December 1, 2020 Follies: An Architectural Journey by Rory Fraser Reviewed by Liz Dexter A delightful little book put out by a relatively new publisher founded in 2017 with a rather intriguing list, this…
November 26, 2020 Work: A History of How We Spend our Time by James Suzman Reviewed by Liz Dexter I will say right away that this is probably not the book you think it will be. The subtitle suggests…
November 26, 2020 What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez Review by Annabel My first exposure to Nunez was through her breakthrough novel The Friend, finally gaining her prizewinner status (the US National Book…
November 24, 2020 Islands of Mercy by Rose Tremain Reviewed by Harriet Islands of Mercy is set in 1865, and, in a split narrative, covers events in England and Sarawak, in Borneo. Throughout…
November 24, 2020 Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart Reviewed by Anna Hollingsworth Imagine a mining town and everything covered in shades of coal, from the people to the buildings to the sky…
November 19, 2020 A Sound Mind by Paul Morley Reviewed by Karen Langley Paul Morley made his name as a music critic for the New Musical Express back in the halcyon punk days…
November 17, 2020 The Book Lover’s Quiz Book: Novel Conundrums by Gary Wigglesworth Reviewed by Annabel Gary Wigglesworth’s twitter feed was something of a godsend on Tuesday evenings during furlough earlier this summer. The former bookseller who…
November 17, 2020 Mr Fox by Barbara Comyns Reviewed by Harriet It’s exactly ten years since I discovered Barbara Comyns for the first time. Born in 1909, she had an unusual upbringing…
November 12, 2020 Michael Tippett, The Biography by Oliver Soden Reviewed by Peter Hobson This is a very long, extensively referenced account of the life and music of Michael Tippett, a composer who is…
November 12, 2020 The Secret Life of Books: Why They Mean More than Words by Tom Mole Paperback review by Liz Dexter Tom Mole, as Professor of English Literature and Book History at the University of Edinburgh, is certainly qualified to…
November 10, 2020 Earthlings by Sayaka Murata Translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori Reviewed by Anna Hollingsworth How do you feel about the prospect of someone having sex with their grandfather? And…
November 10, 2020 The Spirit of the Blitz – edited by Paul Addison and Jeremy A. Crang Reviewed by Hayley Anderton I thought I’d learnt to check how long a book is before I agreed or offered to review it, but…
November 5, 2020 The Artful Dickens by John Mullan Reviewed by Harriet Professor John Mullan’s name will be familiar to many readers: he writes regularly in the Guardian and the London Review of…
November 5, 2020 Wintering: A Season With Geese by Stephen Rutt Reviewed by Liz Dexter Stephen Rutt and his partner move to Dumfries, to a flat near the Solway Firth, just as he’s finishing writing…
November 3, 2020 Women’s Weird 2: More Strange Stories by Women, 1891-1937, edited by Melissa Edmundson Reviewed by Hayley Anderton Women’s Weird: Strange Stories by Women 1890 -1940 was a standout book from last year – it’s still genuinely one…
November 3, 2020 British Weird, Selected Shorter Fiction 1893-1937 edited by James Machin Reviewed by Hayley Anderton I spent some time looking up the definition of Weird as opposed to Horror in preparation for writing this, and…
November 2, 2020 Bookshop.Org is OPEN in the UK Please excuse the plug post, but now we’re going back into lockdown it is more important than ever to support our indie bookshops online….
October 29, 2020 The Harpy by Megan Hunter Reviewed by Annabel Megan Hunter’s beautiful and poetic debut novella, The End We Started From (reviewed here for Shiny by Lucy Unwin), the story…
October 29, 2020 The Unbearable Bassington by Saki Reviewed by Elaine Simpson-Long Francesca Bassington sat in the drawing room of her house in Blue Street regaling herself and her estimable brother Henry…
October 27, 2020 Happy Half-Hours: Selected Writings of A.A. Milne Review by Simon Thomas You might be familiar with the beautiful little hardbacks from Notting Hill Editions, where they select essays and other writings…
October 27, 2020 The Little Library Christmas by Kate Young Reviewed by Hayley Anderton I’m a proper fan of Kate Young and her Little Library books – they’re a delightful mix of recipes, reflection,…
October 22, 2020 The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante Translated by Anne Goldstein Reviewed by Anna Hollingsworth Adolescence can be brutal, and in The Lying Life of Adults Elena Ferrante brings it out…
October 22, 2020 One Billion Years to the End of the World by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky Translated by Antonina W. Bouis Reviewed by Karen Langley Science fiction writing often gets a bad press; dismissed as lightweight genre writing, mocked for…
October 20, 2020 The Oxford Book of Theatrical Anecdotes, edited by Gyles Brandreth Reviewed by Harriet This, obviously, is a book for those who like a good theatrical anecdote. I certainly do, and have been privy to…
October 20, 2020 Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Universe: And Our place within it by Andrew Newsam Reviewed by Annabel I’ve always loved books about space and I still have my beloved Hamlyn guides on Astronomy and Exploring the Planets by…
