Book news, reviews and recommendations
Five years ago, I reviewed Niall Williams’s This is Happiness which I very much enjoyed despite his somewhat florid writing style, very different from my preferred pared-back prose. A pleasing coming-of-age story, Williams’s novel was set in the rain-soaked coastal community of Faha, on the cusp of entering the modern world as the village welcomes […]
Time of the Child by Niall Williams: A Christmas tale 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. The son of a forensic psychiatrist, Patrick McGrath grew up near Broadmoor, the high security mental hospital for
Blasts from the Past: Port Mungo by Patrick McGrath (2004) Read More »
I’ve not read Rumaan Alam’s Leave the World Behind or watched the Netflix movie but I do remember it being much admired predisposing me to read Entitlement when it popped through my letter box. Alam’s new novel follows a young black woman as she navigates the world of the super-rich in her new job working
Entitlement by Rumaan Alam: ‘Money, money, money’ Read More »
When I spotted Rare Singles on NetGalley I’d read just one novel by Benjamin Myers – The Offing – although I have The Perfect Golden Circle on my TBR shelves and Cuddy on my ‘to buy’ list. Spanning three days, it’s about an American singer in his seventies with the slimmest of back catalogues who’s
Rare Singles by Benjamin Myers: ‘Grief is the price of love’ Read More »
Three things attracted me to Alan Murrin’s The Coast Road: it’s a debut, he’s Irish and that cover suggested something small town. Set the year before Ireland’s 1995 referendum on divorce, Murrin’s novel explores the state of three marriages – two under strain and one broken – through the women whose independence is thwarted by
The Coast Road by Alan Murrin: Opening the door to change Read More »
It was its Georgian setting that attracted me to Leo Vardiashvili’s debut, Hard by a Great Forest. It’s a part of the world I know little about although what I’ve read suggests that it’s beautiful enough to make me want to visit were it more peaceful. Vardiashvili’s novel takes its narrator back to the country
Hard By a Great Forest by Leo Vardiashvili: ‘They say you can never go home again.’ Read More »
A copyediting friend alerted me to Canadian poet Anne Michaels’ Held, her first novel since The Winter Vault was published back in 2010, urging me to read it. Michaels is the author of Fugitive Pieces which made a deep impression on me when I read it many years ago. Held is her third novel, making
Held by Anne Michaels: ‘Who can say what happens when we are remembered?’ Read More »
I knew there was a new Ann Patchett on the horizon but wasn’t entirely sure of its publication date so when a proof of Tom Lake turned up out of the blue I was thrilled to bits. I’m a big Patchett fan and although her lovely collection of essays, These Precious Days, had been a
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett: A celebration of life and love Read More »
I’m such a fan of Patrick deWitt’s witty, slightly off-the-wall fiction that I put in a request for a proof copy of The Librarianist, something I rarely do these days having taken to reading via NetGalley, much to my own surprise. French Exit, his last novel, was memorable for a particularly unusual cat which I
The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt: A life less ordinary Read More »
I was delighted to spot Sheila Armstrong’s first novel in the publishing schedules having been so impressed with her short story collection, How to Gut a Fish. That had a touch of the surreal about it which I half expected from Falling Animals, given it’s slightly disconcerting, rather lovely cover, but Armstrong’s novel is not
Falling Animals by Sheila Armstrong: For those in peril on the sea 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 into as many hands as I could. Abdulrazak Gurnah’s By the Sea is a slim novel but it made quite an impression on me, perhaps
Blasts from the Past: By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah (2001) Read More »