Book news, reviews and recommendations
This is the second set of novels with an art theme in this series of posts. I introduced the first wondering why I’d read so much recent fiction featuring artists, speculating about a publishing trend or that it was simply my own interest in the subject but perhaps it’s because artists often lead interesting lives […]
Five More Novels I’ve Read About Art Read More »
I remember reading Hideous Kinky shortly after it was published, rewatching the film after getting back from Morocco, hoping to relive our trip, very different though it was from the one in Esther Freud’s novel which drew on her own childhood experiences. I’d also enjoyed her last novel, Mr Mac and Me, reviewed back in
I Couldn’t Love You More by Esther Freud: Love, loss and motherhood Read More »
We’ll soon be hurtling into summer reading territory with blockbusters aplenty to read somewhere other than beside a foreign pool again this year, although they may not appear on this blog. I’m more partial to a well turned out novella. I’m kicking off May’s second new fiction preview with an author whose writing often has
Books to Look Out For in May 2021: Part Two Read More »
It’s that time of year again. The Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction judges are putting the finishing touches to their longlist, due to be announced shortly. Only novels written by women in English published between April 1st 2014 and March 31st 2015 qualify for the award. It’s the one prize I pay attention to these
My wish list for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction 2015 Read More »
The last of my ‘books of the year’ posts begins with one of my two September favourites, Steven Galloway’s The Confabulist which tells the story of the man who killed Houdini not once, but twice. Far from a straightforward reimagining of the Houdini story Galloway’s novel is a very clever bit of business which didn’t
Books of the Year 2014: Part 3 Read More »
It’s been a little while since I read a novel with a First World War setting. Several popped up here earlier in the year but I think I’ve managed to avoid most of the deluge of books published on it recently. It was the Charles Rennie Mackintosh thread running through Mr Mac and Me rather
Mr Mac and Me by Esther Freud: That’s Charles Rennie Mackintosh to you Read More »