Shiny New Books
  • About
  • Editorial & Review
  • Privacy
  • Fiction Review Index
  • Non-Fiction Index
    • Architecture, Art & Design, Craft, Home & Garden, Photography
    • Biography, Memoir & Diaries
    • Books about Books, Lit Crit, Publishing, Reading & Writing
    • Ecology & Environment, Natural World
    • Entertainment, Media, Film & Music
    • Mind and Body, Medicine, Psychology
Fiction

The Unwitting by Ellen Feldman

Reviewed by Victoria Best It is November 1963 and Nell Benjamin is annoyed with her husband, Charlie. The previous evening, they had guests round, and the boorish drunk, Frank Tucker,…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 18, 2014
0 689 0
Read Later Share
BookBuzz Interview, Q&A

Q&A with Mike Ripley

Questions by Harriet Devine Harriet: I really enjoyed reading Mr Campion’s Farewell, and, as a lifetime fan of Allingham, I wasn’t sure if I would. But I’m full of curiosity as…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 18, 2014
0 1378 1
Read Later Share
Fiction

Mr Campion’s Farewell by Mike Ripley

Reviewed by Harriet Devine I think I was about eleven when my mother, responding to my cry that I had nothing to read, gave me a copy of Margery Allingham’s Sweet…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 18, 2014
0 1415 1
Read Later Share
Biography & Memoir, Diaries History & Politics, Feminism, Sociology Non Fiction

Over the Ocean by Erica Fischer

Translated by Andrew Brown Reviewed by Jean Morris The media were full of the D-Day commemorations as I read this book – stories of wartime fear and bravery that I’d…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 18, 2014
0 735 0
Read Later Share
Fiction

In the Light of What We Know by Zia Haider Rahman

Reviewed by Victoria Best Many years ago, when I was teaching literature at Cambridge University, my good friend Kathryn and I used to laugh together about a certain category of…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 17, 2014
0 727 0
Read Later Share
Biography & Memoir, Diaries Non Fiction

The Path Through The Trees by Christopher Milne

Reviewed  by Claire When you are the inspiration for one of the most famous and best-loved children’s books of all time, how do you grow up?  How do you set…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 17, 2014
0 1500 1
Read Later Share
Fiction

Expo 58 by Jonathan Coe

Reviewed by Annabel Gaskell The Festival of Britain back in 1951 and subsequent World Expos were before my time but I am finding that the 1950s are an attractive era…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 17, 2014
0 887 0
Read Later Share
History & Politics, Feminism, Sociology Non Fiction

One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson

Reviewed by Harriet Devine If I were to make a list of things I probably wouldn’t want to read a book about, aeroplanes, cars, baseball and finance would be somewhere near…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 17, 2014
0 1021 0
Read Later Share
Essays Non Fiction Travel & the World

Pleasures and Landscapes by Sybille Bedford

Reviewed by Simon Thomas Are you ready to be transported back to postwar Europe? Although this collection of essays was first published as Pleasures and Landscapes as recently as 2003, they are…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 17, 2014
0 895 0
Read Later Share
BookBuzz Guest Post

Jonathan Smith on his book Wilfred and Eileen

Written by Jonathan Smith Wilfred and Eileen was well received in the literary pages in 1976.  The novel was dramatized on Radio 4 in 1983 and then serialized on BBC TV…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 17, 2014
0 1180 1
Read Later Share
Fiction Reprint

Wilfred and Eileen by Jonathan Smith

Reviewed by Rachel Fenn Wilfred and Eileen, one of Persephone’s new books for the Spring, is also one of their most modern, having been first published in the 1970s. It…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 17, 2014
0 1393 1
Read Later Share
BookBuzz Guest Post

The Broken Landscape of Berlin by Ben Fergusson

Written by Ben Fergusson Berlin is full of holes. Literally. The moment you notice them, you begin to see them everywhere. Deep starbursts in stonework, plaster and brick. They are…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 17, 2014
0 871 0
Read Later Share
A Bright Moon for Fools
Fiction

A Bright Moon for Fools by Jasper Gibson

Reviewed by Annabel Gaskell Harry Christmas strode out of Caracas airport with little more than a wallet full of stolen money and the dried-up brain of a long-haul drinker. Beyond…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 17, 2014
0 1941 1
Read Later Share
Miscellaneous

Our Readers’ Ideal Libraries

Back when Shiny New Books was a quarterly, in early editions we had a competition to win ‘The Editors’ Picks’ – four books that caught the four editors’ attention that…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 17, 2014
0 682 0
Read Later Share
Fiction

