Guest Reviewer
Citizen Sailors: The Royal Navy in the Second World War, by Glyn Prysor
Reviewed on October 29, 2011
This first time author has done a valiant job in bringing together the letters, reminiscences and diaries of the men , and women, who served in the Royal Navy and the Wrens during World War Two. A complex task , carried out with great sensitivity he gives us a most readable account of the history [...]
A Dark Matter, by Peter Straub
Reviewed on June 13, 2011
Horror novelist Adam Nevill drops in to review some seriously weird fiction… I’ve been privately dismayed and hard on some of my favourite famous authors of late, who have published some unaffecting novels, that are too digressive and flat and seem to have been produced too quickly. But I’d say this is one of the [...]
The Unnamed, by Joshua Ferris
Reviewed on April 8, 2011
A word of warning: The Unnamed is not a commuter friendly read. A critique of consumer culture and its received ideas, this cautionary tale will compel you to cast off the suit jacket, abandon the briefcase, and reach for the emergency-stop lever. Indeed compulsion is at the heart of Joshua Ferris’ ambitious second novel, which [...]
The Riddler’s Gift, by Greg Hamerton
Reviewed on January 13, 2011
Greg Hamerton’s first book of his Lifesong series, The Riddler’s Gift, is a doorstop of a book. Coming in at just shy of 650 pages, it tells the story of Tabitha, a young woman fighting her way through dystopian hellhole Oldenworld. Struck by tragedy early on in the book, she is then taken on an [...]
A second look at Tell-All, by Chuck Palahniuk
Reviewed on December 19, 2010
The first thing that is striking thing about Chuck Palahniuk’s new novel Tell-All is how slender it is. To be fair to Palahniuk, he has managed to produce a new book almost every year for about the last decade, and while that’s no mean feat for a writer, reading Palahniuk always leaves me wanting to [...]
It’s All About the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness On Two Wheels, by Robert Penn
Reviewed on December 17, 2010
Robert Penn’s book is as much as social and economic history, interweaving the social impact of the bicycle as it is a love song to his personal pursuit of the perfect bicycle. Penn, a long-established writer and dedicated cyclist, sets of with a budget to create his dream bike. He has ridden bikes for 36 [...]
Eleven, by Mark Watson
Reviewed on December 14, 2010
Meera Syal and Alexei Sayle have a lot to answer for – they were among the first comedians to become authors of fiction novels. Since then, the floodgates have opened and as soon as a comedian has been on Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, they are on the ‘phone to a publisher negotiating a deal for [...]
Knuckle Supper, by Drew Stepek
Reviewed on December 13, 2010
The vampire has survived as a potent figure haunting both fiction and our imaginations, I venture to say, because of its singular adaptability. As a metaphor or as just a plain nasty piece of work, the bloodsucker has appealed in all its various incarnations and reimaginings ever since Bram Stoker popularised the Count in 1897 [...]
From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor, by Jerry Della Femina
Reviewed on December 8, 2010
Jerry Della Femina is one of the old school of Madison Avenue ad men who defined American Advertising during its golden age of the 1960s. This book apparently the inspiration behind the TV show ‘Mad Men’ and straight out of the block, Della Femina’s writing hits you like the kick from a three Martini lunch. [...]
Kapitoil, by Teddy Wayne
Reviewed on December 5, 2010
Teddy Wayne is part of a canon of literary talent that has found its voice through the achingly-hip McSweeneys, an American journal of new and established literary talent. With this novel, Wayne makes it clear that, although he may be new, he’s well on his way to becoming an established literary talent. Kapitoil focusses on [...]
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen – 50th anniversary edition, by Alan Garner
Reviewed on November 16, 2010
It never fails to amaze me how some scenes from a book stay with you. The one thing that has always remained in my head, from when I first read The Weirdstone of Brisingamen all those many years ago, is the episode where Colin and Susan, along with Fenodyree and Durathror the dwarfs, are compelled [...]
Half The Sky, by Nicholas D Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn
Reviewed on November 12, 2010
“We can almost certainly reduce the number of fourteen-year-old girls who are held in cages until they die of AIDS”. It’s hard to argue with a sentence like that. In fact, it’s hard to argue with this entire book, which continues on similar themes. Put together from years of field research by Pulitzer Prize-winning husband [...]
Tragic Life Stories, by Steve Duffy
Reviewed on November 4, 2010
“It was an attritional season, the spring of slow destruction.” And then we’re right in it. Just ten words in that first line, but what powerful words they are, plunging us straight into the heart of Steve Duffy’s world. So, what does he write about? Just ordinary people, living ordinary lives but ending up, through [...]
