~ Featherweight, by Mick Kitson ~ Canongate, 2021 Set in the 1820 or 1830s, in the Black Country (West Midlands of the UK, previously a coal mining region) this book is about ‘the noble art’ of fisticuffs, or pugilism, or...
~ Burma Sahib, by Paul Theroux ~ Mariner, 2024. In 1920, a young Englishman called Eric Blair sailed out to become a sahib in the Raj. He was stationed in Burma as a policeman, overseeing the Burmese and Indian ‘natives’...
~ Cold Comfort Farm, by Stella Gibbons ~ Longman, 1932 In the introduction, Lynne Truss calls this novel a masterpiece, and so it is. Truss however does not agree with common opinion that it is necessarily a parody of Mary...
~ Burn Book, by Kara Swisher ~ Simon and Schuster, 2024. Too often, inventors are painted as heroic, with their faults glossed over in our accepted narrative. Most are damaged in a significant way, usually from early in their lives....
~ Wellness, by Nathan Hill ~ Knopf, 2023. It is with great pleasure I now know of yet another wonderful writer and storyteller, Nathan Hill. This is the first book of his that I have come across (Wellness is Hill’s 2nd novel),...
~ The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce ~ Random House, 2012. “It is solved by walking” — attributed to St Augustine, circa 400 AD Rachel Joyce’s first novel is one of those quintessentially British, slightly quaint, gentle,...
~ Choice, by Neel Mukherjee ~ W.W.Norton, 2024. The title of this book is singularly apt. Choice is not a novel, rather it is 3 long, short-stories, 2 set in London and 1 in Bangladesh, which all show individuals making choices,...
~ The Great Believers, by Rebecca Makai ~ Penguin, 2018. In 1985, at the beginning of this novel, several young men attend a memorial wake in Chicago. This is not a standard memorial service; it is a party, held at...
~ If I Survive You, by Jonathan Escoffery ~ Macmillan, 2022. While one may disagree about Booker Prize winners, amongst the other shortlisted novels for the prize, there are usually some gems to be found. In the 2023 shortlist, Sarah...
~ How to Say Babylon, by Safiya Sinclair ~ Simon & Schuster, 2023. Say the word ‘Rastafarian’, and many people will think of Bob Marley and reggae. Beyond the catchy, unmistakeable rhythm of the songs, few people in America, including...
~ Study for Obedience, by Sarah Bernstein ~ Penguin Random House, 2023. From the very start, the quality of the writing was obvious, which explained why it had been shortlisted for the 2023 Booker. The writing style is so distinctive...
~ The Limits, by Nell Freudenberger ~ Penguin Random House, 2024. Nell Freudenberger’s Lucky Girls was a wonderful collection of short stories (see Reeta’s review), but it’s a big step from short stories to a full-length novel, and not every...
~ Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, by Satoshi Yagisawa ~ Translated by Eric Ozawa ~ Harper Perennial, 2023. This book is supposedly an international bestseller, the debut novel about twenty-five year old Takako, niece of the owner of the 3rd generation...
~ Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books, by Kirsten Miller ~ William Morrow, 2024. A novel not just about libraries or bookstores, but specifically about a Little Free Library! Who could resist? Well, not me at least. Set in...
~ The Museum of Failures, by Thrity Umrigar ~ Algonquin, 2023. This is by no means the worst of Umrigar’s novels, but it is not her best either. It is a very readable, pleasant novel, set within a Parsi community...
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