Book news, reviews and recommendations
Six Degrees of Separation is a meme hosted by Kate over at Books Are My Favourite and Best. It works like this: each month a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six others to form a chain. A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the titles on the list, […]
Six Degrees of Separation – Seascraper to Shadow Ticket Read More »
This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy in as many hands as I could. I have a rather tattered proof of Dreamland which I’m pretty sure was given to me by a
Blasts from the Past: Dreamland by Kevin Baker (1999) 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 »
The Five Summer Books post in this series proved very popular; I suspect this one won’t attract quite so much attention. Most of us prefer basking in a bit of summer sun if we get the chance but the five books below might make you feel glad to be cosy and inside on a bleak
Five Winter Books I’ve Read Read More »
Having enjoyed Voting Day, Clare O’Dea’s debut, I was delighted to be send a copy of Before the Leaves Fall. Both novels are set in Switzerland where she lives and both are published by Fairlight Books, a small indie who also publish one of my favourite writers, Douglas Bruton. As you may have gathered from
Before the Leaves Fall by Clare O’Dea: Choosing when to die Read More »
Given my many visits to the Netherlands, you’d think I might have read lots of Dutch fiction but I haven’t come across much in translation. The little I have read I’ve enjoyed, particularly the five listed below, all with links to reviews on my blog. I’m a sucker for novels about long term relationships, the
Five Dutch Novels I’ve Read Read More »
I wasn’t sure about reading Aja Gabel’s Lightbreakers: the premise was attractive, but the blurb suggested elements of SF/Fantasy that I might have trouble with, more my understanding than anything else. It follows Noah who’s been invited to take part in what is essentially a time travel experiment funded by a billionaire, and his wife,
Lightbreakers by Aja Gabel: ’A story of impossible things made possible’ Read More »
Despite her extensive back catalogue which includes five works of fiction, I’d never read anything by Gish Jen. Her new, difficult-to-categorise book, Bad Bad Girl, is the story of her mother’s life in which Jen imagines conversations, seeking answers to questions her mother would never give. It’s a novelisation, leaning very much towards memoir but,
Bad Bad Girl by Gish Jen: A novel with some truth in it Read More »
Having written a couple of these posts on Irish fiction, it’s time for a few Scottish favourites, some written in such rich dialect I could hear it as I read. There’s a real skill to that kind of writing as anyone who’s read a cringe-makingly poor version of it will know. Here then are five
Five Scottish Novels I’ve Read Read More »
The blurb for Anika Jade Levy’s Flat Earth suggested an interesting contrast between two friends who meet at a liberal arts college – one looks set for success, the other adrift and unable to make anything stick. Set against the backdrop of the New York art world, Levy’s debut opens with Avery and Frances driving
Flat Earth by Anika Jade Levy: A bleakly funny novella 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 »