Book news, reviews and recommendations
I always look forward to summer, unfailingly optimistic at the prospect of long days full of light and warmth with perhaps a breeze to cool things down now and again. Living in my part of the world, I should know better. Climate change has also shortened the odds, delivering storms punctuated with brief heatwaves more […]
Five Summer Books I’ve Read Read More »
I’m a sucker for anything Scandi these days – I blame BBC4 – which is why I was attracted to Rebecca Dinerstein’s idiosyncratic first novel. I wasn’t at all sure about it at first – I thought it might be a little too whimsical and that cover is enough to send me scrabbling for something
The Sunlit Night by Rebecca Dinerstein: An endearing bit of eccentricity Read More »
At first glance The Vacationers didn’t appeal – beach reads aren’t my kind of thing – but it’s published by Picador (one of my favourite imprints), Then, Naomi at The Writes of Women tweeted approvingly about it and annethology also seemed keen so I quit prevaricating and started reading. It seems they were right: Emma
The Vacationers by Emma Straub: An intelligent beach read Read More »
Despite the rain outside and the woolly cardigan I’m desperate to abandon but can’t seem to shrug off, it’s almost June and the holiday reading season is upon us. I’ve spent the last few days alternating between She Left me the Gun, Emma Brockes’s superb but harrowing account of finding out about her mother’s South
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter: A good old fashioned bit of escapism Read More »