Becoming by Michelle Obama
‘Becoming’ by Michelle Obama is already one of the bestselling memoirs of all time selling nearly 10 million copies just four months after it was first published towards the end of 2018. Rebecca, Laura...
View ArticleWhy We Get the Wrong Politicians by Isabel Hardman
With Parliament still in the grip of deadlock over Brexit, a book with the title ‘Why We Get the Wrong Politicians’ might sound particularly timely. However, even Isabel Hardman admits that the...
View ArticleWellcome Book Prize: Mind on Fire and Murmur
I am approaching the end of shadowing this year’s Wellcome Book Prize, and I have followed two books which explore gender as the central theme (The Trauma Cleaner and Amateur) with two books primarily...
View ArticleHeart: A History by Sandeep Jauhar
I am taking part in the Wellcome Book Prize blog tour today with a review of ‘Heart: A History’ by Sandeep Jauhar which is the final book I will be shadowing from this year’s shortlist. Jauhar is a...
View ArticleXX by Angela Chadwick
The opening paragraph of ‘XX’ by Angela Chadwick is as good as any to sum up the premise of her debut novel published last year: “After years of controversial research, scientists at Portsmouth...
View ArticleCan You Tolerate This? by Ashleigh Young
I am championing Ashleigh Young’s collection of essays ‘Can You Tolerate This?’ as part of the Rathbones Folio Prize blog tour today. The eight books on this year’s shortlist include four novels, a...
View ArticleThe Library Book by Susan Orlean
‘The Library Book’ by Susan Orlean documents the devastating fire that raged for seven hours at Los Angeles Public Library in April 1986 and destroyed or damaged over one million books. Investigators...
View ArticleThe Ten Types of Human by Dexter Dias
‘The Ten Types of Human: Who We Are and Who We Can Be’ by Dexter Dias explores the best and worst of human behaviour – how and why people can be utterly selfless and also commit terrible atrocities....
View ArticleAirhead by Emily Maitlis
Emily Maitlis has been a journalist and broadcaster for over twenty years and is currently the lead presenter of the BBC’s Newsnight programme. Her first book ‘Airhead’ is a collection of her most...
View ArticleSaltwater by Jessica Andrews
You would be forgiven for thinking that I had pretty much abandoned fiction based on my blog content over the past few months, but I have started reading more novels again recently. Some aspects of...
View ArticleThe Capital by Robert Menasse
I am sure there are many books of various genres currently being written about Britain leaving the European Union right now, but maybe not so many which satirise the complex bureaucracy of the EU...
View ArticleMother Ship by Francesca Segal
I saw Francesca Segal in conversation with Amanda Craig at the Jewish Book Festival in March 2018 and was immediately intrigued when she said she was writing a non-fiction book about the premature...
View ArticleDisobedience by Naomi Alderman
I enjoyed Naomi Alderman’s Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction-winning feminist dystopian novel The Power and I have recently read her 2006 debut ‘Disobedience’ which won the Sunday Times Young Writer of...
View ArticleThrow Me to the Wolves by Patrick McGuinness
I enjoyed Patrick McGuinness’s debut The Last Hundred Days which is an evocative portrait of the end of Ceausescu’s rule in Romania and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2011. His second novel...
View ArticleThe Wife by Meg Wolitzer
I watched the excellent film adaptation of ‘The Wife’ by Meg Wolitzer recently (currently available to stream on Netflix in the UK) and still had Glenn Close’s performance in mind when I read the book...
View ArticleDaisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
‘Daisy Jones & The Six’ by Taylor Jenkins Reid charts the rise to fame of a fictional 1970s rock group based in California and the making of their seminal album ‘Aurora’. Billy Dunne formed The Six...
View ArticleThe Booker Prize 2019 Longlist
The Booker Prize 2019 longlist was announced on Wednesday. The 13 titles are: The Testaments by Margaret Atwood Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite...
View ArticleThe World I Fell Out Of by Melanie Reid and Another Planet by Tracey Thorn
I have read two non-fiction books recently which both draw on regular newspaper columns penned by their authors. In April 2010, at the age of 52, journalist Melanie Reid broke her neck and fractured...
View ArticleSweet Sorrow by David Nicholls
David Nicholls’ fifth novel ‘Sweet Sorrow’ is set during the summer of 1997. Charlie Lewis is waiting for his GCSE results, living with his depressed father and working at a petrol station. In a chance...
View ArticleSpring by Ali Smith and Supper Club by Lara Williams
I haven’t read any of this year’s Booker Prize longlist yet, but I have read two of the novels shortlisted for the Guardian’s Not the Booker prize which recognises an alternative selection of eligible...
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