October 27, 2016 The Gradual by Christopher Priest Reviewed by David Harris This was the first of Christopher Priest’s books that I’d read. While I gather from other reviews that it’s particularly…
October 27, 2016 The Captain with the Whiskers by Benedict Kiely Reviewed by Julie Barham When the old captain died the family went strange and it wasn’t with grief, and if you want to know…
October 27, 2016 Loose Canon: the extraordinary songs of Clive James and Pete Atkin by Ian Shircore Review by Rob Spence It’s now over forty years since I discovered the songs of Pete Atkin and Clive James. In a wonderful series…
October 25, 2016 The Girl in Green by Derek D. Miller Reviewed by Gill Davies In the past, I have hesitated to read a novel that uses dreadful contemporary events as its plot and thematic…
October 25, 2016 Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Reviewed by Simon It might seem strange to include a novel in the reprints section that is only 13 years old – but Chimamanda…
October 20, 2016 Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh Paperback review by Naomi Eileen might ‘look like a girl you’d expect to see on a city bus, reading some clothbound book from the…
October 20, 2016 The Age of Bowie by Paul Morley Reviewed by Annabel When the world woke up on January 10th to hear that David Bowie had died just two days after Blackstar was…
October 20, 2016 Spotlight on Publishers: NYRB Q & A with Edwin Frank, Editorial Director at NYRB The Eds at Shiny are all great fans of NYRB books. Can you tell…
October 20, 2016 Grand Hotel by Vicki Baum Translated by Basil Creighton / revised by Margot Bettauer Dembo Reviewed by Karen Langley Being known as the author of one successful book can…
October 18, 2016 Where Roses Never Die by Gunnar Staalesen Translated by Don Bartlett Reviewed by Gill Davies Where Roses Never Die is my first Gunnar Staalesen novel. Staalesen is Norwegian and he has been…
October 18, 2016 Revenger by Alastair Reynolds Reviewed by David Harris Alastair Reynolds has a reputation as a prolific writer of SF and made waves a few years ago when he…
October 18, 2016 The Men’s Club by Leonard Michaels Reviewed by Simon There have been quite a few reprints, in recent years, from the interwar period and thereabouts. We are familiar with Golden…
October 13, 2016 Caught in the Revolution by Helen Rappaport Reviewed by Rob Spence We seem to have a glut of popular historians at the moment. Simon Schama, Tom Holland, Peter Frankopan, Lara Feigel,…
October 13, 2016 French Rhapsody by Antoine Laurain Translated by Jane Aitken and Emily Boyce Reviewed by Annabel I experienced the sheer joy of reading French author Antoine Laurain earlier this summer…
October 13, 2016 Nothing Short of Dying by Erik Storey Reviewed by Basil Ransome-Davies Erik Storey’s début novel, which bids to inaugurate a series, comes garlanded with approving quotes from established authors Lee Child…
October 13, 2016 Stranger than we can Imagine by John Higgs Review by Peter Hobson Subtitled “Making Sense of the Twentieth Century”, Higgs’ book takes fifteen of what he (and I think many people) consider…
October 13, 2016 Snow by Marcus Sedgwick Reviewed by Annabel Snow is the latest addition to small indie publisher Little Toller’s series of ‘monographs’. These smart little hardbacks are dedicated to…
October 11, 2016 The Naïve and Sentimental Novelist by Orhan Pamuk Translated by Nazim Dikbas Reviewed by Rob Spence Orhan Pamuk, Nobel laureate, is the kind of public intellectual that we need to cherish, especially…
October 11, 2016 Do Not Say we Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien Reviewed by Karen Heenan-Davies June 1989. After months of student-led demonstrations in Beijing the Government sends in the troops. Tanks roll down the streets…
October 11, 2016 A Novel Calling: Danielle Simpson’s Books That Were Written Just For Me “A handful of books that have been really important in your life.” So, that was the brief. For someone who loves reading, loves books…
October 11, 2016 A Shetlander’s Fair Isle Graph Book In Colour Reviewed by Hayley Anderton This is the second book from the Shetland Guild of Spinners, Knitters, Weavers and Dyers. The first one was A Legacy…
October 11, 2016 Polska by Zuza Zak Reviewed by Hayley Anderton It’s no secret that I have a weakness for cookbooks, I love them, love the way that they give me…
October 11, 2016 Library Cat by Alex Howard Review by Peter Hobson This book recounts the puzzling behaviour and absurdities of the human world as narrated by the famous, and sadly now…
October 6, 2016 Rasputin and Other Ironies by Teffi Translated by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler, Anne Marie Jackson and Rose France Reviewed by Karen Langley One of my highlights from 2014 was the…
October 6, 2016 Bright Precious Days by Jay McInerny Reviewed by Susan Osborne Fans of Jay McInerney’s series of novels which began with Brightness Falls way back in 1992, won’t need to be told who…
