Book news, reviews and recommendations
H and I visited Manchester two years ago to see friends and visit the Derek Jarman exhibition which we both loved. We had the much-restored Rochdale Town Hall in our sights this time, more of which later. Our hotel was a stone’s throw away from Manchester Cathedral which looks more like a pretty parish church […]
Three Days in and Around Manchester plus One Book Read More »
Back from my Northern jaunt (more of that later in the week) with a second batch of May paperback goodies which begins with one of my 2023 favourites, Jenny Erpenbeck’s International Booker Prize shortlisted Kairos. Erpenbeck explores identity through a love affair beginning in 1985 between Hans, a successful writer born in 1933, and Katharina,
Paperbacks to Look Out For in May 2024: Part Two Read More »
May’s first batch of paperbacks features lots of Irish writers beginning with last year’s Booker winner, followed by a close contender. I’d been so impressed by Paul Lynch’s Beyond the Sea I was delighted when Prophet Song popped through my letterbox. Set in a near future Ireland in the grips of an increasingly authoritarian regime
Paperbacks to Look Out For in May 2024: Part One Read More »
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 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 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 »