Book news, reviews and recommendations
I dithered over Debra Curtis’s Laws of Love and Logic which sounded from the blurb as if it might be a straightforward tragic love story. There was also a worrying degree of brouhaha around it but I decided to take the plunge. Spanning three decades, beginning in the 1976, Curtis’s debut follows Lily, the elder […]
Laws of Love and Logic by Debra Curtis: ‘Guilt is both long and cruel’ 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. Fiction is too often written off as escapism, but it can illuminate ways of life and beliefs that
Blasts from the Past: The Romance Reader by Pearl Abraham (1995) Read More »
Despite her extensive back catalogue which includes five works of fiction, I’d never read anything by Gish Jen. Her new, difficult-to-categorise book, Bad Bad Girl, is the story of her mother’s life in which Jen imagines conversations, seeking answers to questions her mother would never give. It’s a novelisation, leaning very much towards memoir but,
Bad Bad Girl by Gish Jen: A novel with some truth in it 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. I was a bookseller when Annie Proulx’s Shipping News became one of those runaway bestsellers every second customer
Blasts from the Past: Close Range by Annie Proulx (1999) Read More »
That subtitle sums up the structure of Ben Shattuck’s beautifully constructed The History of Sound comprising twelve stories, each with a companion piece. That alone would have made me want to read it but the promise of a film adaptation starring Paul Mescal was an added spur; shallow as that might seem, he’s a such
I missed Commitment in hardback, knowing it would require time, thought and attention that I didn’t have when it was due to be published, but unusually, Mona Simpson’s American publicist contacted me, and I suggested a review for the UK paperback publication. Beginning in the early ’70s, it tells the story of the Aziz family
Commitment by Mona Simpson: Coming of age in difficult times Read More »
I didn’t read Lisa Ko’s debut, The Leavers, but I do remember it being very well received. It was that and its structure that made me plump for her new novel, Memory Piece, which follows three Asian American women who first meet in 1983, aged twelve, and maintain a connection into their seventies when the
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. After the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001, it seemed that everyone, particularly American novelists, felt they had
Blasts from the Past: The Submission by Amy Waldman (2011) Read More »
I tend not to be lured by the onslaught of summer reading that hits bookshops around June or so but there’s usually one novel aimed squarely at that market I hope will hit the spot. Last year’s was The Paper Palace which turned out to be much darker than I expected. This year’s is Liza
Way back in 2012, I read Liz Moore’s second novel, Heft, which I remember enjoying although, so many books having passed under the bridge since then, not much else. When I spotted The Words of Every Song in the schedules I hadn’t realised it was her debut, attracted by its New York music scene setting.
The Words of Every Song by Liz Moore: Living the dream, or perhaps not 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. I don’t remember seeing much coverage of Christodora when it was published here in the UK. A shame.
Blasts from the Past: Christodora by Tim Murphy (2016) Read More »