Book news, reviews and recommendations
The first batch of July’s paperbacks begins with one I enjoyed much more than I’d expected. When the unnamed narrator of Dominic Amerena’s I Want Everything spots a dead ringer for Australia’s most notorious bestselling novelist who apparently disappeared in the ’70s, he hatches a plan to rescue his own flagging writing career. Tracking her […]
Paperbacks to Look Out For in July 2026: Part One Read More »
We’re racing towards the end of the year although I spent several weeks of 2025’s last quarter going nowhere very much thanks to plantar fasciitis. Several absorbing novels kept me going, beginning with one which grew out of a social media post during the pandemic. Damian Barr’s The Two Roberts is about Robert MacBryde and
Books of the Year 2025: Part Four Read More »
Despite her extensive back catalogue which includes five works of fiction, I’d never read anything by Gish Jen. Her new, difficult-to-categorise book, Bad Bad Girl, is the story of her mother’s life in which Jen imagines conversations, seeking answers to questions her mother would never give. It’s a novelisation, leaning very much towards memoir but,
Bad Bad Girl by Gish Jen: A novel with some truth in it Read More »