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 […]
Category Archives: Grab it Now
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
March
17
The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden
posted by Ms A
I fell in love with this book the moment I saw it. A small, dusty pink hardback, perched elegantly on the shelf at Glee Books. I took my copy to the counter and the cashier gave me a knowing nod as if I had stumbled onto Chanel at the local Vinnies. I walked home clutching […]
February
09
Dusk by Robbie Arnott
posted by Ms A
When I think of Tasmania, I don’t think of wild pumas. Tasmanian tigers, sure. Devils, obviously. But pumas? Not so much. So when this book opened with, “Word reached the twins that a puma was taking shepherds up in the highlands,” I did what any reasonable person would do—I put the book down and Googled: […]
January
09
All Fours by Miranda July
posted by Ms A
Hold the HRT for this wild and wonderful window into the menopausal mind. In All Fours, a 45-year-old artist, wife and mother is planning a solo road trip from LA to NY for work. With a determination to prove to herself that she’s a steady and reliable person (and not the loose cannon she is […]
October
18
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
posted by Ms A
I think Sally Rooney must have good sex. What other explanation could there be for the way she weaves sex into so much of her writing? Normal People, Conversations with Friends, and Beautiful World, Where Are You all feature an above-average amount of top-shelf intimacy. Funnily enough, all bestsellers. Before you power up your gadget […]
September
25
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
posted by Ms A
Books about car dealers don’t often feature in the Booker Prize. In fact, I think this might be a first. Australian author, Peter Carey (himself the son of a car dealer) wrote two cracking books featuring car dealers but neither of them made it to the literary podium like The Bee Sting. In this case, […]
June
10
The Wager by David Grann
posted by Ms A
Steady yourself for this true story of ships, storms, starvation and survival. Written by American journalist and author David Grann (who also wrote Killers of the Flower Moon), and with the biggest bibliography I ever did see, The Wager is a stunning re-telling of a doomed British naval voyage that took place in 1741. The […]
Readhead 