Immortal Remains, by Rook Hastings
Reviewed on October 22, 2010
The second novel from the improbably named Rook Hastings sets itself out as a marriage between gritty youth Skins style drama and a dark fantastical world, straight out of Pullman’s Dark Materials. Immortal Remains is the story of a gang of friends Bethan, Hashim, Jay and Kelly, all of whom are bound together by their [...]
Last Exit for the Lost, by Tim Lebbon
Reviewed on October 12, 2010
Tim Lebbon is that rare writer, an author possessing a deceptively spare way with words yet painting images, themes and atmospheres of infinite detail, colour and nuance, stories that dig themselves beneath the skin and burrow into the bones. These are deeply-felt and envisioned stories, drawn out from the deepest of the pits of human [...]
Elliott Allagash, by Simon Rich
Reviewed on September 21, 2010
This may be Simon Rich’s first novel, but the 25 year old already has CV lined with achievements and accolades those twice his age would be jealous of. As well as being the youngest ever writer on American televisual institution Saturday Night Live, he’s written for a plethora of top notch magazines and edited two [...]
Neil Young’s Greendale, by Joshua Dysart and Cliff Chiang
Reviewed on August 27, 2010
I have to start this review by admitting that I am not a massive Neil Young fan. I quite like his soundtrack for Dead Man which I occasionally stick on the stereo, but that is were my relationship with Neil Young starts and ends. I was vaguely aware of his eco-political concept album, Greendale, which [...]
The Slap, by Christos Tsiolkas
Reviewed on August 26, 2010
One day, at a suburban barbeque for family and friends, a man loses his temper and slaps a child. The child in question isn’t his. And so begins the groundbreaking international bestseller, The Slap, by Christos Tsiolkas. What begins as a normal, laid-back get-together between friends turns into a confrontation that will dramatically alter their [...]
Beta Male, by Ian Hollingshead
Reviewed on August 20, 2010
It’s an interesting time for new authors to be attempting to grapple with what it means to be a young man in the early 21st century. Previous generations of pontificators on the subject of masculinity have either spent their words wrestling with broken dreams and futile aggression – see Chuck Palahniuk. Or indulging in hyperactive, [...]
White Cat, by Holly Black
Reviewed on August 17, 2010
Seamlessly integrating magic believably into a real-world setting is a hard task to accomplish. It has to be introduced into a story in such a way that we accept it without question as readers, inducing that famous ‘willing suspension of disbelief’. It has to be said of Holly Black that she manages to do just [...]
Pieces of Midnight, by Gary McMahon
Reviewed on August 12, 2010
Gary McMahon writes about what it is that really scares us all, as humans, and as gregarious, social creatures. The monsters may still be there, the ones that haunt the deepest recesses of our nightmares and the ones that we fleetingly glimpse at the corners of our eyes; but the real fears the monsters embody, [...]
Living Souls by Dimitry Bykov
Reviewed on July 22, 2010
Living Souls is set in a projected mid-twenty-first-century Russia, a country that has seen the value of its vast oil reserves plummet due to the discovery of Phlogiston, a substance that mysteriously (and cleanly) powers the rest of the world, but is unobtainable on Russian soil. Indeed, oil is so abundant and so worthless that [...]
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon
Reviewed on July 20, 2010
Fourteen year-old Brenna McIntosh, a student at Great Cornard Upper School in Suffolk, wrote this review for a class competition – and we think you’ll agree she’s a worthy winner… There is much written about autism as a clinical disorder, but very little narrative exists from through the eyes of a person with autism or [...]
Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
Reviewed on July 18, 2010
In reading most reviews of Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson, you would think it is a depressing book. Many of the reviews and commentary suggest that this is an existentialist book focusing on the hopelessness of life. I must not have read the same book because it struck me as one of the most hopeful [...]
Imperial Bedrooms, by Bret Easton Ellis
Reviewed on July 15, 2010
25 years after Less Than Zero, Bret Easton Ellis returns with Imperial Bedrooms, and we find ourselves back with protagonist Clay, now a successful screenwriter, returning to Los Angeles to cast his new film adaptation. The hype around this novel has been bubbling away since Ellis re-read Less Than Zero as part of research for [...]
Mr. Peanut, by Adam Ross
Reviewed on July 12, 2010
The police procedural is well-worn path: TV has taught us to dust for epithelials and rely on the gut instincts of the rest of the team, books have taught us that detectives need to be hard drinking, fast-talking womanisers. With Mr. Peanut, Adam Ross’ much-lauded first novel, he takes a brave new approach and introduces [...]
