Book news, reviews and recommendations
The first snapshot of my reading year includes a novel published by Salt, a small indie that manages to survive despite the odds, a slightly disappointing short story collection and a piece of consoling non-fiction. The novel I’m reading is Xan Brooks’s The Catchers set in the 1920s American South. I’m not very far in […]
A Snapshot of My Reading #11 Read More »
December’s snapshot includes a chunkster of a novel set in India written by an Ethiopian American physician, a short story collection by a Swedish writer from a favourite publisher and a doorstopping piece of travel writing that I started last month, making two that more than qualify for Laura’s Doorstoppers in December. The novel I’m
A Snapshot of My Reading #10 Read More »
This month’s snapshot includes a novel by a Korean American author, a short story collection from a promising young Irish writer and a doorstopping travelogue. The novel I’m reading is Paul Yoon’s Run Me to Earth, chosen because I so enjoyed his short story collection. It follows three young Laotians, recruited to help at a
A Snapshot of My Reading #9 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 »
This month’s snapshot includes a much-acclaimed Booker Prize winner, a short story collection by the mother of one of my favourite novelists and an account of a year spent sampling Britain’s subcultures The novel I’m reading is Samantha Harvey’s Orbital which follows six astronauts aboard a space station as they encircle the earth multiple times
A Snapshot of My Reading #7 Read More »
This month’s snapshot includes a novel I’ve almost decided to give up, a short story collection from an acclaimed Irish author which has started well and a memoir that might make you think twice about eating in Parisian restaurants. The novel I’m reading is an unsolicited copy of Juhea Kim’s City of Night Birds sent
A Snapshot of My Reading #5 Read More »
This month’s snapshot includes a novel which disappointed several bloggers whose opinions I trust, a short story collection by an International Booker Prize longlisted author and a memoir by a museum guard. The novel I’m reading is Francis Spufford’s Light Perpetual which I started yesterday so it’s early days. It begins with a devastating event
A Snapshot of My Reading #4 Read More »
Quite a mixture this month including one from a much-loved author with a long career behind her and two others by writers I’d not come across before. The novel I’m reading is My Husband by French writer Maud Ventura (transl. Emma Ramadan) in which the narrator is still in the grips of obsessive passion for
A Snapshot of My Reading #3 Read More »