Tag: Reviews
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Tales of London Town
by Joan Aiken Tales of London Town is a beautifully presented set of linked short novellas for children by Joan Aiken, one of my all-time favourite authors. She’s probably best known for her epic fantasy adventure series, the Wolves Chronicles, featuring The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. She also wrote a wide range of hugely entertaining…
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Saving Time – Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock
By Jenny Odell £10.99 paperback This looks like a classic self-help book, one designed to help the reader prioritise, or perhaps to be more mindful. I did find it helpful, and it was much more radical in argument and approach than I was expecting. Odell explores the invention of time as much of the world…
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Cairn
By Kathleen Jamie Paperback, £10.99 Cairn is a collection of micro essays, poems and thoughts from the Scottish writer. As ever her focus on nature is acute, and her writing is beautiful. Lovely minimalist illustrations complement the text. More present here than in previous works, perhaps, is the climate emergency. Jamie captures the grief of…
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Notes from an Island
By Tove Jansson and Tuulikki Pietilä Paperback, £12.99 A short and beautiful memoir, as two women in their late 40s build their dream cabin on a remote island in the Gulf of Finland. They stayed every summer until they were less able to manage the rigorous physical work that living there required. Luckily for us…
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Rental Person Who Does Nothing
By Shoji Morimoto Paperback, £10.99 In this written account, Tokyoite Shoji Morimoto tells the story of why and how he stopped freelancing and started offering his services – for free! – as a “rental person who does nothing” on Twitter. Don’t let the quirky premise put you off. I spent my entire time reading it…
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Nadezhda in the Dark
By Yelena Moskovich A Jewish Ukrainian-American woman spends the longest, coldest night of the year in bed with her Russian girlfriend, Nadezhda, in their Berlin apartment. There, against the backdrop of the antisemitic violence that forced her family to flee to the US when she was a child and of the new Russian war on…
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Frida the Rock and Roll Moth
By Kim Hillyard Paperback, £7.99 Who would not want to rock out, especially if they had a Flying V guitar in imperial purple? Frida the Rock and Roll Moth is ready to take her place in the world of rock, but suddenly worries that perhaps she will not shine as she had hoped… This is…
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The Prey
By Yrsa Sigurðardóttir Paperback, £9.99 Another excellent crime thriller from Icelandic author Sigurðardóttir. Three seemingly disparate stories intertwine tighter and tighter, leading to a convincing (and for me, gasp-inducing) conclusion. A man finds out he had a younger sister who died – he has no recollection of her, but family neighbours tell him that she…
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Explorers, Dreamers and Thieves: Writers in the Archives of the British Museum
Paperback, £11.99 A timely and intriguing collection of short pieces inspired by the ‘eth docs’ – items in the ethnographic collection’s archive, all relating to the Americas. Charco have lined up an outstanding list of writers to respond to these items, and the book includes essays, short stories, and poetry. Contributors include Selva Almada and…
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Big by Vashti Harrison
By Vashti Harrison Paperback, £8.99 A gorgeous picture book from Little Leaders author Vashti Harrison. A little girl is happy with her body and herself, until people start to tell her that she’s too big… As Harrison explains: “In childhood, big is good. Big is impressive, aspirational. But somewhere along the way, the world begins…
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Getting Better
By Michael Rosen Paperback, £12.99 This is a useful and moving combination of memoir and practical guide to healing after serious illness. Rosen finds moments of joy after Covid and bereavement, and offers accessible creative ways of dealing with struggle. His writing for children and adults, while often very funny, has also dealt with difficult…
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Legacy of Violence
By Caroline Elkins Paperback, £16.99 Legacy of Violence is an extraordinary and thorough account of the use of State violence throughout the history of the British empire. This was one of the best history books I’ve read for years, and I know I’ll refer back to it often. Elkins spots trends in policy and enforcement…
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Exiles
By Jane Harper Paperback, £9.99 I’ve read every Jane Harper crime thriller and this is the best one so far. Aaron Falk, her investigator in previous books The Dry and Force of Nature, is visiting friends in a small Australian town. It’s a year since his last visit, and a year since local woman Kim…
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Space Crone
By Ursula K. Le Guin Paperback, £13.99 This excellent diverse anthology includes essays and short stories from the author of speculative fiction including The Wizard of Earthsea and The Left Hand of Darkness. I was delighted to find that it included my favourite short story of all time, Sur, in which a group of women…
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Divided: Racism, Medicine and Why We Need to Decolonise Healthcare
By Annabel Sowememo Paperback, £10.99 This essential and well-written book is a mixture of useful history and current issues in UK healthcare. The author explores areas including eugenics, race science, development of health policies and treatments. Sowemimo brings her personal experience as NHS doctor to her analysis. Her first-hand accounts of training and practice in…
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His Bloody Project, by Graeme Macrae Burnet
Paperback, Contraband, £8.99, out now This Booker-longlisted novel is the story of a 17 year old boy facing the death penalty for a triple murder committed in a remote village in the Scottish highlands. It is 1869, and Roderick Macrae is the son of a crofter who is living in a feudal society. His Bloody…
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Cabin Porn – Inspiration for your Quiet Place Somewhere, by Zach Klein and Stephen Leckart
Paperback, Penguin, £10.99, out now What do you need for your ideal hideaway? A mountain view and an icy lake? Dense woodland and a log burning hot tub? A warm nook for reading, or a breezy beach veranda for birdspotting? If this is the kind of thing you dream of, this book will make you…
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Dead Man’s Blues, by Ray Celestin
Hardback, Mantle, £12.99, out now For his second crime mystery novel, Celestin takes us to Jazz age Chicago. Louis Armstrong is transforming the cornet solo, and Al Capone largely owns the city, which is corrupt at every level. The novel opens with a gangster funeral almost Roman in scope, where the crowds are showered with…
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