Book news, reviews and recommendations
Lots of paperbacks to herald in the spring, which seems to have arrived worryingly early this year, beginning with one by a favourite author. After avoiding Rodham in the wake of fellow Curtis Sittenfeld fans’ disappointment, I was keen to get my hands on Romantic Comedy. Sally’s a script writer, weary of the double standard […]
Paperbacks to Look Out For in March 2024: Part One Read More »
I would have been keen to read Nicole Flattery’s first novel anyway, having enjoyed her excellent short story collection, Show Them a Good Time, but its premise is intriguing. In 1967, two young high school students helped transcribe tapes of conversations and monologues made by Andy Warhol’s coterie on which he based A Novel. Flattery’s
Nothing Special by Nicole Flattery: ‘I could become someone of my own invention’ Read More »
Every year I post two literary prize wishlists in the sure fire knowledge that few if any of those wishes will be fulfilled. That said, they’re fun to do and I always like to see what other readers would like the judges to plump for. The Women’s Prize for Fiction is the one I care
My Women’s Prize for Fiction 2023 Wishlist Read More »
Two big names leapt out of the March schedules for me although I’m not at all sure about the first. The second I’ve already read but I’m saving that for the next instalment. You’ll probably already know about Eleanor Catton’s Birnam Wood which has been all over social media. It follows the eponymous guerrilla gardening
Books to Look Out For in March 2023: Part One Read More »
I’ve read three of the books featured in the second part of March’s paperback preview, beginning with a novel by an author I’ve been meaning to read for quite some time. Benjamin Myers’ The Offing sees an old man remembering the summer after the Second World War when he tramped out of the pit village
Paperbacks to Look Out For in March 2020: Part Two Read More »
I’d heard good things about Nicole Flattery’s Show Them a Good Time well before publication, not in a shouty in-your-face, can’t-get-away-from-it kind of way but enough to snag my attention. Then I spotted Jon McGregor’s and Sally Rooney’s comments, both clearly smitten with Flattery’s writing. I’m still not entirely sure what to make of it
Show Them a Good Time by Nicole Flattery: An idiosyncratic collection Read More »
The first instalment of March’s new titles was all about the USA. The second part begins with a novel about children knocking on its doors trying to get in. Lost Children Archive, Valeria Luiselli’s first novel written in English, sees a family head off from New York on a road trip to the south west
Books to Look Out for in March 2019: Part Two Read More »