Book news, reviews and recommendations
I’m an enthusiastic fan of Joan Silber’s fiction having loved both Improvement and Secrets of Happiness and was delighted to find that not one but two of her backlisted books were to be published here in the UK. Both come billed as linked short stories, my favourite kind of collection. I’ve plumped to review Fools […]
Fools by Joan Silber: More please (reprised)! Read More »
Given my complete lack of interest in sport you might think I’d turn down the offer of a novel about a basketball star and a sportswriter but I’d enjoyed several of Benjamin Markovits’ previous novels and had fond memories of Chad Hardbach’s The Art of Fielding. The Sidekick explores the demands made on sports stars
The Sidekick by Benjamin Markovits: This sporting life Read More »
Both its blurb and that empty chair on its cover warned me that Sarah Manguso’s Very Cold People was likely to be a bleak read but it was also what attracted me to this brief novella. Set in a small New England town, buttoned up and demarcated between rich and poor, Very Cold People sees
Very Cold People by Sarah Manguso: ‘I felt indistinct, like someone else’s dream’ Read More »
Five years ago, I reviewed Jennifer Egan’s Manhattan Beach, noting that it was seven years since her Pulitzer Prize-winning A Visit from the Goon Squad had been published. I was a little disappointed in it, truth be told, but when I spotted The Candy House in the schedules, I put up my hand, attracted by
The Candy House by Jennifer Egan: Virtual dystopia Read More »
This is the third novel in as many weeks I’ve read with a writing theme although it’s entirely different from either Antoine Wilson’s Mouth to Mouth or Andrew Lipstein’s Last Resort. It was part of my attraction to Lee Cole’s Groundskeeping but if I’m honest it was that lovely jacket that first snagged my attention.
Groundskeeping by Lee Cole: ‘Isn’t that what fiction is, though? Sanctioned lying?’ Read More »
Oh, I do love an unreliable narrator. Even better when you’re not sure whether they’re reliable or not right up until the end. The premise of Antoine Wilson’s Mouth to Mouth is a clever one: two men, barely acquainted in college, are stranded by a delayed flight – one a struggling writer on his way
Mouth to Mouth by Antoine Wilson: A man of integrity? Read More »
I’m a big fan of debuts, always hoping to read something by an author whose career I can settle into and enjoy. It doesn’t always pay off but sometimes I come across one that I have to keep reminding myself is a first novel such is the assurance and accomplishment of the writing. Daphne Palasi
Brown Girls by Daphne Palasi Andreades: Growing up brown in Queens Read More »
I was delighted to spot Lily King’s Five Tuesdays in Winter on Twitter having enjoyed both Writers & Lovers and Father of the Rain. It’s her first short story collection, comprising ten pieces many of which explore themes of love, relationships and parenthood, some with a darker edge than I remember from her novels. He
Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King: Astute observation plus a few dark surprises Read More »
Lots of brouhaha surrounding Jocelyn Nicole Johnson’s My Monticello which, as I know from experience, doesn’t always lead to a satisfying read. I wasn’t entirely sure whether to accept when I was offered a copy but decided to give it a try given it’s a Harvill Secker title, one of my favourite lists. Set against
My sense of time has been off during the pandemic: sometimes an event seems as if it was just the other day, others years ago, both assumptions often prove to be wrong. Perhaps that’s why I was surprised to spot a new Elizabeth Strout in the publishing schedules, convinced that Olive, Again was only published
Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout: ‘We are all mysteries, is what I mean’ Read More »
I read Joan Silber’s quietly impressive Improvement back in 2019 ending my review hoping to see more of her novels published here in the UK. I was delighted, then, to spot Secrets of Happiness in the publishing schedules. While Improvement explored the fallout of an accident through all that were affected by it, this new
Secrets of Happiness by Joan Silber: More please! Read More »