Book news, reviews and recommendations
I put my hand up for Jem Calder’s first novel having very much enjoyed his linked short story collection, Reward System. He’s one of those writers who’s attracted puffs from the likes of Sally Rooney which may or may not predispose some readers towards him. Set in London, I Want You to Be Happy follows […]
I Want You to Be Happy by Jem Calder: ‘What are we?’ Read More »
Lee Cole’s Groundskeeping was one of my books of the year back in 2022 raising my expectations for his second. Fulfillment sees two half-brothers returning to Kentucky, one with his hopes dashed and in debt, the other married and apparently successful, teaching for a term at a local university. For anyone discomfited by that extra
Fulfillment by Lee Cole: ‘Despair and Late Capitalism’ or ‘The Hero’s Journey’ Read More »
Recently shortlisted for this year’s International Booker Prize, the first book in Solvej Balle’s septology comes garlanded with praise from a wide range of writers including Jon McGregor whose endorsement swung it for me; that and its intriguing premise. On the Calculation of Volume 1 follows Tara Selter who wakes up every morning to find
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 »
I raced through Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The Plot while on last year’s Central European rail jaunt. It’s a literary thriller about a blocked writer who uses the surefire plot a student recounts to him after he learns of the student’s death with dire consequences. I dithered about reading The Sequel, having learnt my lesson with
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. Tobias Hill’s Underground is an unusual one for me. It’s a thriller, not a genre I read much
Blasts from the Past: Underground by Tobias Hill (1999) Read More »
That subtitle isn’t a quote from Sebastian Barry’s new novel – as some of you may have spotted, it’s the opening line from Ford Maddox Ford’s The Good Soldier – but it’s the phrase that came into my head many times while reading it. Set in mid-1990s Ireland, Old God’s Time follows a recently retired
Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry: ‘This is the saddest story I have ever heard’ 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 »
Given that it features a child narrator, I was a wee bit wary of Miriam Toews’ Fight Night despite having enjoyed her previous novels. It’s such a difficult trick to pull off, painfully clunky if mishandled. Toews’ new novel takes the form of a letter written by nine-year-old Swiv to her father who her grandmother
Fight Night by Miriam Toews: ‘That’s patriarchy, Swiv, make a note’ Read More »
This is the second novel I’ve reviewed this year with a backdrop of The Troubles. Set in the 1979 on a tiny remote Irish island rather than in a 1993 Ulster village, Audrey Magee’s The Colony is very different from Jan Carson’s The Raptures. Two men make their way to the island, planning to spend
The Colony by Audrey Magee: Two sides of the story Read More »
I was a wee bit wary of reading Nickolas Butler’s Godspeed. His first novel, Shotgun Lovesongs, had set the bar so high that perhaps a slight feeling of disappointment in his second, The Hearts of Men, was inevitable. Rather than Butler’s beloved Wisconsin, this new novel is set in Wyoming where three men, friends and
Godspeed by Nickolas Butler: Too good to be true Read More »