The question of what literary fiction is, or isn’t, is one that both frustrates and fascinates me. I’ve read many novels designated literary and not understood what distinguishes them from really well-written commercial fiction (now sometimes referred to as upmarket commercial). One criterion common to the various definitions of literary fiction is that the writing itself, the … Continue reading
Sometimes you just get a feeling about a book. As I mentioned in a recent post Book Titles – (Don’t) Call It What You Like, I wanted to read The Light Between Oceans from the moment I heard the title: it is original, it conveys the theme and gives a real taste of the beauty … Continue reading
When a review copy of Judith Kinghorn’s debut The Last Summer found its way to me just before Christmas, I had only recently published my Fiction Hot Picks for 2012 and immediately felt it should have been included, given the current mania for all things World War I. If you are a fan of British TV … Continue reading
I wanted variety in my Fiction Hot Picks for 2012 and this book is certainly different, even down to the way it made it onto the list. Most of the novels are included because I’d heard the author’s agent/editor raving about them, which they are after all paid to do; thanks to their good judgement I haven’t had a … Continue reading
Six years after the release of Jane Harris’s debut novel The Observations, I still remember the voice of Irish servant girl Bessy with a clarity I wish I could summon for everything that I read. Her second novel, Gillespie and I had attracted plenty of buzz even before being long-listed for the Orange Prize 2012. … Continue reading
I’ve never been drawn to historical fiction, probably because I hated history at school and gave it up at the earliest opportunity. But in fact, some of the novels I love definitely fall into this category: anything by Sarah Waters; John Harding’s Florence & Giles set in Victorian era New England which was one of … Continue reading
I love spreading the word about good fiction, especially by debut authors – you can take my reviews as recommendations because I don’t have time to spend on books I haven’t enjoyed. It’s fascinating taking a critical look at how and why a novel works but it can be surprisingly hard to pin down. Some … Continue reading
Rewind 20 years: Under a bright blue California sky, sun beating down, my (now) husband and I are hanging out with our friend Adam in San Diego. There is beer, popcorn, hotdogs and despite all of this I’m bored out of my mind. I’m at a baseball game. Fastforward to 2010, when my sons went … Continue reading
My memories of childhood are surprisingly indistinct. When I say ‘childhood’, I mean up to the age of 11 or so (I recall the next 10 years with excruciating clarity). I guess I was happily growing up in the country, playing (OK, fighting) with my sister, having a generically uneventful time. Of course a few … Continue reading
Last week’s blogpost 2011 – My Year in Books was about the way certain novels become significant in our lives in a way which transcends the words on the page. A couple more of mine are The Line of Beauty (2004) by Alan Hollinghurst which awed me to the point of putting me off trying to write (ridiculous, … Continue reading
