Tag: 21 Vintage Books

  • Conference at Cold Comfort Farm: Stella Gibbons

    Inexplicably out of print for many years (along with the vast majority of Stella Gibbons’ novels) but now rightfully back in circulation (along with some of the rest of that vast majority).  It could be argued that this is more of the same, but that’s fine given the sheer genius of Cold Comfort Farm.  In…

  • The Berlin Novels: Christopher Isherwood

    Whether it be for Isherwood’s almost revered literary regard or perhaps for more Liza Minelli shaped reasons, Mr Norris Changes Trains & Goodbye to Berlin have carved themselves their own niche in mainstream culture.  Either, I suppose, are acceptable routes to popular longevity, but whatever you may think you know about these books, forget it. …

  • Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha: Roddy Doyle

    Roddy Doyle essentially writes funny books about ordinary lives and this, a classic example of his earlier work, is by far the finest of them.  The fast paced interior monologue of the ten year old protagonist is pitch perfect – fractious, unruly, excitable and entirely the product of the infantile logic of a child.  A…

  • Morvern Callar: Alan Warner

    Alan Warner’s debut novel is the unusual, stylised tale of the titular Morvern Callar, whose drab life descends into inadvertent amorality.  The stream-of-consciousness first person narrative is both forthright and a little awry – in keeping with the character herself – but unfailingly atmospheric and cool.

  • The Talented Mr Ripley: Patricia Highsmith

    A brilliant psychological thriller and one of the best crime novels of the 20th Century. Highsmith is a masterful storyteller and has written an insanely readable book. A supremely stylish page turner with one of the most wonderfully amoral protagonists of all time. 

  • In-flight Entertainment: Helen Simpson

    London’s Helen Simpson is one of our best living writers of short stories and this, her fifth collection, is another tour de force that you’ll end up pressing on everyone you know. Underpinned by a burning anxiety about the looming threat of climate change, the stories in In-Flight Entertainment do more in a few pages…

  • South of the Border, West of the Sun: Haruki Murakami

    Hajime meets and falls in love with a girl in elementary school but loses touch with her when his family moves away. He drifts through high school, college and into his 20s before marrying and settling into a career as a successful bar owner. Then his childhood sweetheart returns  weighed down with secrets. This is…

  • So Long See You Tomorrow: William Maxwell

    Born in Illinois in 1908 and Fiction Editor at the New Yorker for almost 40 years William Maxwell was one of the true greats of American literature.  This is not a happy story by any stretch of the imagination but this is a heartbreaking book of great beauty and subtlety. A meditation on memory, grief,…

  • The Bluest Eye: Toni Morrison

    Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize-winning titan of contemporary literature, and her masterful debut novel is an American classic. Short, sharply-observed, shocking and painfully moving, The Bluest Eye is a gorgeously lyrical page-turner that explores a legacy of race and abuse. It’s a really accessible quick read that’s as riveting as it is tear-jerking, and…

  • Elizabeth the Queen: Alison Weir

    Without doubt the definitive biography of the era-defining monarch.  Weir’s patient (but never torpid) detail is ideal in reconstructing the life and Court of a woman about whom [too] much is assumed, exaggerated and scandalised.  A wonderful read that leaves you with an indelible portrait.

  • The Time of our Singing: Richard Powers

    A richly layered multi-generational tale talking about race in America, this is a big book talking about big themes. Despite its size and scope Powers has written an intensely beautiful and intimate story, heartbreaking too. If Jonathan Franzen deserves the accolades here in the UK then Richard Powers most certainly does. He is in my…

  • Acid House: Irvine Welsh

    A disgusting, vile and vivid collection of short stories riddled with sex, drugs and insects, plus smatterings ofAmsterdamand Stoke Newington.  Very grubby, very Nineties, and very brilliant.

  • A Single Man: Christopher Isherwood

    This is the tale of a day in the life of George. A British man teaching English and living inCaliforniawhose life has changed through the complex emotions grief bestows since losing his partner Jim. It’s a small book filled with subtlety. Isherwood’s prose is spare, mesmerizing: his words well chosen, succinct and meaningful. It is…

  • The Planet of the Apes: Pierre Boulle

      A book that spawned an industry of tie-ins and spin-offs and gave Charlton Heston a legitimate excuse to run  dementedly about a beach in a loin cloth and emote for all he was worth.  But despite its many (mostly) lame connotations, the original novel (this book you’re about to buy) is really rather remarkably good. …

  • Cathedral: Raymond Carver

    The magic and mastery of Carver’s short story writing is nothing short of breathtaking.  Let yourself be swept away into the lives of ordinary folk facing bleak truths, disappointments and small revelations.  Be sure of a sharp jolt ending then spend the rest of the day just thinking.  You will not regret it.

  • Jar City: Arnaldur Indridason

    I can’t see this series of books being endorsed by the Icelandic Tourist Board any time soon but don’t let that stop you. In this first instalment of the ‘Reykjavik Murder Mysteries’ we are introduced to troubled detective Erlendur. He’s been sent to investigate the murder of an old man in his Reykjavik flat. The only…

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