Book news, reviews and recommendations
I’d enjoyed both Harmless Like You and Starling Days so much that I needed no persuasion to pick up Rowan Hisayo Buchanan’s The Sleep Watcher which follows a young woman looking back to the summer in which she discovered that her beloved father was not the man she thought he was. The thing about parents
The Sleep Watcher by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan: Seeing things as they are Read More »
I’ve long had a weakness for American small town novels. I’m not entirely sure why. Perhaps it’s the idea of a small canvas onto which universal human traits are projected together with a curious nostalgia for a country where I’ve spent quite a few holidays but never felt I’d entirely got to know. Hard to
Five Small Town American Novels I’ve Read Read More »
Despite its billing as a thriller, it was impossible for me to resist ex-bookseller Alice Slater’s debut. Set during the run up to Christmas, her hugely enjoyable novel follows Roach, who’s worked in the dingy Walthamstow branch of Spines for nine years, and Laura, one of three seasoned booksellers parachuted in with the aim of
Death of a Bookseller by Alice Slater: A trip down memory lane Read More »
Our main reason for visiting St Leonards-on-Sea was to see family who had recently downsized and moved into a rather lovely apartment there. It was my first visit to this grand Victorian seaside town full of imposing villas, many rundown enough to make them affordable for buyers wanting to move out of their shoebox London
Two Days in Hastings and St Leonards-on-Sea and a DNF Read More »
The first part of May’s paperback preview had a strong thematic link running through it. Nothing so clear cut with the second, beginning with Jill Dawson’s The Bewitching, the first title I spotted in what seems to have become a publishing witch-lit trend. It takes us back to the sixteenth century, a time of superstition
Paperbacks to Look Out For in May 2023: Part Two Read More »
I’ve long since given up trying to work a thematic link into these previews but May’s first batch of paperbacks is the exception that proves the rule – they’re all by Irish writers beginning with oncologist Austin Duffy’s The Night Interns which takes us back to his workplace, the setting for his debut, This Living
Paperbacks to Look Out For in May 2023: Part One Read More »
The blurb for Jenny Jackson’s debut suggested a satisfying, unchallenging read which fit the bill for me at a time when I was too tired for much in the way of incisive thinking. It also has a very enticing cover which intriguingly shows an orange rather than the titular fruit. Pineapple Street is about two
Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson: ‘Let’s talk about something real’ Read More »
It might seem surprising but I have a weakness for romcoms. If done well, they have me snivelling happily on the sofa or in the case of the wonderful Rye Lane, at the cinema. Curtis Sittenfeld’s Romantic Comedy sounded like a pleasing subversion of the romcom rules with its averagely attractive introvert meets rock god
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld: ‘Hot eventually gets boring but funny never does’ Read More »
The second instalment of May’s new fiction includes books by two novelists previously shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer award, which I shadow judged back in 2018, beginning with Naoise Dolan’s The Happy Couple. Luke and Celine are to marry in a year’s time. Luke’s best man seems to be in love with him,
Books to Look Out For in May 2023: Part Two Read More »
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 »
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 »