A Life in Books

Cover image for Breakwater by Marijke Schermer (transl. Liz Waters)

Breakwater by Marijke Schermer (transl. Liz Waters): ‘Everything is going to be fine’

7 April 2023 / 6 Comments

Early last year I read Marijke Schermer’s quietly powerful Love, If That’s What It Is about the breakdown of a long marriage. I hadn’t twigged that it was her debut otherwise I might have been nervous about second novel syndrome when I spotted Breakwater on NetGalley. Like her first. Schermer’s new novel explores a marriage, […]

Breakwater by Marijke Schermer (transl. Liz Waters): ‘Everything is going to be fine’ Read More »

Cover image for Close to Home by Michael Magee

Close to Home by Michael Magee: ‘There’s a lot you don’t know, son’

5 April 2023 / 11 Comments

Michael Magee’s Close to Home first caught my eye on Twitter, partly thanks to that quietly striking cover, partly lots of people whose opinions I trust impressed by it. Drawing on his own experience, Magee’s debut follows Sean from his squalid Belfast flat the night after a bender has seen him assault a guy at

Close to Home by Michael Magee: ‘There’s a lot you don’t know, son’ Read More »

Books to Look Out For in May 2023: Part One

3 April 2023 / 29 Comments

I’m pleased to report May’s bursting at the seams with goodies, a few tried and tested although not the one I’m kicking off with. I was a huge fan of Jen Beagin’s idiosyncratic Pretend I’m Dead and enjoyed the follow up, Vacuum in the Dark. Her third novel, Big Swiss, sees Greta entranced with the

Books to Look Out For in May 2023: Part One Read More »

Six Degrees of Separation – Born to Run to Mouth to Mouth

1 April 2023 / 19 Comments

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 – Born to Run to Mouth to Mouth Read More »

Blasts from the Past: By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah (2001)

31 March 2023 / 12 Comments

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. Abdulrazak Gurnah’s By the Sea is a slim novel but it made quite an impression on me, perhaps

Blasts from the Past: By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah (2001) Read More »

Cover image for The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop

The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop: ‘There is never only one version’

29 March 2023 / 13 Comments

I reviewed Stephanie Bishop’s The Other Side of the World back in 2015 describing it as an unexpected treat. The novel’s cover had suggested a light diversion but it turned out to be much more than that which is what made me want to review The Anniversary despite its chunkster proportions. Bishop’s new novel sees

The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop: ‘There is never only one version’ Read More »

Cover image for Very Cold People by Sarah Manguso

Paperbacks to Look Out For in April 2023: Part Two

27 March 2023 / 20 Comments

The second instalment of April’s paperbacks begins with a favourite from 2022. Set in a small New England town, Sarah Manguso’s Very Cold People sees a woman explore her childhood, brought up by two people desperately ill equipped for the job. Affection is rare, and when it happens isn’t repeated no matter how much Ruth

Paperbacks to Look Out For in April 2023: Part Two Read More »

Cover image for My Nemesis by Charmaine Craig

My Nemesis by Charmaine Craig: ‘An insult to womankind’

24 March 2023 / 10 Comments

A proof of Charmaine Craig’s new novel turned up shortly after I’d mentioned it in my March preview, neatly solving the ‘what to read next’ problem. Craig’s book is a novella, and a brief one at that, which had me assuming that I’d be facing the same dilemma shortly, but it took me quite some

My Nemesis by Charmaine Craig: ‘An insult to womankind’ Read More »

Cover image for History. A Mess. by Sigrún Pálsdóttir

History. A Mess. by Sigrún Pálsdóttir (transl. Lytton Smith) ‘This day, after I was redie, I did eate my breakfast’

22 March 2023 / 29 Comments

Given that I live with an historian whose PhD we both suffered through, it was inevitable that I would read Icelandic writer Sigrún Pálsdóttir’s History. A Mess. That and it’s published by the excellent Peirene Press who have recently moved to my hometown. Pálsdóttir’s novella follows an unnamed narrator convinced that she’s discovered the identity

History. A Mess. by Sigrún Pálsdóttir (transl. Lytton Smith) ‘This day, after I was redie, I did eate my breakfast’ Read More »

Cover image for Trespasses by Louise Kennedy

Paperbacks to Look Out For in April 2023: Part One

20 March 2023 / 23 Comments

I’ve read all but one of the first instalment of April paperback goodies, several of which turned up on my books of 2022 list beginning with acclaimed short story writer Louise Kennedy’s first novel, Trespasses, which sees a Catholic teacher falling in love with an older man, a prominent barrister, married and a Protestant. Michael’s

Paperbacks to Look Out For in April 2023: Part One Read More »

Cover image for The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane

The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane: Third time not so lucky

17 March 2023 / 31 Comments

I wasn’t at all sure about reading Fiona McFarlane’s The Sun Walks Down – it’s an historical novel weighing in at just over 400 pages, two things which usually put me off but I’d enjoyed both The Night Guest and The High Places very much so decided to take the plunge. Set in September 1883,

The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane: Third time not so lucky Read More »