Book news, reviews and recommendations
I seem to have read quite a few novels that either revolve around the art world or have art as a significant theme. Perhaps there’s been a trend over the past few years or perhaps it’s because art interests me so much, regularly flexing my National Art Pass at exhibitions back before the pandemic. Whichever, …
January and February boasted six reading treats for me but things were spread a little more thinly over the following three months. March began with what I knew would be a favourite author’s last book. Helen Dunmore’s, Birdcage Walk, is set in her home town of Bristol against the backdrop of the French Revolution raging …
Given that I nicked this idea from Kim over at Reading Matters, an Australian blogger, albeit one living in the UK, it seems only fair to round up five books I’ve read by Australians. I should say I’ve read considerably more Australian fiction than that but these are five novels I’ve particularly enjoyed. The last …
This second instalment of September paperbacks starts with a book that I wanted to love but couldn’t quite manage to. If you’re a fan of Jay McInerney’s series of novels which began with Brightness Falls you won’t need to be told who the Calloways are nor will you need to have explained to you why …
Paperbacks to Look Out for in September 2017: Part Two Read More »
I’m not sure how I managed to miss Dominic Smith’s novel last year, although the hardback edition’s jacket is somewhat off-putting. In his author’s note Smith tells his readers that the eponymous Sara is loosely based on one of the first women to be admitted to St Luke’s Guild in the 17th-century Netherlands, explaining that …
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith: Art and fakery Read More »
This second batch of May paperbacks kicks of with Carol Birch’s Orphans of the Carnival which tells the story of Julia Pastrana. Born in 1834, Julia is a heavily hirsute Mexican woman, eager to see the world and willing to pay the price even if that means allowing herself to be exhibited in a freak …
Paperbacks to Look Out for in May 2017: Part Two Read More »