This week’s glittering ceremony in Sweden, where Kazuo Ishiguro was presented with the Nobel Prize for Literature, marked the culmination of a series of prestigious and occasionally controversial Awards during 2017. Does the best book always win? That inevitably depends on who you ask. Whilst judges may arrive at consensus,…
Review: In short, two fascinating perspectives on life
Two writers. Two excellent, contrasting, collections of short fiction both, in their way, exposing the simple truths and glorious complexities of everyday of life.
First Helen Garner, one of Australia’s most under-stated yet wise and clear-sighted writers has consistently held up an unwavering mirror up to the country through more 13 books (including forensic studies of two highly publicised court cases), two plays and numerous magazine articles. Stories ( Text Publishing) a collection of fiction, some of which dates back more than 20 years, has been released to coincide with her 75th birthday. It showcases her meticulous, pared back, observations on the magical and the mundane. She has a glorious ear for the vernacular so mesmerising you can hear the conversations in your head as you read. Postcards from Surfers will resonate with anyone who has tried to bridge the gap between childhood holidays and the present. Stories is a partner to a volume of her non-fiction work.
Review: Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich
There was no shortage of artistic inspiration for Louise Erdrich’s latest book Future Home of the Living God, a dystopian portrayal of an America where evolution has suddenly, and inexplicably, reversed itself. There’s the last scene in the movie Planet of the Apes, P.D.James’s The Children of Men, Lidia Yuknavitch’s…
Review: Super, slow-burn creepy, in Devil’s Day by Andrew Michael Hurley
Anyone who has walked England’s moors, particularly those in the northern part of the country, knows their mesmerising mix of majestic beauty, layered cultural heritage and frequent fickle extremes in weather. They are both breathtakingly alluring to tens of millions of visitors and lethal to the unwary and unprepared. In…
Review: Jon McGregor’s Reservoir 13 is far from your average ‘who done it’.
Jon McGregor’s much anticipated novel, Reservoir 13, has all the ingredients for a thriller: mysterious disappearance of a 13-year-old girl, mesmerising but brooding landscapes, close-knit community, dodgy characters, illicit relationships. And of course: Secrets. What he delivers is an elegant, almost poetic rendering of the evolving impact of a tragedy, not just on…
Man Booker longlist 2017: from the traditional to writers aiming to “move the walls”
Three debut novels, by Emily Fredlund, George Saunders and Fiona Mozley, are among the 13 books on the long list for the Man Booker Prize 2017 which has just been announced. The shortlist of six books will be announced on September 13 and the winner of the GDP50,000 award, on October…
Eleanor Oliphant’s story is more than completely fine, it’s funny, thought provoking and very moving
I fear that, like many others, I wouldn’t have really noticed Eleanor Oliphant. I’d probably have smiled automatically if I encountered her in the corridor at work, perhaps even said “hi” but not noticed when my greeting prompted no response, as I’d have already moved on. I’d no doubt have…
Crime File: a deadly duo
Say Nothing By Brad Parks How far would you go to protect someone you love? Lie for them? Interfere with the course of justice? Kill someone? That’s the premise at the heart of Say Nothing, a clever, pacy new thriller from American author Brad Parks best known for his award-winning books…
My Top Ten novels from 2016
I was late compiling my list of my top 10 reads for 2016. But that turned out to be a good thing. I have only just finished News of the World by Paulette Jiles, and, it seems, I had saved one of the best for last. News of the World is set in 1870 in an America still devastated by war. Captain Jefferson Kidd, a 70-year-old veteran, travels the country earning a living readings newspapers to a population desperate for information. He agrees to return Johanna, a 10-year-old girl who had been captured years before by
Finalists announced for National Book Award
FINALISTS for the American National Book Awards have just been announced and the fiction list looks one of the strongest for years. The short-list is : Chris Bachelder “The Throwback Special,” about a group of male friends who gather every year to re-enact a 1985 football game battling with the realities of fatherhood and middle…