editor’s choice
When I was reading Laura Thompson’s beautifully penned The Last Landlady, I was trying to think about why I love memoir and biography so much. What it is about these genres that so enthralls. And when they’re done well, they are enthralling, the writers weaving us into the subjects’ worlds so tightly that we’re … Continue readings
Tags : biography, editor's choice, history, Laura Thompson, memoir, The Last Landlady, Unbound
We learn about war from an early age. We’re taught about it in our classrooms, read about it in the beautiful, haunting poetry of the war poets – Sassoon, Owen, Jarrell. Yet now social media and our global village world mean our access to war is pretty much immediate and, we are, in many … Continue readings
Tags : 80th anniversary Second World War, Alexander Baron, Anthony Quayle, D-Day, David Piper, Eight Hours from England, From the City From the Plough, IWM, Kathleen Hewitt, Plenty Under the Counter, Trial by Battle, war poets
‘There are people who think they understand a book just because they know how to read. I already told you that books are like mirrors: every person finds in them what they have in their own head. The problem is that you only discover what you have inside you when you read the right … Continue readings
Tags : El libro savage, HopeRoad Publications, Juan Villoro, Lawrence Schimel, magic realism, Mexican authors, Mexican Updike, The Wild One, Villoro, YA
Have you heard of kintsugi? Sydney says. Ila shakes her head. It’s the old Japanese art of repairing broken or chipped pottery. They use layers of lacquer, often with powdered gold. Instead of hiding the damage, it’s embraced. It’s treated as part of an object’s ongoing beauty. I love that, Ila says.” Rachel … Continue readings
Tags : Do Not Feed the Bear, editor's choice, Headline books, Rachel Elliott, Tinder Press
‘Very ancient buildings have a way of talking to you … So many secrets waiting to be uncovered.’ ‘I’ve always thought that, too,’ I say. ‘Actually, I’ve always talked to Ponden since I was little; it seems impolite not to.’ ” – Tru Heaton Jones discussing Ponden Hall with Marcus Ellis Rowan … Continue readings
Tags : Brontes, Gothic literature, the Gytrash, the Heaton family, Wuthering Heights, Yorkshire moors
We’re utterly delighted to welcome wonderful Welsh–Canadian romantic-historical fiction writer Mary Balogh to The Literary Lounge. Described as the ‘superstar heir’ to the legacy of late, great Georgette Heyer, Mary is the recipient of numerous awards and has graced the New York Times bestseller list thirty-six times in her career thus far. Her … Continue readings
Tags : Bedwyns, Canadian writer Mary Balogh, Frederica, Georgette Heyer, historical romantic fiction, Little Brown authors, Mary Balogh, Mary Balogh 2019, New York Times bestselling writers, Piatkus romantic fiction, Regency, Regency writer Mary Balogh, RNA, romantic fiction, RWA, Simply series, superstar heir to Georgette Heyer, The Literary Lounge, The Literary Lounge Q&As, Welsh-Canadian authors, Westcott series
I love it when I’m introduced to writers I’ve never read before, especially when I know they’re going to be new friends. That’s the case with Joseph Knox. The Sleepwalker, which is published this month by Doubleday, is the third outing for Detective Aidan Waits and yet it’s my introduction to him. I really … Continue readings
Tags : Aidan Waits, Aidan Waits 3, British crime fiction, British noir, Doubleday, Joseph Knox, Manchester noir, The Sleepwalker
Longlisted for the Women’s Prize 2019, Yvonne Battle-Felton’s novel Remembered is a book of many stories. In 1910 Philadelphia, central character Spring sits by the hospital bed of her dying son. Edmund is accused of driving a streetcar into a ‘no coloreds’ department store. As Spring watches him, the ghost of her dead … Continue readings
Tags : African American women writers, African American writers, BAME, Battle-Felton, black women writers, dialogue books, Long-listed Women's Prize, Remembered, slave history, slave writing, Women's Prize 2019, Yvonne Battle-Felton
