Book news, reviews and recommendations
I was a big fan of Chloe Lane’s debut, The Swimmers, which handled the tricky theme of assisted dying with empathy lightly underpinned with humour. A hard act to pull off but Lane did it beautifully which made me keen to read her second novel. Spanning just a few weeks, Arms & Legs follows Georgie […]
Arms & Legs by Chloe Lane: Playing with fire Read More »
Having enjoyed Jean-Baptiste Andrea’s A Hundred Million Years and a Day, I was keen to read Devils and Saints, hoping for more striking, cinematic writing. Andrea’s latest novel reminded me a little of Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These, partly because it explores similar themes, partly because it seemed to me to fit the Christmas
Assisted dying isn’t the easiest theme to explore but it was what attracted me to New Zealand writer Chloe Lane’s The Swimmers set over a long holiday weekend in which a daughter visits the family home for the first time. We know within a few pages that Erin’s terminally ill mother has asked her sister
The Swimmers by Chloe Lane: We are family Read More »
I’m not entirely sure I would have read Jean-Baptiste Andrea’s novella with its rather wordy title had it not been for the enthusiasm of the small indie publisher who approached me to review it which would have been a shame. A Hundred Million Years and a Day was a huge literary hit in France last
Last week’s small publisher post attracted so many hits I thought I’d do another in the hope that some of that interest might have led to a few sales. This time I’ve included a few whose lists I like the look of but have not yet got around to exploring despite having my interest snagged
Ten More Small But Perfectly Formed Publishers Who Will Send Books to Your Home Read More »
I enjoyed Fiona Kidman’s All Day at the Movies so much that I included it on last year’s Women’s Prize wish list. Of course, I knew there was little or no hope that the judges would agree. Spanning 1952 to 2015, it told the story of a family, offering a glimpse of New Zealand’s social
This Mortal Boy by Fiona Kidman: A young life lost Read More »
Edward Carey’s novel arrived through my letterbox so far in advance of publication that I’d forgotten all about it, only picking it up when I felt the need for something long enough to lose myself in. Based on the early life of Madame Tussaud, Little worked a treat, taking me first to eighteenth-century Switzerland then
Little by Edward Carey: Only in stature Read More »
A few years ago I was sent a copy of The President’s Hat which I quickly dismissed as a piece of fluff, far too whimsical for me. Then, after a few too many literary gloomfests, I picked it up, cynical hat firmly on my head. I loved it, gave lots of copies away and recommended
Around this time last year I mentioned the Reading Agency’s Reading Well initiative in a post on Vintage’s Shelf Help promotion. They’d just launched their second list of books aimed at people suffering from depression. Since then I’ve been keeping an eye open hoping for the chance to vote for titles on a third list,
Books on Prescription for Dementia: A very fine initiative Read More »
The People in the Photo seemed an entirely appropriate novel to read after finishing Ben Watt’s reconstruction of his parents’ story. It begins with a description of a photograph from a local Swiss newspaper: three young people – two men and a woman – are bathed in sunlight against an Alpine backdrop, wearing white and
Romain Slocombe’s epistolatory novel, Monsieur le Commandant, is the most difficult novel I’ve read in some time. It’s published by Gallic Books whose wonderful feel good The President’s Hat has been top of my list of books to press upon other readers this year. Monsieur le Commandant also deserves a wide audience but for entirely
Monsieur le Commandant by Romain Slocombe (transl. Jesse Browner): A wartime confession Read More »