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Books of 2016

Firstly, the statistics. Total books: 65. Gender breakdown is 36 by women, 29 by men. Physical books are 36 and E-Books 29. All fiction this year but 1. 12 books I read you would count as Science Fiction. Less pages than last year (I’m not counting, but GoodReads does)

I am here on GoodReads.

As with previously (scroll down for 2014, 2015), these are the books I enjoyed the most in 2016. Are they the best? I don’t know / don’t care. But these are the ones I’d definitely try and push onto you and say OH MY YOU REALLY HAVE TO READ THIS. I’m an awful reviewer, so…

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry (e-book)

I think I’ve happily ranted (inwardly at least) about Sarah’s previous novel being on permanent bookseller’s choice at the new London Foyles before, which I enjoyed when I got it through the Waterstones’ Book Club recommendation.

I picked this up because of Sarah’s voice though, combined with a great review from those at the New Statesman’s SRSLY Pod. The story is wonderful, and it’s one of relationships and circumstances and inward monologue and wry observation: and humour is subtle and outstanding. I genuinely avoid historical fiction because I’m a bias oddball and this reminds me AGAIN it’s not the setting, it’s the story and the words. It was on what, 6th or 7th printing in the summer and now god knows what it’s on now. Pick it up.

High Dive by Jonathan Lee (paper, library)

This is probably “faction”, right? Tells the story of the Brighton Bombing from the perspective of the hotel assistant manager, the daughter and the bomber, and how everything led to that point woven into it. It’s definitely a venn diagram of that event - not everything overlaps or competes with each other, but it humanises the final event. Utterly pulls you into it.

The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney (paper)

As with another book, I kick myself I hadn’t read this earlier (I’d had it on one of my lists) and I read it after it won the Baileys. The writing is quick yet detailed, the plot given plenty of space to weave between the characters and a lot of time to breathe. The emotional punch of the novel is big, be it through Ryan’s story, Karine, or Maureen - you’ll find something here that won’t leave you. I really, really look forward to hearing more from Lisa McInerney.

[And another reminder than the Baileys Women’s Prize continues to be a bloody great barometer of good fiction.]

Five Rivers Met On A Wooded Plain by Barney Norris (paper)

I have a soft spot for books which contain a geographic setting that I deeply identify with: the road where I grew up and my bus stop turns up in David Peace’s 1974; the supermarket from my time in Peckham is the location of a chase in Ned Beauman’s Glow. And this is Salisbury, a place where I have a deep love / hate relationship with.

Barney gives five narratives about the people amongst the streets and rivers and spires, on top of an uncredited sixth character of the city: and it is sumptuous. I really recommend reading each fifth, pausing and then coming back to the book, as they each have a heft to them which certainly connected to me.

This, as with The Glorious Heresies is a DEBUT. Sit back and think about that. They’re this talented already.

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld (paper)

So, a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice which I’m sure no one’s attempted for at least, well, 2 years? Ha. The Austen Project seems to be losing out in “acclaim” to the Hogarth Shakespeare retellings and I’ve only read one of each.

This got savaged by the Guardian but I think you should take it for what it is: an author enjoying herself and drawing a very specific version of this story using a bunch of tropes, stereotypes and caricatures. It has a bunch of laughs and does it with a very knowing smile and I’d dearly love more people to pick it up and enjoy it for what it is if you need a bit of escapism by a talented author.

Treats by Lara Williams (paper)

Freight Books are pretty genius and it’s a good rule to pick up any collection of short stories from a single author they publish. I don’t know where Lara Williams picked up the inspiration from, but all life is pretty much contained within this very slim volume. I’m pretty annoyed I haven’t brought it with me to the US because pulling this list together made me want to dip back into it.

The Power by Naomi Alderman (e-book)

I can’t wait for this to come out in paperback, I really, really can’t. This should hopefully be what everyone is reading next summer and I will buy copies and throw them at people. This is speculative fiction at its finest, well written and with amazing characters: telling the story of if women were to evolve and what it may lead to in the medium to long term. Naomi’s story is wonderful - she’s a powerful voice across fiction and non-fiction and I hope she goes from strength to strength. (Read it in three places too: the UK, the Atlantic, and the US)

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (paper)

All The Birds in The Sky by Charlie Jane Anders (paper)

I’ll take these two as a one-er, as I read them pretty close together. .. Small Angry Planet has that kind of classic world building sci-fi you’d hope and expect from a space opera but with a knowing, diverse cast of characters, physical and virtual. If you can get through this without emotions / any of the feels then there may be something wrong with you.

Conversely, All The Birds In The Sky pares the character count right down to 2 people - Patricia and Laurence - with a supporting cast. It’s funny, it’s knowing, it’s reflective, it has shades of what makes Scarlett Thomas’ work stand out for me, it plays with nature, it plays with science and the parallels and connections with them both. Again, on an emotional level, it’s all there. You live these characters. I wanted so much more from Charlie Jane Anders after this that I went scouring for all of her short fiction I could find. She should collect that and publish it, definitely.

