Book news, reviews and recommendations
This is the first English language novel I’ve read from Pushkin Press, a publisher of whom I’m very fond. Their books are often a little out of the way: Hiromi Kawakami’s dreamlike Record of a Night Too Brief, Auđur Ava Ólafsdóttir’s wacky Butterflies in November and Dorthe Nors’ Mirror, Shoulder, Signal with its out-of-step protagonist, […]
The Beautiful Bureaucrat by Helen Phillips: Out-Kafkaing Kafka Read More »
I was attracted to the premise of Pamela Erens’ slim, third novel before I remembered that I’d already read her second, The Virgins, set against the backdrop of a New England school rife with speculation about the golden couple of its senior year. Eleven Hours is entirely different. The titular hours are the length of
Eleven Hours by Pamela Erens: Hard labour Read More »
I first spotted The Nix back in September last year on our riding the Central European railways holiday. It was sitting on a table in the English bookshop wing of Dussmann’s in Berlin, too chunky to justify including in the luggage that had to be hefted on and off the train. It looked right up
The Nix by Nathan Hill: Nothing ventured, nothing gained Read More »
Rather like buses – you wait for ages then several come along in swift succession – my short story reviews seem be posted in clumps. A couple of weeks ago I reviewed Anna Noyes’ elegant Goodnight, Beautiful Women, attracted by the idea of a linked collection promised by the press release. It was its eye-catching
The Virginity of Famous Men by Christine Sneed: Short stories with humour and bite Read More »
There’s been a bit of pre-publication brouhaha for Jade Chang’s debut, much more subdued that the constant shouting which can be so off-putting but just enough to put it on my radar. Set in 2008 with the financial world about to crash with the loudest of bangs, it’s about a family whose cosmetics mogul father
The Wangs vs. the World by Jade Chang: A smart, funny road trip of a novel Read More »
Regular readers may have noticed I have a weakness for novels which follow a handful of young people from the time they first become acquainted through the first few years of adult life. Lots of space for character development which is what attracted me to Tony Tulathimutte’s Private Citizens. Smart, funny and sometimes exhausting, it
Private Citizens by Tony Tulathimutte: Social satire for the Millennials Read More »
This is the second 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. I remember selling Howard Norman’s lyrical The Bird Artist when E. Annie Proulx’s The Shipping News was riding
Blasts from the Past: The Bird Artist by Howard Norman (1994) Read More »