You know that episode of Friends where Ross is on one of his mildly patronising rants, oblivious to his friends’ disinterest? Yes, I realise that doesn’t narrow it down. It’s this specific one, when he states: “Soon, there will be computers that can carry out the same amount of functions as an actual human brain! Read More
“You don’t think things like this happen in woodsy Maine, off the beaten path? It sounds more like L.A.? In Maine, there may be a path, but it’s never clear […]” In The State We’re In: Maine Stories, we are transported to Maine – the coastal state that writer Ann Beattie recognises has the reputation Read More
Those familiar with Turgenev’s famous novella First Love may immediately expect a love affair of ill-fated, cataclysmic proportions. For those unfamiliar with the reference, the title of Gwendoline Riley’s First Love is cruelly, cleverly deceiving. A love story? Perhaps. But the bitterness and heart-breaking loneliness that plague the pages of this novel breed an unexpectedly Read More
If the purpose of a collection of short stories is to showcase the style and talent of the author, then The Emerald Light in the Air by Donald Antrim is an enormous success. All previously published in the New Yorker over the space of fifteen years, these stories offer a delicious coverage of the author’s Read More
Madeleine Thien is not unused to being shortlisted for prizes, or winning them. Her previous work Dogs at the Perimeter was shortlisted for Berlin’s 2014 International Literature Award and won the Frankfurt Book Fair’s 2015 Internationaler Literaturpreis. She, as with the narrator of Do Not Say We Have Nothing Marie Jiang, is the daughter of Read More
Scorper by Rob Manguson Smith is a novel centred around scorping – the act of scooping out excess wood when creating a carving or engraving – under the advisement that “the artist is not a special kind of man, but every man is a special kind of artist”. In the Sussex town of Ditchling our Read More
Things You Should Know is, in a nutshell, unapologetic. Indeed, the author has become (in)famous for her rather stark depiction of the underbelly of society. Possibly best known for her 1996 novel The End of Alice, Homes has gone on to win various prizes since the publication of this particular collection in 2004, including the Read More
“This is maybe the best first novel I’ve read since Fight Club… Raw, spare and goddamned poetic” This comparison by author Frank Bill, the topmost of four glowing reviews on the back cover, is what first attracted me to this title. Chuck Palahniuk’s seminal work is successful for three main reasons: its clever satirising of Read More
In her third novel, Bodies of Light, Sarah Moss explores the ideas of family, maternity and inheritance across three generations and beyond. In 19th Century Manchester, Elizabeth Moberley is a crusader for the poor, down trodden and exploited women of Victorian England. Her husband Alfred (a pre-Raphaelite painter and decorator of drawing rooms) has long Read More