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Fiction

Re-reading The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

Review by Annabel Ever since I read and reviewed this novel, back in the spring of 2015 when it was first published – my review for Shiny is here –…

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Shiny New Books November 30, 2023
3 319 2
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Fiction

The Running Grave by J.K. Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith

Reviewed by Harriet Like me, many people will have been waiting impatiently for the next installment of the ongoing saga of private detectives Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott. Some (not…

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Shiny New Books November 29, 2023
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BookBuzz Interview, Q&A

Q&A with Nicholas Royle, author of David Bowie, Enid Blyton and the sun machine

Questions by Annabel Hello Nicholas, it’s great to ask you some questions about your fascinating new book which I enjoyed reading so much. I fondly remember our previous encounter for…

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Shiny New Books November 28, 2023
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Biography & Memoir, Diaries Essays Lit Crit Non Fiction

David Bowie, Enid Blyton and the sun machine by Nicholas Royle

Review by Annabel I’ve very much enjoyed reading Nicholas Royle’s books, the novel An English Guide to Birdwatching (reviewed here, with a Q&A with Nicholas here), and then his memoir…

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Shiny New Books November 28, 2023
2 335 1
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Biography & Memoir, Diaries History & Politics, Feminism, Sociology Non Fiction

Once a King: The Lost Memoir of Edward VIII, by Jane Marguerite Tippett

Reviewed by Elaine Simpson-Long The author of this book, Jane Marguerite Tippett, came across a previously unknown cache of letters, memoranda and notes written by the Duke of Windsor when she…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books November 23, 2023
2 242 1
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Fiction

Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones

Reviewed by Lory Widmer Hess Neil Gaiman and I have at least one thing in common: we both started reading Diana Wynne Jones when we picked up one of her…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books November 21, 2023
2 4152 4
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Fiction

The Temple of Fortuna, by Elodie Harper

Review by Lory Widmer Hess The Temple of Fortuna is the third book in a trilogy that began with The Wolf Den and continued with The House with the Golden…

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Shiny New Books November 16, 2023
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Fiction

West Heart Kill by Dann McDorman

Review by Annabel Imagine, it’s the mid-late 1970s, the Independence Day long weekend, and the founder members of an exclusive country/hunting club, West Heart, are gathered in the Club’s extensive…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books November 15, 2023
2 464 2
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Fiction

The Fraud by Zadie Smith

Reviewed by Harriet He saw of course that she was an old woman, but she didn’t move or speak like one. A high bosom, handsome, her face had few wrinkles…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books November 14, 2023
2 419 1
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Fiction Reprint Translated

Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig

Translated by Anthea Bell Review by Terence Jagger Stefan Zweig was born in Vienna, but lived in England, the USA and Brazil, where he apparently died in a double suicide…

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Shiny New Books November 9, 2023
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Books About Books, Publishing Non Fiction

Portable Magic by Emma Smith

Reviewed by Liz Dexter If classic status is registered in material book form, the stages leading up to this are also readable across different editions of the same work. Rachel…

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Shiny New Books November 8, 2023
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Fiction Reprint

Emmeline: The Orphan of the Castle, by Charlotte Smith

Review by Helen Parry Despite her virtuous nature, Emmeline Mowbray is destined to cause trouble because she is a beautiful, illegitimate orphan growing up in an isolated and decaying Pembrokshire…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books November 7, 2023
3 782 1
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Fiction Reprint Translated

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

Translated by Hilda Rosner Reviewed by Harriet Siddhartha had one single goal – to become empty, to become empty of thirst, desire, dreams, pleasure and sorrow – to let the…

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Shiny New Books November 2, 2023
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Biography & Memoir, Diaries Non Fiction

The Stirrings: A Memoir in Northern Time by Catherine Taylor

Review by Annabel I’ve long followed Catherine Taylor on Twitter, where she has a straight-talking view of things literary and often political. A former publisher, she’s now a freelance writer,…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books October 31, 2023
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Fiction New Translations of Older Works Reprint Translated

The Siren’s Lament: Essential Stories  by Jun’ichiro Tanizaki

Translated by Bryan Karetnyk Review by Karen Langley Jun’ichiro Tanizaki (1886-1965) was a Japanese author known for his erotically charged stories, and is considered one of his country’s best-known modern…

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Shiny New Books October 26, 2023
3 425 0
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Poetry

Sweet Shop: New and Selected Poems, 1985 – 2023, by Amit Chaudhuri

Review by Rob Spence In recent years, when reading a book of poems by some acclaimed contemporary poet, I’ve often thought, “wait a minute, this poem is almost exactly the…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books October 25, 2023
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Fiction

Absolutely and Forever by Rose Tremain

Reviewed by Harriet Rose Tremain’s novels – of which we’ve reviewed many on Shiny (see here) – have taken readers to the distant and not so distant past, and to…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books October 24, 2023
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Fiction Reprint Translated

The Evenings by Gerard Reve

Translated by Sam Garrett Review by Rob Spence In Amsterdam, just after the Second World War, Frits, a young office worker, lives a dreary and unfulfilling existence. He lives in…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books October 12, 2023
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Fiction

Once a Monster by Robert Dinsdale

Review by David Harris Once a Monster is firmly historical fiction – it takes us back to 1861, where the narrative is very much set in the realities of the…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books October 10, 2023
4 1281 2
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Lit Crit Non Fiction Poetry

Woman Much Missed by Mark Ford

Reviewed by Harriet If you studied poetry at school or university, or just read it for pleasure, you may well recognise this book’s title as a quotation from one of…

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Shiny New Books October 5, 2023
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Biography & Memoir, Diaries Non Fiction

Dearest Darling Sophie: Letters of George Devine, 1940-1945, edited by Harriet Devine

Review by Rob Spence Unless you are Tristram Shandy, you probably don’t know when and where you were conceived. If you are Harriet Devine, on the other hand, you know…

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Shiny New Books October 3, 2023
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Fiction Reprint

Introduction to Sally by Elizabeth von Arnim

Reviewed by Harriet ‘You’re really imprisoned, then’, said Carruthers, staring at her. ‘Imprisoned in your beauty’. Salvatia Pinner, always known as Sally despite her parents’ objections, is sixteen years old….

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books September 28, 2023
3 1489 1
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Fiction

The Ghost Theatre by Mat Osman

Review by Annabel Mat Osman is best known as the bass guitarist of Suede, but he has also become a fine novelist. His first novel, The Ruins, which I reviewed…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books September 26, 2023
3 1382 2
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Fiction

The Circumference of the World by Lavie Tidhar 

Review by David Harris Lavie Tidhar seems to be amazingly productive just now, publishing The Circumfernce of the World, an SF novel that really gets to grips with the fact that…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books September 21, 2023
3 547 1
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Recent Posts
  • Re-reading The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
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  • David Bowie, Enid Blyton and the sun machine by Nicholas Royle
  • Once a King: The Lost Memoir of Edward VIII, by Jane Marguerite Tippett
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