The Lie by Helen Dunmore

Reviewed by Susan Osborne. If you spend any time at all perusing reviews, on the internet or otherwise, you can’t have failed to notice the plethora of novels about the…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 17, 2014
0 1037 1
Read Later Share
Biography & Memoir, Diaries Non Fiction

My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff

Reviewed by Victoria Best When this memoir begins, Joanna Rakoff is 23 and has just dropped out of her graduate literary program in London and returned to New York, declaring…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 16, 2014
0 1383 1
Read Later Share
Fiction

Everything Beautiful Began After by Simon Van Booy

Reviewed by Victoria Best Several years ago, I read a short story collection by an author whose name was buzzing around the blogosphere as a talent to watch. The book…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 16, 2014
0 1204 0
Read Later Share
Fiction Reprint

Murder Underground and Death on the Cherwell by Mavis Doriel Hay

Reviewed by Harriet Devine Mavis Doriel Hay (1894-1979) wrote only three crime novels, all published in the 1930s. They slipped completely under the radar until the British Library decided to…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 16, 2014
0 982 0
Read Later Share
Fiction

The Quick by Lauren Owen

Reviewed by Sakura Gooneratne The Quick by Lauren Owen burst into the literary scene earlier this year with fantastic reviews in major broadsheets and literary blogs, no mean feat for a…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 16, 2014
0 761 0
Read Later Share
BookBuzz Interview, Q&A

An Interview with Joanna Rakoff

By Victoria Best My Salinger Year was unquestionably one of the best books I’ve read this year – poignant, funny, real, warm – you can read my review here. The author, Joanna…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 16, 2014
0 1231 1
Read Later Share
Meeting the English Clanchy
Fiction

Meeting the English by Kate Clanchy

Reviewed by Annabel Gaskell Kate Clanchy’s first novel is a perfect summer read: it’s laugh-out-loud funny, has pathos in all the right places, a sweet young hero and an inbuilt…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 16, 2014
0 1047 0
Read Later Share
Fiction

Gossip by Beth Gutcheon

Reviewed by Annabel Gaskell When this novel was published, I couldn’t resist the allure of the cover in an oversized paperback format with French flaps. Luckily the novel inside is…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 15, 2014
0 1204 0
Read Later Share
Fiction Reprint Translated

A trio of Maigret novels by Georges Simenon

Reviewed by Lizzy Siddal Let me start this article with a confession.  In my pre-blog years, I once read a Maigret novel. I didn’t like it much. I found it…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 15, 2014
0 944 0
Read Later Share
Biographical articles BookBuzz

Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942) – A Biographical Note

Written by Harriet Devine. She will love deeply – suffer terribly – she will have glorious moments to compensate. Emily Byrd Starr, Lucy Maud Montgomery’s most autobiographical heroine, remembered these…

Shiny New Books
Shiny New Books July 15, 2014
0 1476 1
Read Later Share
  • 1
  • …
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91
  • 92
  • 93
  • 94
  • 95
  • …
  • 98
Categories

Join 3,713 other subscribers.
The posts you’re looking at most…
  • Fair Play by Louise Hegarty
  • Re-reading The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
  • Madly, Deeply: The Alan Rickman Diaries, edited by Alan Taylor
  • Diplomatic Baggage: Adventures of a Trailing Spouse, by Brigid Keenan
  • The Quality of Silence by Rosamund Lupton
  • The Proof of My Innocence by Jonathan Coe
Our Affiliate LInk to Blackwell’s – When you click through and purchase, it earns us a small commission to help pay for this site’s upkeep. Thank you.
www.blackwells.co.uk
My Tweets
Recent Comments
  • kaggsysbookishramblings on Conversations with Rilke by Maurice Betz
  • Liz Dexter on Conversations with Rilke by Maurice Betz
  • hopewellslibraryoflife on Cloistered: My Years as a Nun by Catherine Coldstream
  • kaggsysbookishramblings on Conversations with Rilke by Maurice Betz
  • Margot Kinberg on Conversations with Rilke by Maurice Betz
Recent Posts
  • The Place of Tides by James Rebanks
  • The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
  • Universality by Natasha Brown
  • Cloistered: My Years as a Nun by Catherine Coldstream
  • Conversations with Rilke by Maurice Betz
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
Shiny on Facebook
Shiny on Facebook
Blog Stats
  • 785,856 hits
© 2014-2023, Shiny New Books and its Contributors
Meta
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

  • July 2025
  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • October 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • April 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • July 2014
  • April 2014

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Archives

  • July 2025
  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • October 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • April 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • July 2014
  • April 2014