~ Jim Allison: Breakthrough ~ The backlash against scientific evidence and skepticism about data-driven consensus has reached alarming proportions, the most obvious instances being the anti-vaccination movement and the refusal to accept climate change. Into this atmosphere comes a wonderful...
~ Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, by Anne Tyler ~ Anne Tyler’s writing often depicts relationships, particularly familial relationships, and Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant is another wonderful novel in this vein. The novel begins with Pearl, who at about...
~ Free Food for Millionaires, by Min Jin Lee ~ The novel begins with 22 year old protagonist Casey Han, who has just graduated from Princeton, coming home to Queens, where her Korean immigrant family have always lived, for a...
~ The Gifted School, by Bruce Holsinger ~ Pointed and clever, The Gifted School has a delightfully snarky opening quote: There is something so tantalizing about having a gifted child that some parents will go to almost any lengths to...
~ This Green and Pleasant Land, by Ayisha Malik ~ This novel is kept extremely lighthearted despite taking on some weighty issues in UK society (such as English identity, the rise of Islamophobia, village mentality, discrimination, hate crime, etc.) The...
~ Photograph, directed by Ritesh Batra ~ Ritesh Batra’s Photograph is an extremely delicate film. Set in bustling Mumbai, it has periods of complete stillness, and develops slowly, more like a photograph of yore than anything in today’s frenetic social-media...
~ We, the Survivors. By Tash Aw ~ We, The Survivors, is Tash Aw’s fourth novel, and his most accomplished by far. This work of fiction comes very close to being a little masterpiece. Its writing voice is assured, fluent,...
~ A Frightfully English Execution, by Shamini Flint ~ It’s tempting to describe Shamini Flint’s Inspector Singh novels as ‘cosy mysteries’. They feature an appealingly crusty detective, and are full of sly humour. Despite their lack of pretentiousness, though, they...
~ How to Find Love in a Bookshop, by Veronica Henry ~ What a wonderful title. What a lovely front cover. What a lack-lustre read. Henry’s novel sets up Nightingale Bookshop as the centrepiece, but actually, it is nothing more...
~ The Clockmaker’s Daughter, by Kate Morton ~ Dense novels with a haunted house at the center are Kate Morton’s niche, and The Clockmaker’s Daughter fits neatly into her genre. But there comes a point where sheer density can drag...
~ At the Water’s Edge, by Sara Gruen ~ This period romance novel, set in the 2nd World War, features a young protagonist called Maddie, newly married, of the upper crust set in Philadelphia. She does little except enjoy herself...
~ Chances Are…, by Richard Russo ~ In the first chapter of Chances Are…, the reader is introduced to classic Russo. When the [SAT] results came back, his mother met his father at the door. “Have a look at this”,...
~Gap Creek, by Robert Morgan ~ The riveting thing about this novel, for me any rate, is Julie Richards (nee Harmon)’s capacity for hard work and sheer optimism. It is hard to keep in mind she is only 17 years...
~ The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters, by Balli Kaur Jaswal ~ Can a pilgrimage to honour their mother’s dying wishes bring three bickering sisters together? And can they also examine the ghosts of their past and face the...
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