Devil In A Blue Dress, by Walter Mosley
Reviewed on July 9, 2010
First published in 1990, Walter Mosley’s dark tale of mid twentieth century Los Angeles has become a cult classic. It is the tale of Easy Rawlins, a WWII veteran who’s finding his way in a lawless Los Angeles, barely scraping by on his factory wage, he’s minding his own business one night when he’s offered [...]
I Curse the River of Time, by Per Petterson
Reviewed on July 1, 2010
Although released this year, Per Petterson actually wrote I Curse The River of Time back in 2008. Ignoring their capitalist impulses, Harvill Secker didn’t rush out a translation to take advantage of the massive success of his previous novel, Out Stealing Horses. They decided to let it simmer and wait for a quality, author-approved English [...]
The Hell Of It All, by Charlie Brooker
Reviewed on June 29, 2010
Potty-mouthed misanthrope Charlie Brooker has carved himself out a rather attractive niche of the last few years, as a sort of thinking man’s Alf Garnett. Imagine the bastard offspring of Jeremy Clarkson and Stephen Fry – full of hatred and disdain for the majority of things in the world, but with a withering wit and [...]
Light Boxes, by Shane Jones
Reviewed on June 28, 2010
Two words here: delightfully quirky. This really is the only way to describe the magical, hallucinogenic and psychedelic fairy-tale that is Light Boxes, Shane Jones’ short debut novel, originally published through Baltimore’s Publishing-Genius Press in an edition of 500, and now issued by Hamish Hamilton, as well as being optioned for film by director Spike [...]
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Reviewed on June 25, 2010
The Great Gatsby is one of those novels about which it is difficult to say anything new. High schoolers who had it forced down their throats remember it as that novel about rich people and a green light somewhere, with all details forgotten after the final exam. It’s a shame because Fitzgerald’s language is perfect. [...]
And This is True, by Emily Mackie
Reviewed on June 23, 2010
To say that Emily Mackie’s debut novel is a thought-provoking and adventurous look at human relationships and the affect society has on them would be a bland understatement. And This is True is the story of Nevis Gow, a fifteen-year-old boy who has travelled the country in a caravan with his father since he was [...]
Hellhound On His Trail, by Hampton Sides
Reviewed on June 20, 2010
The relationship between assassin and target is an unusual one. The latter has usually built up a public standing of repute through years of work, and whether generally considered good or evil, it’s their public persona which ultimately leads to their murder. The former, on the other hand, is often unknown, unexpected and at least [...]
Lost Places, by Simon Kurt Unsworth
Reviewed on June 17, 2010
Horror, at its best, takes the mundane and every-day, and then corrupts it through a distorting lens beyond what it’s built to withstand. The safety of the normal world is left behind, replaced by a tangential, edgy unfamiliarity. Allied, of course, to a heightened sense of skin-crawling fear (but not necessarily gore, although it has [...]
Songs of a Dead Dreamer, by Thomas Ligotti
Reviewed on June 14, 2010
Thomas Ligotti is widely regarded as one of the most important writers currently working in the horror genre. His work is the subject of intense debate by fans and scholars alike. His often complex stories have conspired to bring him almost mythic status and this has been intensified by the difficulties of finding his earlier [...]
Ceremony, by Leslie Marmon Silko
Reviewed on June 9, 2010
Everyone has their own opinions of which books we all should read before we die, and, for me, Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony is placed firmly in my own personal top five (alongside Jane Eyre, Heart of Darkness, The Bell Jar and Animal Farm). Although it was published in 1977, it is a highly versatile book [...]
The Death of Bunny Munro, by Nick Cave
Reviewed on June 2, 2010
It’s easy to mock celebrity novelists – the assumption being that were it not for their fame, their novel would never have been published. To every rule there is an exception, and in this case, that exception is a 50-something year old Australian, Nick Cave. Cave has firmly established himself as musician and screenwriter and [...]
East of Eden, by John Steinbeck
Reviewed on May 26, 2010
Anytime I come across a novel that is a ‘re-telling’ of some other work, I become a little nervous. So this author was either too unoriginal to come up with his own themes and feels the need to re-hash someone else’s, or so arrogant to think that we didn’t get it the first time, or [...]
Negro with a Hat: The Rise and Fall of Marcus Garvey, by Colin Grant
Reviewed on May 25, 2010
Potential readers may be justifiably put off by the flippant title of this book about one of the most enigmatic, yet least well-known, black icons of the last 100 years. Born in Jamaica in the late 1800s, it was clear that Garvey was destined to achieve greatness, or at least give the appearance of achieving [...]
