frustrated writer, new to the […]
How Can I Help You by Laura Sims: A literary page-turner Read More »
Not my favourite prize but I can’t resist putting together a wish list for the Booker, perhaps because I know very few will be fulfilled but I’m keen to give some more neglected titles an airing. To be eligible for the prize all books must be published in the UK between 1st October 2023 and
My 2024 Booker Wish List Read More »
Disappointingly few paperbacks caught my eye for August, although some readers with a toppling tbr pile might find that a relief. I’m beginning with one I’m not too sure about but it’s published by Pushkin Press which has swung me in its favour. Maya Binyam’s Hangman sees a man return to his home in sub-Saharan
Paperbacks to Look Out For in August 2024 Read More »
August Thompson has chosen an unusual structure for his debut which is what made me want to read it. Anyone’s Ghost is a love story which hinges on three car crashes involving two men, boys at the beginning of the novel, the last of which is fatal for one of them. I wanted Jake as
Anyone’s Ghost by August Thompson: A love story in three parts Read More »
Published in the States under Sarah Jessica Parker’s imprint, Alina Grabowski’s Women and Children First came billed as perfect for Elizabeth Strout fans but it was its structure and small-town setting that made me read it. Grabowski traces the lives of ten woman and girls before and after the death of a high school student
Women and Children First by Alina Grabowski: A small town tragedy Read More »
This second batch of August’s new fiction begins and ends with slight disappointments from two of my favourite authors. Heart, Be at Peace returns to the setting of Donal Ryan’s A Spinning Heart as the town struggles with the fallout from Augie Penrose’s lucrative drug business. Bobby becomes determined to do something about this menace,
Books to Look Out For in August 2024: Part Two Read More »
This is an unusual one for me as it’s been published for a few months now, but I enjoyed Douglas Bruton’s With or Without Angels so much that I was more than happy to accept his offer of a review copy. Hope Never Knew Horizon weaves together three reimagined stories: the exhibiting of the Wexford
Hope Never Knew Horizon by Douglas Bruton: ‘Just breathe’ Read More »
I was pitched Paddy Crewe’s True Love because of my liking for Donal Ryan. Ever sceptical of such comparisons, I checked out Goodreads to find two Ryan mentions then twigged that Crewe was the author of My Name is Yip which has been sitting on my TBR shelves for a while. It seemed a safe
True Love by Paddy Crewe: Love and healing Read More »
There’s a marriage theme running through the first part of August’s preview, not happy ones but those don’t tend to make for interesting fiction. I enjoyed Charlotte Mendelson’s The Exhibitionist so was delighted when Wife popped through my letterbox. Zoe and her supremely egotistical wife, Penny, have two daughters and a complicated set of co-parents,
Books to Look Out For in August 2024: Part One 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 – Kairos to The Night Guest 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. Tobias Hill’s Underground is an unusual one for me. It’s a thriller, not a genre I read much
Blasts from the Past: Underground by Tobias Hill (1999) Read More »