Book news, reviews and recommendations
It’s almost longlist time for the Women’s Prize for Fiction although it hardly seems five minutes since the last one. Wednesday March 4th is the date to add your diary. Only novels written by women in English published between April 1st, 2025, and March 31st, 2026, qualify. I’ve followed the same format as previous years, […]
My Women’s Prize for Fiction 2026 Wish List 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 »
This month’s snapshot includes the follow-up to a novel I read well over twenty years ago, a short story collection popular with bloggers a while back and an account of a garden restoration which draws on art, literature and history. The novel I’m reading is Michael Bracewell’s Unfinished Business, a sequel of sorts to The
A Snapshot of My Reading #8 Read More »
I’ve read three titles from the first part of November’s preview, beginning with Olivia Laing’s The Silver Book. Set during Italy’s Years of Lead, marked by atrocities and violent clashes between the extreme left and right, it follows Nicholas who’s fled London for Venice. After a chance encounter with renowned costume and set designer, Danilo
Books to Look Out For in November 2025: Part One Read More »
Whereas there was no contest for my first June selection’s lead title, two novels jostle for that position in the second. Tim Winton wins by a whisker with The Shepherd’s Hut. Jaxie Clackton has long since put home behind him when a dramatic event leaves him with nothing, catapulting him into a journey across the
Books to Look Out for in June 2018: Part Two Read More »
I was attracted to Olivia Laing’s new book partly because of its setting – that old New York lure – partly because I’d enjoyed her exploration of the relationship between writers and drink, The Trip to Echo Spring. In The Lonely City she explores loneliness through the work of four artists – Edward Hopper, David
The Lonely City by Olivia Laing: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone Read More »
Olivia Laing’s book opens with a vivid anecdote about two men, both visiting lecturers at the renowned University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. One is a well-established author with many accolades under his belt, the other soon will be. Both of them are in deep trouble: they’re on their way to the liquor store – it’s
The Trip to Echo Spring by Olivia Laing: Why writers drink Read More »