The Hilltop by Assaf Gavron was one of those books I was saving for the right moment. I wanted to love it and savor it; read it at a leisurely pace and take it all in. Gavron is a highly acclaimed Israeli writer, he’s won tons of prizes and I truly believed that this was going to be the book to bring Israeli literature to the fore in North America. Continue reading
Gill Hornby has a new novel out! Hooray! Her debut novel, The Hive (review), became one of the books I most frequently recommended and gave to friends. It perfectly encapsulated the microcosm of mothers of school-aged children. It was something my friends and I could relate to. Continue reading
As you may recall from my review of Circling the Sun, I adored it! But honestly, I don’t know if these two covers do the book justice.
What do you think? Is there a clear winner here? I know I would be more tempted to pick up one of them, but that doesn’t mean I like it.
The Incarnations by Susan Barker has been praised as China’s Midnight’s Children. I hate comparisons like that because it almost sets The Incarnations up for failure. Midnight’s Children was a game-changer for Indian literature in English, and in many ways put South Asian literature on the map. For years it was cited as the quintessential novel of India’s coming of age. The Incarnations, on the other hand, though a mighty book, is not forwarding the cause of Chinese literature per se, as Barker is a Brit of Malaysian-Chinese descent, and does not mark a moment in time when everything changed the way Midnight’s Children did. Continue reading
I read Outline by Rachel Cusk because I am seeing her, alongside Benjamin Wood, at the Edinburgh Book Festival (tonight!). I adored Benjamin Wood‘s first book, The Bellweather Revival, but I’m not so sure I can put Cusk in the same category. Continue reading
It’s become clear over the years that there are a number of types of books for which I am a sucker. So let’s add a cozy, humorous mystery set in India to the list. That is what I expected from The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan and that is exactly what i got. Continue reading
So many people are going to pick up Circling The Sun by Paula McLain because they read and liked The Paris Wife by her. That’s fine, but there are so many more reasons why you should pick it up. Continue reading
Villa America was, perhaps, my most anticipated read of the summer. I loved Liza Klaussmann‘s last novel, Tigers In Red Weather (review), so much. That plus the fact that Villa America recounts the life and times of Sara and Gerald Murphy and their famous friends, including Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Picasso, and I felt certain that this book was going to steal the summer. Continue reading
Obviously the thing that attracted me to this novel was the title: How to Write A Novel. That’s like candy for people like me. And I must say that Melanie Sumner does a surprisingly good job at unfolding the story in a way that corresponds to a How To book about novel writing. Continue reading
52 books or bust 