45) Beside the Syrian Sea by James Wolff As anyone who's read the last several reviews will be able to tell, it's been mostly crime and thrillers in the last few weeks - and mostly the quality has been high. I had high hopes for this as well, as it came armed with blurbs and quotes… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 45: Beside the Syrian Sea
Category: literary fiction
Year 4 / Book 34: Moonstone
34) Moonstone by Sjon Sjon is an Icelandic novelist, and this short and powerful novel is set in Reykjavik towards the end of the world war in 2018. Máni is a young free-spirited teenager with an intense love of cinema, and a penchant for flights of fancy (primarily about the mystical Sóla G, his sort-of… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 34: Moonstone
Year 4 / Book 30: Conversations with Friends
30) Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney If you read any reviews of literary fiction or any coverage of prizes in the past couple of years, or even if you just look askance at your average Waterstones book pile, you will have read the name Sally Rooney a hundred times or more. For this debut… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 30: Conversations with Friends
Year 4 / Book 29: Terrific Mother
29) Terrific Mother by Lorrie Moore So, disclaimer - this is a *short* book: it's been a busy week. It's part of a set of Faber short stories published recently (called, appropriately, Faber Stories), which includes stories from a wide range of authors. Other disclaimer: I love Lorrie Moore, and she can basically write no… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 29: Terrific Mother
Year 4 / Book 24: The Things I Would Tell You
24) The Things I Would Tell You ed. Sabrina Mahfouz The subtitle to this collection is 'British Muslim Women Write', and it's a varied collection of short stories, poetry, essays and play scripts all written by Muslim women in Britain. And an extremely interesting and powerful collection it is too - with a wide range… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 24: The Things I Would Tell You
Year 4 / Book 22: Asymmetry
22) Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday This novel was widely praised in 2018, and it's been on the To Be Read pile for a while Chez Temple. The premise of the book is that it is split into two relatively distinct sections, and then that a third short section helps reveal how these two stories connect… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 22: Asymmetry
Year 4 / Book 19: You Think It, I’ll Say It
19) You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld You Think It, I'll Say It is a book of short stories that are witty, sharp and at times extremely moving. I've never read anything by Sittenfeld before (though seen reviews of her novels that have praised her highly), and I'd heartily recommend this as… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 19: You Think It, I’ll Say It
Year 4 / Book 18: Perfidious Albion
18) Perfidious Albion by Sam Byers This is a book that puts the Z in zeitgeisty - every element of a timely contemporary satire is in place: a Farage-esque MP (with far-right affiliations), a social networking / tech giant infiltrating democracy and employment; a vacuous Jordan Peterson-type character; #metoo gender politics and online trolling (and… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 18: Perfidious Albion
Year 4 / Book 9: The Pesthouse
9) The Pesthouse by Jim Crace I remember finding this book somewhere shortly after I'd been prompted to read it by Ronnie Hughes in an exchange under this blog post. That tells me that I"ve been hanging on to the book for more than a year, and it was worth the wait. Crace is a… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 9: The Pesthouse
Year 4 / Book 7: Ghost Wall
7) Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss This came from the Christmas pile of gifted books, and was added to the list after reading multiple positive reviews in the 'books of the year' round-ups. And bloody hell, does this book deserve it - it's an absolutely compelling novella, which gripped me from start to frenzied finish.… Continue reading Year 4 / Book 7: Ghost Wall
Dog-eared Man: a book a week 