Book news, reviews and recommendations
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 Rodham to Spider Read More »
This is the second novel in as many months I’ve read about a couple in the aftermath of infidelity. Slightly disconcertingly both husbands were called Jake but although Amanda Craig’s The Golden Rule and Megan Hunter’s The Harpy share some similar themes, stylistically they couldn’t be more different. Since the superb The End We Start
The Harpy by Megan Hunter: Righteous anger Read More »
I owe a debt of gratitude to Ali at Heavenali whose review of Lissa Evans’ Old Baggage persuaded me to read it after being put off by its blurb. I loved it so much it ended up on both my 2018 books of the year list and my 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction wishlist. You
V for Victory by Lissa Evans: Pure joy 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. Wise Children is my favourite Angela Carter novel. Stuffed full of Shakespearean references and written in language which
Blasts from the Past: Wise Children by Angela Carter (1991) Read More »
Miranda Emmerson’s Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars slipped under my radar when it was published a few years ago, probably because it was billed as crime fiction and I get enough of that through my almost nightly Walter Presents fix, but the title of this new one caught my eye. Set in 1967,
A Little London Scandal by Miranda Emmerson: Things do get better Read More »
After a slightly sticky start with Donal Ryan’s The Thing About December I’ve become an ardent fan of his fiction, my admiration increasing first with All We Shall Know then From A Low and Quiet Sea, both of which shared themes of love and redemption in their different ways as does Strange Flowers. Beginning in
Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan: True love Read More »
Just a one-part paperback preview for September, disappointingly, albeit a reasonably long one including two books I’ve already read. I’m starting with Margaret Atwood’s joint Booker Prize-winning sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, The Testaments, more because I’d find it difficult to leave it out than because I’m looking forward to it. Truth be told, I’m
Paperbacks to Look Out for in September 2020 Read More »
Originally published in I964, William Melvin Kelley’s Dancers on the Shore comprises sixteen stories some of which recall the characters who brought his striking novel A Different Drummer so vividly to life. Its title refers to a lengthy quote from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness setting the tone for a thought-provoking read. Several of the
Dancers on the Shore by William Melvin Kelley: More, please Read More »
As regular readers may know, I’ve been a Sarah Moss fan for quite some time. I was delighted when Ghost Wall made a splash not so long ago, thoroughly deserving of all the praise heaped upon it, and Summerwater looks set to do the same. Set over a single drenching day, Moss’ new novella takes
Summerwater by Sarah Moss: The longest day Read More »
I’ve long been fascinated by Japan, partly because it’s so very different from my own country and partly because it seems to me to be a place of contradictions – on the one hand a set of very traditional, sometimes ancient values and beliefs, on the other an ultra-modern, throwaway urban culture. Or at least
Five Japanese Novels I’ve Read Read More »
I’m not sure how much of Douglas Stuart’s debut is autobiographical but the first paragraph of his acknowledgements page suggests more than a smidgeon. Given that’s the page I often visit before reading a novel, Shuggie Bain was even more poignant for me than it would otherwise have been. Set in ’80s Glasgow, Stuart’s book
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart: ‘I’d do anything for you’ Read More »