The Harm, by Gary MacMahon
Reviewed on May 17, 2010
The best species of horror story-writing is that which preys on primal fears, especially if it’s something which could happen only too easily in real-life. Gary McMahon’s novelette, the first entry in a projected series of ‘longer’ short stories issued in a mini-book format by TTA Press (the publishers of Black Static and Interzone magazines), [...]
Little Gods, by Anna Richards
Reviewed on May 4, 2010
For anyone choosing to be different, life can be extremely difficult to negotiate at times, but it’s just that: a choice. However, for those who are born different, life is even more difficult: it was not of their making, just a fateful throw of the dice. Little Gods takes this premise of accidental difference and [...]
War Games, by Linda Polman
Reviewed on April 28, 2010
When the dust has settled after a natural disaster, or some tenuous respite reached in the chaos of a violent conflict, and a newsreader calmly announces that humanitarian aid is on route to the affected regions, the casual observer usually assumes the worst is over, help is on the way. As international journalist Linda Polman [...]
Secret Son, by Laila Lalami
Reviewed on March 25, 2010
Secret Son, which has just been longlisted for the Orange Prize, is the first novel by Moroccan-born Laila Lalami, who has previously published a collection of short stories. Youssef El-Mekki, nineteen, with dreams of becoming a film star, lives with his mother in a one-room shack cobbled together from corrugated metal and plastic sheeting in [...]
The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk
Reviewed on March 23, 2010
Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk’s sixth novel translated into English centres around a curious conceit: throughout the story, Kemal, the narrator, periodically draws the reader’s attention to certain objects – a clock, a letter, a teacup, or even a cigarette butt – and explains why he is choosing to display or exhibit them. Each one evokes [...]
Angels’ Blood, by Nalini Singh
Reviewed on March 8, 2010
Fresh from a tidal wave of recently released vampire romance novels following successes like Twilight and The Vampire Diaries, it’s now been whispered that angels are soon to be the next big thing. Nailini Singh’s Angels’ Blood couldn’t be more perfectly timed for lovers of supernatural romance. Elena Deveraux is one of the best vampire [...]
The Missing by Jane Casey
Reviewed on February 16, 2010
The Missing is Jane Casey’s first novel, a thriller set in a Surrey commuter town, narrated by an English teacher at a girl’s private school. Sarah Finch is a thwarted soul hiding a tragic secret. Her brother disappeared from their front garden when she was eight years old and never returned, no body was found. [...]
Orphans of Eldorado, by Milton Hatoum
Reviewed on February 12, 2010
A tiny Roman numeral at the top of the spine announces (in a whisper) that Orphans of Eldorado is the thirteenth instalment of Canongate’s critically acclaimed Myths series. However, it seems that Canongate have relaxed their branding, as Hatoum’s slim novel is issued as a trade paperback, and a colourful one at that. The decision [...]
None of This Ever Really Happened, by Peter Ferry
Reviewed on January 21, 2010
None of This Ever Really Happened was publisposhed in hardback under the title Travel Writing. The new title is fitting for a novel that places the author at the centre of a story that blends fact and personal history with fiction and is also populated by personal friends and famous writers. It must also be [...]
Your Face Tomorrow, by Javier Marias
Reviewed on January 14, 2010
Your Face Tomorrow is a truly remarkable novel, in every way. Granted, some perseverance is needed initially, as the way in which Marias’ narrator allows his story to unfold is unique and startling, but perseverance is swiftly displaced by compulsion, and you are compelled to turn each page not so much by a racy plot [...]
Broken, by Karin Fossum
Reviewed on December 3, 2009
This intriguing, daring novel is marketed as crime fiction (by which I mean it looks and feels as if it belongs in that genre) and is written by one of Norway’s leading crime novelists, but though a pivotal crime is committed, it radically subverts all generic expectations. Broken sets its post-modern stall out early: the [...]
NewsNow
Literature News 24/7-
The Bookgeeks Interview
Simon Kernick
Simon Kernick is one of Britain’s most exciting new thriller writers. He arrived on the crime writing scene with his highly acclaimed debut novel The Business of Dying, the story of a corrupt cop moonlighting as a hitman. However, Simon’s big breakthrough came with his novel Relentless which was selected by Richard and Judy for [...]
-
Latest Competition
Five copies of John le Carré’s Smiley vs Karla Trilogy to be won
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was one of the big film releases of 2011, and to celebrate its release on DVD we have five copies of John le Carré’s Smiley vs Karla Trilogy to be won – consisting of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley’s People.
Latest Bookbitz reviews