Children of Time by Adrian Tchiakovsey (e-book)

I think I read two of the Arthur C Clarke list before the awards ceremony and this wasn’t one of them. I went to the awards ceremony too, where I had free wine and stood and “observed” a bunch of people who really cared about what they did and why, which was lovely. So I had to read the winner, as he was stood pretty much next to me when he won.

Big hand, small map: evolved spiders vs humans; with a dash of AI thrown in. It utterly draws you in as you watch the spiders evolve (they’re actually characters!) over generations and the humans… well, be humans in the ways you would expect. One could be tempted to say that it’s a timely book about understanding different perspectives and it is, but it’s a flaming great read over that with really great, relatable characters. Who are SPIDERS. I want more like this, like Becky Chambers and like Charlie Jane Anders.

The Square Root of Summer by Harriet Reuter Hapgood (e-book)

I picked this up because I’d seen a friend mention it but more importantly it seemed like a YA book which had some maths in it because I am still true to my origins. This kind of blew me away: the prose isn’t quite what you’re expecting and it has a reflective, almost dreamy like quality where Harriet both draws you into the environment and the town it is set in: and she’s so awesome at situating everything from Gottie’s perspective. I really can’t wait for what this author does next.

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman (paper, then e-book)

A library find, which I read the first 30 pages of, bought my own such that someone else could get hold of it. What I didn’t read in those 30 pages on the Weds, I read on the Friday train journey to Exeter. Alice is talented as, well, a very talented thing, for putting together this book which effectively has a world within a world; pulling together a great cast and making it feel so achingly now but with an universally timeless theme - and with a sense of urgency but having the space to dwell. This was a lush read.

The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson (paper)

Read in a single day, which was the first time I’d done that for yeaaaaaars. The story of a transgender teenage boy and his unlikely friendship in the final year of school, and how they act to help and not help each other. I’m sorry I waited for this to come out in paperback before I picked it up: I’d seen the author give a talk in summer 2015. It zips along but it really does stay with you.

And finally, Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler (paper, library) and Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler (e-book)

Vinegar Girl is the Taming of the Shrew retelling, set in the US, with some larger than life characters. I have a soft spot for the original story and I enjoyed this. A beach read in paperback for next year for certain.

Sweetbitter is a novel that didn’t jump out at me immediately when I read it - I couldn’t settle into a rhythm with it. But when I came to the end, and thought about it later, the book really does stay with you. For me, it immersed you entirely into everything from Tess’s perspective, and I think if you don’t grab that immediately, and “take the blue pill” as it were, you’ll miss out a bit. Her passage, her experience of becoming a backwaiter at this very-much-painted-as-mythical restaurant is utterly immersive to her and her lfie, and how that and the social circles comes to dominate, change and mould her. And it succeeds for me because you’re so pulled down into it, you can’t see out and that’s the point for me - the author has such a fantastic knack for it that you may resist to start with, like I did. It has a bunch of indifferent reviews, and I think it is marmite: or probably more like a fine wine - you have to let it breathe.

Books I’m annoyed I didn’t read this year:

The Improbability of Love (I own it)

Girls by Emma Cline (in the post!)

The Fifth Season (I own it)

A Closed and Common Orbit (I own it and I’ve been deliberately saving it)

In closing:

I’m VERY happy with the 15 there. There’s 3 “proper” SF there, there’s 3 YA there, and you may say “oh, I don’t do those” - well, fine. But if you deliberately skip the likes of Radio Silence or The Square Root of Summer or All The Birds In The Sky, then you’re utterly missing out on some phenomenal talent and some wonderful story telling. I know I have to kick myself to read things that I don’t usually do, and if I’d’ve skipped The Essex Serpent because I don’t like historical fiction, well, I’d be an idiot.

An average reading year however: not because of the quality of what I read, which was pretty much there, but in terms of the fits and starts I did it in. Yes, I’ve read more books than last year (not a race!) but I had too many odd periods: I had an odd gap at the end of March when I couldn’t get into anything, the same in May; and then the changes caused by moving back to Salisbury and then onto DC; although I settled into the US pretty quickly, I think.

I’ve a great set lined up for the next few months, that will change and flux. I think I’m in a good reading vein right now, so yay.

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tincascade · 8 years

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Done!

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tincascade · 8 years

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People are fucking idiots.

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tincascade · 8 years

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tincascade · 8 years

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Books of 2015

A year of reading, eh? Goodreads says some things about me here, including 62 books, 20,673 pages, etc.

I can break that down by 36 women authors to 26 male authors or 34 books to 28 e-books or just 5 non-fiction books for fun (I don’t track “work” reading). That’ll do as some statistics.

But more fun than stats are the books I enjoyed the most this year. Note italics on the enjoyed, and some quick words about what I thought about them. I’m an awful reviewer, so...

All My Puny Sorrows - Miriam Towes (book, June).

This was one of the hardest but most rewarding reads of the year. It’s kind of a memoir, but a bittersweet, funny but horrendous one. It’s about the narrator’s relationship with her sister and her attempts to end her own life, told partially in flashback. It’s genuinely funny in places, and not just the pathos bits either, but with this horrible, gut-wrenching stuff throughout. It has to be read, and a shame it didn’t win something like the Folio.

