Book news, reviews and recommendations
June’s first instalment of paperbacks begins with three novels about which I had my doubts although after reading the first, it ended up on my books of 2022 list. I should have had more faith in Miriam Toews’ ability to overcome the pitfalls of child narration, something I usually avoid like the plague. Fight Night […]
Paperbacks to Look Out For in June 2023: Part One Read More »
Obviously, I couldn’t resist Bea Setton’s Berlin despite reading both Frieidrichstrasse 19 and Marzhan, Mon Amour in quick succession earlier in the year, also set in one of my favourite European cities. Setton’s debut is very different from the others which tell the story of two neighbourhoods through the people who live in them. This
Berlin by Bea Setton: The art of self-sabotage Read More »
The second July instalment begins in one of my favourite cities where I’d love to be right now thanks to a houseful of builders, no kitchen and basic bathroom facilities. It will all be worth it in the end; at least that’s what I keep telling myself. Bea Setton’s Berlin is about a young woman
Books to Look Out For in July 2022: Part Two Read More »
Two years ago, I reviewed Takis Würger’s The Club whose exploration of entitlement through the appalling behaviour of an Oxford University boxing club struck horribly familiar chords. Stella, his new novel, also tackles discomfiting territory this time through a love story about a wealthy young Swiss man and the beautiful artists’ model he meets in
Stella by Takis Würger (transl Liesl Schillinger): In search of truth Read More »
It was its setting that initially attracted me to Clare Clark’s In the Full Light of the Sun. I’m a sucker for novels set in my favourite cities: New York, Amsterdam and, in this case, Berlin. Based on the case of Otto Wacker, Clark’s novel explores the machinations of the self-regarding art world taken in
In the Full Light of the Sun by Clare Clark: A grand hoodwinking Read More »
Impossible not to comment on that title which makes the old bookseller in me wonder just how much it will be mangled in customer enquiries. I’m sure the publishers breathed a sigh of relief that Twitter have extended their 140-character limit, too. That said, it was the title which attracted me to this novella along
Back in 2012 Anna Stothard’s The Pink Hotel was longlisted for what was then the Orange Prize. In case you’re wondering Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles won it that year. I remember enjoying Stothard’s novel very much. It may have been the jacket with its powder blue, low slung car parked outside a pastel
The Museum of Cathy by Anna Stothard: Tainted love Read More »
Bear with me – this is likely to turn into a long post. After last year’s successful jaunt in the Baltic states H and I decided that this year we’d take to the central European railways. We started in Berlin where, after two winter trips visiting a multitude of museums, we hoped to explore the
Eighteen Days in Central Europe and Two Books 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 »