Let’s talk about epics. I’m talking big, immersive novels that swallow you up for, say, 500–800 pages, often following people or families across years, decades, even generations. Books so ambitious in scale and detail that they consume years of their authors’ lives and inflict a degree of physical and emotional torment likely to leave them […]
Author Archives: Ms A
September
02
Fruit Fly by Josh Silver
posted by Ms A
Gotta admit, I didn’t know “fruit fly” had a meaning beyond the insect. Apparently, it’s slang for a straight woman who spends a lot of time with gay men—basically a more PC version of “fag hag.” Fruit Fly by Josh Silver tells the story of Mallory, a middle-aged married author (and fruit fly) who sets […]
August
05
Transcription by Ben Lerner
posted by Ms A
For those unfamiliar with the name, Ben Lerner is an American poet, novelist, essayist and critic. He is an English professor at Brooklyn College and the author of The Topeka School, Leaving the Atocha Station and several acclaimed works of poetry. You might not find Lerner’s latest novel, Transcription (released in April), at the airport […]
August
05
A Better Life by Lionel Shriver
posted by Ms A
Anyone who’s read We Need to Talk About Kevin knows exactly why I’d drop everything for a new novel from Lionel Shriver, the reigning Queen of Taboo, especially when it comes to family dysfunction and difficult masculinity. Nobody does bedrooms, browser histories and aimless male resentment quite like her. This time the taboo is immigration, […]
May
13
A Rising of the Lights by Steve Toltz
posted by Ms A
A Rising of the Lights by Steve Toltz is not a book that sells itself easily. A novel about fraudsters, failure, hypnotism, artificial intelligence, sleep talking and emotional collapse sounds less like fiction and more like the daily observations of my friend Paddy in the dog park. It’s hard to imagine the pitch meeting going […]
January
27
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
posted by Ms A
Dear Ms Evans, Please let me begin by congratulating you on the success of your most recent novel, The Correspondent. Many friends — whose opinions I admire greatly when it comes to outstanding books — recommended it to me, and I am very grateful they did. I have to admit, it took a little while […]
August
15
The Coast Road by Alan Murrin
posted by Ms A
Hungover in church, Izzy wipes the sweat from her brow with a balled-up tissue from her sleeve. With people she knows pressing against her on all sides; there’s no space to to take off her jumper. When she moves to kneel, she smells her own sweat and tries to breathe deeply. “Lord have mercy.” That […]
July
10
Too Soon by Betty Shamieh
posted by Ms A
Arabella is a thirty-five-year-old theatre director living in New York. She descends from a family of Palestinian migrants, but has spent her entire career chasing Tony Awards without disclosing her background. She is conflicted daily by a combination of resentment and pride in her heritage. She’s also conflicted on the relationship front – lurching between […]
July
03
The Long Walk by Stephen King
posted by Ms A
Last month, I took a break from contemporary, literary fiction for a dose of dystopian horror in form of vintage Stephen King. Yes, this book snob read a Stephen King book…and loved every page of it. The Long Walk was not the first of Stephen King’s novels to be published, but it was the first […]
June
30
Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks
posted by Ms A
It’s a rare book that can be both a guide to the sudden loss of a spouse and a genuinely enjoyable read, but Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks does just that. With a protective wink, my neighbour and dear friend, slipped me her copy wanting to make sure I had the benefit of any pre-planning […]
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