Book news, reviews and recommendations
Just one post for April’s paperbacks which includes five I’ve already read, beginning with a novel by an author who doesn’t get nearly the attention she deserves. Georgina Harding’s Harvest is the third in a loosely linked trilogy about the Ashe family and echoes both The Gun Room and Land of the Living in its […]
Paperbacks to Look Out For in April 2022 Read More »
By March I’d usually have been talking about spring but even my perennial Pollyanna tendencies had been flattened by a pandemic winter, dank and dreary with few bright days to enjoy. One of the novels that kept my mind of things was Claire Fuller’s Unsettled Ground which explores the darker side of rural life through
Books of the Year 2021: Part Two Read More »
When I first started this year’s Booker Prize wish list, I found it a bit of a struggle. Several of the books I’ve loved most this year have been translations – Jhumpa Lahiri’s Wherabouts, for instance – and obviously those don’t qualify. Then I read a novel I wanted to include at the last minute
My 2021 Booker Wish List Read More »
Georgina Harding is one of those writers whose work I’ve long thought underrated. Her elegant, understated prose is meticulously crafted, never more so than in Harvest, her third novel about the Ashe family which echoes both The Gun Room and Land of the Living in its exploration of the legacy of war. The brooding that
Harvest by Georgina Harding: ‘But this was only a moment of sunlight’ Read More »
Hard as it may seem to credit, it’s already nearly time for the announcement of The Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist: Wednesday, 10th March is the date to add to your jam-packed diary. Only novels written by women in English published between April 1st 2020 and March 31st 2021 qualify. Over the past few years
My Wishlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021 Read More »
A healthy two-parter preview for March with a wide range of books to look out for including several I’ve already read beginning with Alexis Schaitkin’s enjoyable Saint X, a casualty of last year’s slipping and sliding in the publishing schedules. A little outside my usual literary territory as you can probably tell from that cover,
Books to Look Out for in March 2021: Part One Read More »
I’m kicking off this second instalment of October paperbacks with the only one I haven’t read. I’d have expected to be hell-bent on getting my hands on it but after the hardback reviews, I’m not so sure. Haruki Murakami’s Killing Commendatore sees a portrait painter discover a strange painting in the attic of a famous
Paperbacks to Look Out For in October 2019: Part Two Read More »
Another year, another Man Booker Prize longlist in the offing, except this year its reverted to the Booker Prize, thanks to a change of sponsorship with Crankstart stepping into the funding breach as of June 1st this year. To be eligible for the prize all books must be published in the UK between October 1st
My 2019 (Man) Booker Wish List Read More »
The longlist for my favourite UK literary award, The Women’s Prize for Fiction, is due to be announced next Monday. Only novels written by women in English published between April 1st 2018 and March 31st 2019 qualify. Over the past few years I’ve failed miserably in predicting what took the judges fancy but truth be
My Wish List for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2019 Read More »
October and early November were spent reading for my shadow judging stint for the Young Writer of the Year Award, a thoroughly enjoyable experience not least because it meant I met several bloggers who’ve I’ve exchanged views with over the years. The judges plumped for Adam Weymouth’s proper piece of travel writing, Kings of the
Books of the Year 2018: Part Four Read More »
A new Georgina Harding is always something to celebrate for me. I’m a great fan of her elegant yet lyrical writing and her quiet perceptiveness. Her last novel, The Gun Room, explored the legacy of war through a photographer and the unwelcome fame endured by one of his subjects. Land of the Living revisits the
Land of the Living by Georgina Harding: War and its aftermath reprised Read More »