Book news, reviews and recommendations
Six Degrees of Separation is a meme hosted by Kate over at Books Are My Favourite and Best. It works like this: each month a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six others to form a chain. A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the titles on the list, […]
Six Degrees of Separation – Kairos to The Night Guest Read More »
Back from my Northern jaunt (more of that later in the week) with a second batch of May paperback goodies which begins with one of my 2023 favourites, Jenny Erpenbeck’s International Booker Prize shortlisted Kairos. Erpenbeck explores identity through a love affair beginning in 1985 between Hans, a successful writer born in 1933, and Katharina,
Paperbacks to Look Out For in May 2024: Part Two Read More »
After last year’s surprisingly sunny visit to Manchester we decided we’d probably used up our Northern spring good weather luck, heading off to St Leonards-on-Sea in Sussex for a short break to see family in April. The month’s reading got off to a brilliant start with ex-bookseller Alice Slater’s Death of a Bookseller which took
Books of Year 2023: Part Two Read More »
I was delighted to spot a new Jenny Erpenbeck on the horizon, putting up my hand as soon as I was offered a proof of Kairos. Erpenbeck’s books offer much food for thought on the events that have shaped modern Germany. Opening in 1986, her new novel charts an affair between Hans, a successful writer
Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck (transl. Michael Hofmann): ‘The god of fortunate moments’ Read More »
All sorts of different things attract me to a novel – mention of spare writing in a blurb, fiction by poets, the book’s setting or a favourite theme to name but a few. Sometimes it’s structure. A dual narrative handled well always hits the spot, as does catching up with a group of friends who
Five Novels I’ve Read with Unusual Structures Read More »
Six Degrees of Separation is a meme hosted by Kate over at Books Are My Favourite and Best. It works like this: each month a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six others to form a chain. A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the titles on the list,
Six Degrees of Separation – Bridget Jones’s Diary to The Devils of Loudun Read More »
I’ve read all but one of August’s paperbacks, or at least the ones that have caught my eye, which means a nice cheap month for me. I’ll begin with Michelle de Kretser’s The Life to Come which explores modern Australia through the stories of a disparate set of characters linked by their relationship to one
Paperbacks to Look Out for in August 2018 Read More »
September’s preview starts with Jenny Erpenbeck’s Go Went Gone, a book I’ve been hoping to see in translation since MarinaSofia over at Finding Time to Write mentioned it earlier in the year. In it Erpenbeck explores the opening of Germany’s borders to refugees and the effects of their arrival on German society through Richard, an
Books to Look Out for in September 2017 Read More »
Perhaps it’s because those of us in the privileged developed world are living longer – that and the advent of a new century – but there seems to be a little trend for novels written from the point of view of a centenarian bystander, someone who’s rubbed shoulders with those who’ve shaped our world for
I’ve reviewed all but two of the June paperbacks that have caught my eye so forgive me if I cram the lot into a single post and let the reviews speak for themselves. I’ll start with one that I haven’t got around to reading although I’ve had a copy for some time: Sarah Waters’ Baileys
Paperbacks to Look Out For in June 2015 Read More »
I suspect The End of Days is a bit of a Marmite novel: you’ll either marvel at the way Jenny Erpenbeck deftly handles the constant shifts in narrative throughout this complex novel or you’ll despair of ever keeping track. Just as Jane Smiley sets out to tell the story of an American century through the