reviews
We love books. Love reading. Love stepping into and exploring the worlds other people have created. How far one can do so really depends on how successful the authors are in creating authentic environments for their characters to walk in. MA Carrick’s Nadežra, as experienced in The Mask of Mirrors, is one such … Continue readings
Tags : Alye Helms, Compulsive Readers, fantasy books 2021, MA Carrick, Marie Brenna, Orbit, Rook & Rose, Rook & Rose 1, The Mask of Mirrors
Dr Cassandra Coburn is an impressive character. A scientist, editor and now author of her first book, Enough: How Your Food Choices Will Save the Planet, she has a doctorate in genetics and is associated with The Lancet; all great credentials. The danger though that sometimes occurs when academics write books on … Continue readings
Tags : Dr Cassandra Coburn, Enough, food and the planet, food production systems, Gaia, global food production systems, saving the planet, The Lancet
The wonderful game of chess is getting its moment in the sun, quite rightly in our humble opinion as we adore it, and it’s not just through beautifully executed series like The Queen’s Gambit but also through books like Paolo Maurensig’s Game of the Gods. Translated into English by Anne Milano Appel, … Continue readings
Tags : book reviews, British Empire, chaturanga, chess, chess masters, Game of the Gods, Indian independence, Indo-Pakistan conflict, Malik Mir Sultan Khan, Paolo Maurensig, Sultan Khan, The Queen's Gambit, World Editions
Eating was as close to heaven as my mother ever came … And almost as heavenly as the eating was the making – how she gloried in it. Every last body on this earth has a particular notion of paradise, and this was hers, standing in the murderously hot back kitchen of her … Continue readings
Tags : Canadian women writers, Carol Shields, Margaret Atwood, North American women writers, The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, the ordinary woman novel, The Pulitzer Prize, The Stone Diaries, World Editions Carol Shields
She was lying on her front, fully clothed, her head turned sideways towards me, pale blue eyes staring blankly into space. I’d never seen a corpse before, but straight away I knew the woman in front of me was dead. But the thing was, it wasn’t Kate.” Simon Kernick’s latest novel, Kill … Continue readings
Tags : British crime fiction, British suspsense, Headline, Kill a Stranger, Simon Kernick
We’re great fans of Icelandic noir. And great fans of Orenda Books, particularly those novels in translation, as we’ve waxed lyrical about on several occasions. We’re thus delighted that Ragnar Jónasson’s Winterfall, the final installment of the author’s hugely successful Dark Iceland series, doesn’t disappoint. It’s a chilling (in all senses), claustrophobic and … Continue readings
Tags : Ari Thór Arason, Blackout, Dark Iceland series, Icelandic noir, Nightblind, Nordic Noir, Ragnar Jónasson, Rupture, Snowfall, Whiteout, Winterfall
Tolo glanced at his watch. ‘You said business was fairly slack, so I’m really hoping you’ll come on board with this case? Gaspar and the team have enough to deal with while I’m away and we could do with your lateral thinking again.’ ‘Is that supposed to be a compliment?’ Isabel teased. ‘Take your … Continue readings
Tags : Anna Nicholas author, Anna Nicholas Mallorja, Isabel Flores Montserrat, Mallorja fiction, Mallorjan authors, Mallorjan cime fiction
Say ‘Baghdad Central’ and people will immediately begin to talk about the highly acclaimed Channel 4 co-produced TV series, loosely based on Elliott Colla’s far better novel of the same name. Colla’s book is an intelligent, tightly plotted piece of writing, set in post-war Iraq and written from the viewpoint of the Iraqis. Colla, … Continue readings
Tags : Baghad Central, Baghdad Central Channel 4, Baghdad Central novel, CPA, crime-fiction war, Elliott Colla, Elliott Colla Georgetown University, Georgetown University Arabic literature, noir, post-Iraqi war literature
Lev Parikian’s Music To Eat Cake By is an utter delight. A dip in-dip out collection of essays, covering all manner of subjects – from music and bird watching to sandwiches and cricket – it’s a deeply satisfying, highly amusing read, a joy for those with curious minds. The premise of the book … Continue readings
Tags : book perfect presents, Lev Pariakin, Lev Parikian essays, Lev Parikian non-fiction, Lev Parikian Unbound, Lev Perikian Penguin, Music to eat cake by, Unbound
We’ve great fans of Karen Sullivan’s Orenda list, partly because of the inclusion of so many very fine books published in translation.We first came across the writing of acclaimed French-Canadian author Roxanne Bouchard in 2018, when Orenda published the lyrical We Were the Salt of the Sea in English. We adored it. It’s … Continue readings
Tags : crime fiction in translation, David Warriner translator, DS Joaquin Morales, French-Canadian authors, Gaspe Peninsual, Orenda Books, Quebec's Gaspe Peninsula, Roxanne Bouchard, The Coral Bride, The Literary Lounge, The Literary Shed, We Were the Salt of the Sea
The first form of love was the Goddess. Like love always is, we could not see her, but simply feel that she was there. We will call her the Devi, the self, the eternal. She is the mother to the universe and everything that comes next. … The Devi smiles at the three … Continue readings
Tags : Ebury, Hindu, Hinduism, Indian literature in English, Kashmir, Nikita Gill author, Nitika Gill, novel in verse, Partition, The Girl and the Goddess, trimurti
We’re huge Michael Connelly fans’ and came to him via The Concrete Blonde, oh so many years ago, in Murder One. It’s thus with complete delight we read his new book, The Law of Innocence, the latest outing for wildly popular protagonist Mickey Haller. From the first pages we’re thrown into the action, … Continue readings
Tags : CWA, Harry Bosch, matthew mcconaughey Mickey Haller, Michael Connelly, Mickey Haller, Orion Crime, The Law of Innocence, The Lincoln Lawyer, The Lincoln Lawyer films
One of my favourite things to do is travel. As a child, I read pretty much any and every travel book I could lay my hands on, had a bucket list of places I was desperate to visit and spent hours whiling away the time, nose in tome, imagining myself walking with the … Continue readings
Tags : armchair travel, England travel guides, English travel writing, Kevin Sine, Matador, Matador Travel, Mersey Estuary, The Mersey Estuary A Travel Guide, travel writing, Troubador
When I was asked if I wanted to review The Archers: Ambridge at War, penned by novelist Catherine Miller, it was a no-brainer. Like so many, growing up, Sunday mornings were given over to listening to The Archers’ omnibus on Radio 4. As soon as the iconic music came on, everyone would fall silent: … Continue readings
Tags : Ambridge, BBC Sounds The Archers, Catherine Miller author, Catherine Miller novelist, Catherine Miller The Archers, Lower Loxley, Radio 4 The Archers, The Archers, The Archers Ambridge at War, The Archers at 70, The Literary Lounge, The Literary Shed editor's choice
If there’s a time to read chilling literature (or catch up with Hammer/giallo classics on Netflix), it’s now. October is the month when the unnatural are really out and about, jumping up and down and waving their hands at us, shouting, ‘We’re here!’. So, it’s with pleasure we delved into CJ Cooke’s The Nesting, … Continue readings
Tags : CJ Cooke, Gothic, Gothic literature, modern Gothic literature, Norway-set fiction, Rebecca, The Nesting, The Nesting novel