Book news, reviews and recommendations
I couldn’t get on with George Saunders’ 2017 Man Booker Prize-winning Lincoln in the Bardo but made a mental note to try his short stories which were much lauded in the novel’s publicity material. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t get around to it until Liberation Day popped through my letterbox. Comprising nine stories, Saunders’ new collection ranges […]
Liberation Day by George Saunders: A smartly delivered collection Read More »
No contest as to which book to begin November’s paperback preview. Shortlisted for this year’s Booker, Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These was one of my books of last year. Set in 1985, it follows Bill Furlong who finds himself faced with a moral dilemma. Bill’s illegitimacy marks him out in New Ross but he’s
Paperbacks to Look Out For in November 2022 Read More »
I’m not much of a horror fan but I do enjoy the occasional slice of gothic, preferably something with a slightly surreal edge to it, and a sample short story on Reflex Press’ website suggested Welsh author Anna Vaught’s Ravished fit that bill. Comprising nineteen stories, some so short you might call them flash fiction,
Ravished by Anna Vaught: A nice slice of Gothic spiced with black humour Read More »
I’d already spotted Sam Kenyon’s I Am Not Raymond Wallace in the schedules when it was pitched to me for review, struck by its blurb. Opening in 1963, it follows a Cambridge undergraduate, fresh out of college, who’s won a three-month bursary at The New York Times and meets the love of his life. Some
I Am Not Raymond Wallace by Sam Kenyon: Things do get better Read More »
I’m kicking off this second instalment of November titles with a novel which suits the season well. Set in snowy upstate New York, Lynn Steger Strong’s Flight follows three siblings and their families facing their first Christmas without their beloved mother. Tess and Martin are late setting off from their smart, new city apartment. Kate and
Books to Look Out For in November 2022: Part Two Read More »
I was stunned to find two decades had passed since I’d read Personal Velocity, Rebecca Miller’s first collection. Time does funny things as you get older. Perhaps better known as a filmmaker, Miller adapted both her short stories and her equally enjoyable novel, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, for the screen. Comprising seven stories,
Total by Rebecca Miller: Written with a filmmaker’s eye Read More »
It feels like a very long time since Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire dropped through my letter box and indeed it is five years but given all that’s happened in the world, it seems much longer. I’ve read all her novels and, despite enjoying each of them, Burnt Shadows remained my favourite but with its exploration
Best of Friends by Kamila Shamsie: The personal and the political Read More »
Enough juicy novels due in November to more than make up for a thin October beginning with Jonathan Coe’s new one which sees him back on home ground giving me hope for a return to form after the major disappointment of the Costa-winning Middle England, at least for me. Bournville follows a family living in
Books to Look Out For in November 2022: 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 – Notes on a Scandal to The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie 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. The Orchard on Fire was the first novel I read by Shena Mackay and I loved it. Childhood
Blasts from the Past: The Orchard on Fire by Shena Mackay (1995) Read More »
I’m always delighted to see a new Kate Atkinson in the publishing schedules, a treat to look forward to. Loosely based on the life of Kate Meyrick, Shrines of Gaiety takes us back to Soho in 1926, long before gentrification, when it was home to nightclubs offering a whole host of delights, not all of
Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson: ‘Decadence piled upon decadence’ Read More »