In a post-apocalyptic USA, sometime in the 25th century, the scattered remnants of humanity have formed themselves into several small communities. There is ‘The Commonwealth,’ a highly-organised and sophisticated group, who live in a Stadium on the edge of the desert, clinging to the remnants of old technology. They’re a society organised around a mission:
George Saunders, lauded for his short stories and winner of the 2017 Man Booker Prize for Lincoln in the Bardo, has been a teacher on the Syracuse University MFA creative writing program since 1997. This book is based on one of his Syracuse courses on Russian literature. A Swim in a Pond includes seven classic
What a book… I did help format this book but my review is based on the fabulous writing that is held within the pages and not my involvement in the project (just for transparency I wanted to mention that small fact). Girl on Fire wastes no time and throwing the reader headlong into the story,
Here’s an interesting premise for a thriller: three students are brutally attacked and lynched by a mob in the Nigerian university town of Okriki. Everybody knows who did it – the whole thing was captured on social media – but nobody knows why. Dr Philip Taiwo, a psychologist and expert on the behaviour of crowds,
Another dark chapter in the Nocturnal series awaits. But is it bigger, brutal and better than the first instalment? You’ll have to read on to find out. Villimey Mist first came to my attention this year with her devastatingly brilliant take on the vampire trope with Nocturnal Blood – a book that I bloody loved
Hofmann transports us to the surreal setting of East Berlin in her humorous and emotive novel, The Standardization of Demoralization Procedures. The disastrous results of living under a spy state are carefully examined through the eyes of Bernd Zeiger, whose glimpses into paranoia demonstrate this brutal and unforgiving regime. It’s absurd yet completely plausible, and
There are some books that I believe deserve the Folio Society makeover and Jurassic Park is just one of those books. Folio have excelled themselves with this new edition of the 1990 bestseller from Michael Crichton. Jurassic Park holds a dear place in the hearts of people my age (cough, cough) who as youngsters were
Subverting genres and challenging expectations, Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi is the ultimate fantasy-mystery hybrid. The reader gathers information as Piranesi uncovers secrets about himself and the mysterious place he inhabits. Clarke blends classical iconography with a fresh, lyrical prose. The novel is immersive and addictive, and I finished it in just two sittings, struggling to tear
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Zero Saints, in my humble opinion, is just that little bit better than Coyote Songs. I bloody loved Coyote Songs, but this one is just off the chain, crazy good! Please don’t hit me in the face (I know Coyote Songs holds a
I use collections pretty much as a shopping list. And there is nothing I love more than the feeling of discovering what a new author (to me anyway) has to offer, and I find that through these collections I’ve found a great many writers that have now become a staples of my reading and bookshelves.
