A few years ago, I read MJ Hyland’s masterful This Is How and was drawn to her controlled and confident style. Carry Me Down is another exceptional character study that draws the reader into a very particular and insular world – albeit a somewhat claustrophobic one. John Egan is 12 years old. Tall for his…
Read more No 523 Carry Me Down by MJ Hyland (Book 5 of #20booksofsummer)
Northern Exposure is my monthly series where I look at literature from Northern Ireland. I have three books by Northern Irish writers in my 20 Books of Summer stack and the first one up is Secrets and Other Stories by Bernard MacLaverty. Secrets and Other Stories is Bernard MacLaverty’s first short story collection, originally published…
Read more No 525 Secrets and Other Stories by Bernard MacLaverty (Book 3 of #20booksofsummer)
Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters debut novel is a rich and hugely entertaining picaresque romp through the lesbian world of Victorian London. Following the literal and metaphorical journey of Nan Astley from her sheltered family life in the seaside town of Whitstable to treading the boards in the music halls of London, Tipping the Velvet…
Read more No 526 Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters (Book 2 of #20booksofsummer)
Mary Lavin is probably one of the best short story writers you have never heard of. A former staffer at The New Yorker in its heyday, Joyce Carol Oates has called her one of the ‘finest short story writers of the twentieth century’. Her stories are, in the main, concerned with the domestic sphere and…
Read more No 537 Happiness by Mary Lavin #readingirelandmonth19
I know that the RIP Challenge always takes place in October, but there is something about January – the short, dark days – that I think lends itself to a good creepy read. Ira Levin’s novel is a modern horror classic, probably so well-known because of the expertly executed film adaptation, but even if…
‘The prospect of death is what gives life the whole of its piquancy. Life would be so much more pointless if there were no feeling that it must end.’ Muriel Spark Memento Mori is a novel about death which is also extremely funny. It is introduced as a mystery: an anonymous phone caller is contacting…
