Book news, reviews and recommendations
I’m writing this review in March, long before the book’s publication date which is unusual for me but after being struck down by a particularly nasty bug leaving me with a head so stuffed full of cotton wool that I was unable to read for four days I needed a way back in. Short stories […]
The High Places by Fiona McFarlane: An inventive, disquieting collection Read More »
Two things attracted me to Gail Jones’ new novel: its Berlin setting – a city with which I’m almost as infatuated as I am with New York as a backdrop – and the prospect of the elegantly, poetic writing I’d enjoyed so much in her previous novels. I liked the synopsis, too: six people –
A Guide to Berlin by Gail Jones: An homage to Nabokov Read More »
Back in what passed for a summer here in the UK, I read Sean Michaels’ Us, Conductors which told the story of Leon Theremin, inventor of the strange musical instrument that bears his name. Thoroughly enjoyable, it has what remains one of the best lines I’ve read in fiction for some time: ‘I had never
The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt by Tracy Farr: A theremin reprise Read More »
This was the first book I read for review after coming back from my hols. I was looking for something uncomplicated, nothing very taxing, and Stephanie Bishop’s novel with its gold-type adorned jacket looked like it might fit the bill but it took me by surprise. The Other Side of the World turns out to
The Other Side of the World by Stephanie Bishop: An Unexpected Treat Read More »
In Boccaccio’s The Decameron ten young people take to the hills to escape the Black Death devastating Florence. To entertain themselves they spin tales, some erotic, some tragic, others funny: a reflection of life as it was lived then. It’s an attractive structure: Jane Smiley used it in Ten Days in the Hills as did
Demons by Wayne Macauley: Truth and lies Read More »
I’ve read some sad books this year – I Refuse and Academy Street spring to mind – but none as sad as Suzanne McCourt’s The Lost Child set in small town Australia. At one stage I thought I might have to give it up but her writing is so impressive that I decided to tough
The Lost Child by Suzanne McCourt: Best read when cheerful Read More »
I was drawn to Favel Parrett’s novel by the slimmest of synopses when checking out titles for my Books to Look Out for in November post. Antarctica was the lure. I’ve read several non-fiction books about it and had particularly enjoyed Jenny Diski’s Skating to Antarctica. In the event it’s not really about that but
When the Night Comes by Favel Parrett: The story of a sailor, a girl and the Nella Dan Read More »
Romy Ash’s Floundering comes shortlisted for what must be just about every Australian literary prize there is, including the Miles Franklin Award which most of us literary poms have heard of. Aside from Tim Winton and Peter Carey, I don’t read much Australian fiction mainly, I suspect, because not much is published in the UK
Floundering by Romy Ash: Leading the way to more Australian writing Read More »
Old women are not a particularly common subject for contemporary fiction. They’ve been memorably portrayed in several books I’ve read by established authors – Helen Dunmore’s Enid in Burning Bright, Liz Jensen’s Gloria in War Crimes for the Home and Lesley Glaister’s Trixie in The Private Parts of Women for instance, and Angela Carter’s sassy
The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane: Tiger, tiger burning in the night Read More »
If you’re the kind of reader that trawls through all the bits and pieces at the start of a book – the dedication, review quotations and credits, biographical notes (often at the back but useful to know while you’re reading a novel) – you’ll spot Toni Jordan’s note telling you that Nine Days was inspired
Nine Days by Toni Jordan: A cleverly constructed heartbreaker Read More »