We’re huge fans of JD Robb’s Eve Dallas–Roarke futuristic crime series, especially as they just get better over time. Connections in Death builds on Dallas’ ever-growing family, seeing familiar and beloved characters go through extremely challenging and bloody times only to rise stronger than before. As always, Robb creates a fast-paced, detailed and carefully … Continue readings
Tags : Connections in Death, Dallas–Roarke, dystopian crime fiction, Eve Dallas, Eve Dallas thriller, In Death series, JD Robb, Nora Roberts, Peabody, Roarke, women in crime fiction
Rough Magic is the kind of book I devoured as a child, a rip-roaring, triumph-against-adversity adventure, set in a faraway, exotic locale, told by the real-life hero, who usually, 99 per cent of the time, was male. In this case, the hero of the story is actually a heroine … and, God, ain’t that … Continue readings
Tags : 000 km Mongolian horse race, 1, 13th-century Mongol history, adventure travel, Genghis Khan, Genghis Khan's postal system, global horse races, Lara Prior-Palmer, Moghul Empire, Moghuls, Mongol Derby, Mongol Empire, Mongol Horse Stations, Mongolia, Rough Magic, Rough Magic Riding the World's Wildest Horse Race, travel writing, women travel writers
I recently reread Elizabeth Smart’s classic By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, which I first devoured as an eager teen and have come back to many times since. It resonated then, the language so beautiful, the emotion so raw. It still rates as one of my top books about love – … Continue readings
Tags : books about love, By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, Canadian authors, Canadian poet Elizabeth Smart, Canadian women authors, Elizabeth Smart, Elizabeth Smart and George Barker, great books about love, poet George Barker, prose poetry
Jodie Jackson’s You Are What You Read: Why Changing Your Media Diet Can Change the World is what all good non-fiction should be – exciting, challenging and perceptive. That said, we are Jackson’s readership. The people who’ve stopped reading newspapers, watching the news, even watching terrestrial television because we’re irritated with the way in … Continue readings
Tags : balanced news, don't believe everything you read, intelligent news, Jodie Jackson, negative news, news cycles, questioning the news, Stephen Pinker, You Are What You Read
‘Let him be an example. My Frank. Of how to live best, and to stop all this death. Let them put down their knives, stop being ruled by fear. They are all so fearful, that’s why my boy died. Not because another kid was showing off, as the papers said, not muscles being flexed. … Continue readings
Tags : Bath writers, Best 2019 crime fiction, Brexit London crime fiction, crime fiction, Di Marnie Rome, London crime fiction, Marnie Rome, Marnie Rome series, Never Be Broken, procedural crime fiction, RIchard and Judy Book Club, Sarah Hilary, Theakston Crime Fiction of the Year
A beautifully nuanced novel, Permission by Saskia Vogel is a sometimes challenging and often lyrical exploration of longing, loneliness and loss. Following her father’s tragic death, LA actress Echo struggles to deal with her bereavement – ‘the gape of loss’. Cast adrift, she embarks on a series of meaningless encounters with men, before meeting … Continue readings
Tags : alternative lifestyle, BDSM, bereavement, community, debut 2019 novelists, dialogue books, grief, Hollywood, LA-based books, loss, permission, saskia vogel
Today, we’re delighted to welcome Canadian author Paul E. Hardisty to The Literary Lounge. Shortlisted for the CWA John Creasy Dagger award, Paul’s Claymore Straker series is critically acclaimed and has garnered fans such as Lee Child. Turbulent Wake, Paul’s latest book, is a beautifully penned standalone, examining love and loss. It is published … Continue readings
Tags : Arcadia B, Arcadia Books, Clay Straker, CWA, John Creasy Dagger award, Karen Sullivan, Orenda, Orenda Books, Paul E. Hardisty, reading on location, The Australian Institute of Marine Science, Turbulent Wake