12) Three Fifths by John Vercher Well, this book is a blast - and I don't mean in the normal sense of 'well, wasn't that fun', but more in the sense of explosion or a visceral force. It concerns a young biracial man, Bobby, who's never told anyone his father is black - and who… Continue reading Year 6 / Book 12: Three Fifths
Category: literary fiction
Year 6 / Book 11: The Golden Rule
11) The Golden Rule by Amanda Craig A couple of years back, I read The Lie of the Land by Amanda Craig, which I thoroughly enjoyed and heartily recommend. This book shares something with that earlier one, in that it's split between the South West and London, and in that there is an unlikely crime… Continue reading Year 6 / Book 11: The Golden Rule
Year 6 – catch-up; Books 1-10 including Zadie Smith, Max Porter and Abir Mukherjee
As the more eagle-eyed or regular reader will know, Lockdown 1.0 featured of a baby for us which, it is fair to say, has had something of an impact on a) the whole book a week thing and b) keeping up with reviews. I have considered just moving this into a children's book blog, but… Continue reading Year 6 – catch-up; Books 1-10 including Zadie Smith, Max Porter and Abir Mukherjee
Year 5 / Book 22: The A26
22) The A26 by Pascal Garnier With apologies for the enormous break in book reviews (it turns out reading a book a week is incompatible with having a new baby around), I'm catching up a bit on what I have actually managed to read in the last few months. First up is this incredibly dark… Continue reading Year 5 / Book 22: The A26
Year 5 / Book 21: This Is Pleasure
21) This Is Pleasure by Mary Gaitskill This is a short novel, indeed it's barely a novella - but it is beautifully written, and has weight beyond the number of its pages. At heart, it is the story of a friendship between two people: Quin, an eccentric Englishman working in publishing, and Margot, an editor. They… Continue reading Year 5 / Book 21: This Is Pleasure
Year 5 / Book 16: Hell’s Gate
16) Hell's Gate by Laurent Gaudé So this is a strange and intriguing novella by Prix Goncourt-winning French novelist Laurent Gaudé - it starts out with a sort of fairly standard-ish character on something of a mission to avenge someone or something. It turns out the death he is seeking to avenge is, well, his own… Continue reading Year 5 / Book 16: Hell’s Gate
Year 5 / Book 14: Shroud for a Nightingale
14) Shroud for a Nightingale by PD James PD James is a wonderful writer, often underrated and forgotten these days, but the quality of the writing in her Adam Dalgliesh crime novels is wonderful. Which is why I dived into this for some escapism from a coronavirus world - wrong move! Firstly, the hospital where this… Continue reading Year 5 / Book 14: Shroud for a Nightingale
Year 5 / Book 1: Strong Poison
1) Strong Poison by Dorothy L Sayers One of my work colleagues a) only reads fiction by women and b) preferably only from at least forty years ago. Working with Gen is obviously having an effect, as my first book selection of the year (despite an avalanche of book gifts over Xmas) was this little nugget… Continue reading Year 5 / Book 1: Strong Poison
Year 4 / Book 51: Lanny
51) Lanny by Max Porter Max Porter became known for Grief is the Thing With Feathers, a book which (despite combining two of my favourite book-related subjects, in death & Ted Hughes) has remained shamefully unread on the Kindle. For some reason, I instead picked up his next novel, Lanny, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 51: Lanny
Year 4 / Book 46: The Cracked Looking-Glass
46) The Cracked Looking-Glass by Katharine Anne Porter First of all, I'd like to be very clear that in no way did I choose this book because it was barely a novella and therefore enabled me to play catch up when behind on reading books. Absolutely not. That sort of behaviour doesn't wash on this blog.… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 46: The Cracked Looking-Glass
Dog-eared Man: a book a week 