The 746

No 360 The Auctioneer by Joan Samson

The Auctioneer was a massive hit when it was originally published in 1974. Winning rave reviews from critics and readers, it sold in excess of a million copies, was advertised on television (which was very rare at the time) and was optioned for a movie adaptation. For a debut novel from an unknown writer, it…

No 361 Veronica by Mary Gaitskill

Veronica, Mary Gaitskill’s fourth novel is somewhat different to the taut style of her shorter fiction. An exploration of the interconnection between surface beauty and inner cruelty, it is a meandering and more thoughtful book, which moves across decades to tell the story of its narrator Alison. Once a former model, Alison is now in…

No 362 The Two Faces of January by Patricia Highsmith

Conman Chester MacFarland is enjoying a European vacation with his much younger beautiful wife, Colette, when his financial scams in the States catch up with him in Greece. When a Greek police officer – on behalf of the US authorities – approaches him in his Athens hotel with some awkward questions about his identity, Chester…

Haruf & Williams: Books 12 & 13 of #20booksofsummer22

No 365 Faces in the Crowd by Valeria Luiselli, translated by Christina MacSweeney #WITmonth

Playing catch-up: three reviews for #20booksofsummer22

Some thoughts on the Booker longlist…

Two memoirs for #DisabilityPrideMonth

July is #DisabilityPrideMonth which, dispiritingly but not unexpectedly, doesn’t get quite the attention in the media it deserves. To mark the month, I read two very different memoirs, both of which explore the experiences of living with life-changing and life-ending disabilities. Both are written from very different perspectives and in very different styles, but both…

20 Books of Summer: Checking in and flying out!

In A Strange Room by Damon Galgut: Book 4 of #20booksofsummer22

Damon Galgut’s In a Strange Room is difficult to categorise. Melding fiction, travel-writing, linked short stories and memoir, it is structurally fascinating and quietly powerful. The book is written in three sections of around 60 pages, which feature a self-contained story about a journey undertaken by the narrator, who, like the author, just happens to…