Book news, reviews and recommendations
Billed as a novel, Michelle de Kretser’s Scary Monsters is split in two rather like Carol Shields’ story of a marriage from both sides, Happenstance. One part is set in early ‘80s France, the other in a near-future Australia. I could have tossed a coin to decide which half to read first or made a […]
Scary Monsters by Michelle de Kretser: A tale of two parts Read More »
My reading year’s off to a great start with a book by an author whose name I’ve spotted frequently in my Twitter timeline but somehow never got around to reading. Given that I wasn’t entirely persuaded by its premise, it was those tweets from so many readers I trust that tipped the balance in favour
The Raptures by Jan Carson: ‘You people can’t see anything but yourselves’ Read More »
I tend not to read much in the way of comfort books but back in the worst of the pandemic I found myself reaching for something heartening. Assuming others might feel the same, I put together one of these posts which proved very popular. Given that it seems that covid has not done with us
Five More Comfort Reads I’ve Read 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 – From Rules of Civility to The Light at the End of the Day Read More »
The day before Christmas Eve a post from Karen at Bookertalk dropped into my Reader reminding me of this meme and how much I’ve enjoyed it when I’ve taken part so I thought I’d join in again. It seemed an appropriate post for the last day of the year, casting one more look back at
My Life in Books (2021 Edition) Read More »
The second batch of January paperbacks starts with two novels that take swipes at social media, both of which I’ve read. Set in 2016 with Trump freshly elected, Lauren Oyler’s Fake Accounts follows an unnamed narrator, shocked to find her apparently liberal boyfriend is running a popular conspiracy theory website, taking herself off to Berlin
Paperbacks to Look Out for in January 2022: Part Two Read More »
Two lengthy paperback previews for January, packed with a plethora of goodies to spend those Christmas book tokens on, many of which I’ve already read including Olivia Sudjic’s Asylum Road which follows Anya who finds herself engaged to Luke during their Provencal holiday rather than dumped as she’d anticipated. Anya feels like the perpetual outsider
Paperbacks to Look Out for in January 2022: Part One Read More »
I began the first part of January’s preview with a much-trailed novel I’d already read. This one kicks off with a similarly hyped book I’ve yet to peruse. Nikki May’s Wahala sees three thirtysomething friends of Nigerian-British heritage living in London, each on very different paths. When a mutual friend arrives in town all hell
Books to Look Out for in January 2022: Part Two Read More »
Here we go again – new year, well almost, and shiny new books too salivate over, beginning with one I’ve already read. Susan Stokes-Chapman’s much-trailed debut, Pandora, is set in Georgian London in the final year of the 18th century. This tale of orphans, evil uncles, stolen antiquities and ancient curses sees Dora trying to
Books to Look Out for in January 2022: Part One Read More »
This is my last review of 2021 and rather like Wednesday’s A Ghost in the Throat, it’s an unusual one for me in that it’s non-fiction and, not only that, it’s a collection of essays, not something I often read. I’m going to try to pick just a few cherries from Ann Patchett’s These Precious
These Precious Days by Ann Patchett: Living well Read More »
This is my penultimate review for 2021 and it’s an unusual one. Recently published in paperback, Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s A Ghost in the Throat made quite a splash back in 2020, winning three awards and shortlisted for several others. Having read it, I can see why. A memoir of obsession, literary detection and motherhood, it’s
A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa: ‘This is a female text’ Read More »