Book news, reviews and recommendations
Happy New Year! Today seems a good day to try out an idea I’ve adapted from a weekly meme hosted by Sam at Taking On a World of Words with which I’m familiar from What Cathy Read Next. Coincidentally, it falls on a Wednesday but I’m plumping for a monthly, or thereabouts, snapshot, aiming to […]
A Snapshot of My Reading #1 Read More »
April marks the real start of spring although I tend to be on the lookout for it from the beginning of March. I certainly felt it had finally arrived sitting in the gardens around Manchester Cathedral when we visited the city for the second time in three years. Just one title stood out for me
Books of the Year 2024: Part Two Read More »
Not my favourite prize but I can’t resist putting together a wish list for the Booker, perhaps because I know very few will be fulfilled but I’m keen to give some more neglected titles an airing. To be eligible for the prize all books must be published in the UK between 1st October 2023 and
My 2024 Booker Wish List Read More »
I jumped at the chance to read James, Percival Everett’s reimagining of Mark Twain’s American classic, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which I read as a child, oblivious to the fact that Twain meant it as a satire. Everett’s novel turns the narrative around, unfolding the story from the point of view of Jim, the slave
James by Percival Everett: ‘I am a sign. I am your future. I am James.’ Read More »
While I’d read none of the titles previewed in April’s first instalment, three are tried and tested in the second batch beginning with the first. I’ve long been a fan of Percival Everett so jumped at the chance to read James, a reimagining of Mark Twain’s American classic, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Everett’s novel turns
Books to Look Out For in April 2024: Part Two Read More »
I’m not a laugh out loud kind of reader, shying away from novels whose blurbs suggest that kind of jollity although I do let fly the odd snigger now and again. I’m partial to a bit of smartarse humour but what most appeals is satire. If done well, ridicule is one of the most effective
Five Novels I’ve Read that Made Me Laugh 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 »
Spring saw several uncharacteristic reads hitting the spot for me, quite possibly as the result of seeking more distraction than usual. April got off to an excellent start with C Pam Zhang’s How Much of These Hills is Gold, set in a reimagined American West in the grips of the Gold Rush. Zhang’s novel is
Books of the Year 2020: Part Two Read More »
I’ve borrowed that subtitle from Courttia Newland’s introduction to Percival Everett’s novel, first published in the US in 2009. Newland stumbled upon Everett’s Graceland in a second-hand bookshop in London and went back for a copy of Erasure, the book that introduced me to this inventive, smart, very funny novelist. He’s prolific, too, but few
I Am Not Sidney Poitier by Percival Everett: ‘An overlooked genius’ Read More »
March is full to bursting with potential treats. Hard to know where to start although the title I’ve chosen isn’t one I’m eager to read but I know vast numbers of others are, not that they can have failed to notice its appearance on the publishing horizon. Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror & the Light is
Books to Look Out For in March 2020: Part One Read More »