Book news, reviews and recommendations
Almost three years ago I reviewed Benjamin Markovits’s The Sidekick, a surprising choice for me as there’s a good deal about basketball in it but I enjoyed it enough to accept the offer of a review copy of The Rest of Our Lives. Billed appealingly as a road novel, it follows fifty-five-year-old Tom Layward whose […]
The Rest of Our Lives by Benjamin Markovits: A mid-life odyssey Read More »
By March, spring is firmly in my sights with hopes for fine weather and outdoor get togethers although I know we’re a long way from that. In the meantime, there’s lots of interesting fiction to look out for. Natasha Brown’s debut, Assembly, was one of my books of 2021: a brief, astonishingly powerful novella about
Books to Look Out For in March 2025: Part One 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 »
Not a huge selection of paperbacks for October but enough to merit two posts I’m pleased to say. I’ve read three of the first batch already including one which at first sight seemed to be a piece of opportunistic publishing. Originally published in the US back in 2011, Tayari Jones’ Silver Sparrow was released here
Paperbacks to Look Out for in October 2020: Part One Read More »
Long experience has taught me that a ‘lost’ novel is often best kept that way so I won’t be including Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman here. Surely the entire world and its dog must know about it by now, anyway. Instead I thought I’d take a look at a few less trumpeted titles due
Books to Look Out For in July 2015: Part 1 Read More »