Kitchens of the Great Midwest - J. Ryan Stradal (e-book, August)

I read three books in a row with a very similar structure - that of whole sections handled by different narrators, not alternating, and not going back to one of them. This is the life of a chef, Eva, told from those people she’s touched (and her once too) as she moved through her life. The food references aren’t esoteric, and it’s about how people can influence others positively. Wonderful prose.

Last Hundred Years Trilogy - Jane Smiley (e-books, December)

Cheating? Kind of. This is 3 books, ~2,000 pages in paperback, which I’d seen reviewed in a few places and thought it’d be a cool thing to take me to the end of the year. And it was. It does set out to be the “big American Novel”, taking in 100 years with a chapter per year. Unlike One Day, it has a massive cast of characters and where having a family tree at the front is useful. We can’t stay with all of members of the Langdon family - we start with their marriage, and they have SIX children in the first 18 years, so... - but each book seems to be anchored by around 3 characters and we join others in important ways. It’s impressive as a feat, but the simple prose that Smiley uses is very deceptive and there’s a lot of reflection on a number of things - be they the nature of the family, farming, politics, capitalism, etc. Just great.

Fates and Furies - Lauren Groff (e-book, October)

I’m a bit smug to have read this before Obama went “OMG BOOK OF THE YEAR” but it was pretty well reviewed and hyped etc before I got to it - my recommendation was from Buzzfeed, I think. It’s the story of a marriage, split into 2 sections - from his perspective, and from her perspective: hence “fates and furies”. I almost lost my rag with it on the first half and put it to a DNF. I’m so glad I didn’t. Each half cannot exist without the other, and, wow, was it worth the ride. Had such a book hangover from it for the next week, I couldn’t settle reading anything else.

Year of the Runaways - Sunjeev Sahota (e-book, October)

From the Booker shortlist, this was the one I wanted to read the most as it hit a lot of things I’d be digging - the differing narratives of characters, some told in flashback etc - but also the setting of Sheffield was a minor plus so I was salivating from the start. The book didn’t let me down - there’s a lot of grimness to this book, and it’s not all sunshine and flowers, but for me the characters seem so honest and wanting to do something, anything, to improve their lot, but not in a selfish way, more about the collective. It’s a grand read, and I hope to see it sell loads in paperback.

Fishnet - Kirsten Innes (e-book, September)

Favourite publisher is totally Freight Books (I’ve only had two favourite publishers, this Scottish one and the formerly Birmingham-based Tindal Street Press). The second book on my list about two sisters, and the second where one is trying to understand the other, and trying to find her while living on a minimum wage with her daughter. There’s more to it than that, and the title is a clue. Lovely to see it get so much attention around the Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize and then to win it to boot. Really looking forward to whatever she does next. (I’d recommend a real paperback of it though, the e-book doesn’t do it justice due to layouts and fonts, etc).

Asking for It - Louise O’Neill (e-book, September).

My friend Cara says it better than I can with her review published today. This is harrowing and essential. I read both Louise O’Neill’s books this year, and god, do I want more books from her. Now now now.

All Involved - Ryan Gattis (July, e-book)

Again with the different narratives. This is the story of the LA Riots told over the 4 days or so through 17 different characters, around 4 per day, with enough interlocking between them in both time, place, and actual connections between the characters to make it a pure work of art that’s utterly enjoyable. There’s race, authority, family - everything. Will possibly re-read in the future just to pick up on some of the things I missed.

The Free - Willy Vlautin (paperback, March)

Bought from Waterstones, purely for the pull quote from Donna Tartt on the front cover. “Small” / “real” town America (or whatever cliché you like) about three characters coming to terms with their lot in the 2010s, be that wages, prospects, or recovery from Iraq. Again, a book hangover from this one. The characters and situations are immense - in some ways, not much happens in this book, but what does has tremendous meaning.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here - Patrick Ness (book, September)

Never read a Patrick Ness up until this point, but the descriptions - basically, imagine Buffy, and then imagine following the “normal kids” instead - was intriguing and definitely lives up to his reputation, including a character with OCD. It’s about change, confidence, and being a better person. Be good to see how he handles the Doctor Who spin-off he now has.

A God in Ruins - Kate Atkinson (book, May, with pink sprayed edges)

I read both Life After Life and A God in Ruins this year (a third start for LAL, as I couldn’t get into it in 2014 at all - how wrong was I). I think Kate Atkinson gets an invite to a fantasy dinner party of mine just to hear her command the conversation.

Life after Life is pretty much one of the most enjoyable and brilliant books I’ve read, the constant tales of “what if” with Ursula as a character you properly fall in love with and root for constantly.

But if LAL is like the “what if” following Ursula, then this is the tale of a how a single life is lived. Is it better than LAL? Probably not. But it is as essential? In some ways, yes. It’s a brilliant companion piece - not a sequel, not required to understand anything further in LAL, but works to let you explore the life of Teddy.

...is that it? What about?

Honourable mentions go to: Nick Harkaway (Tigerman), Jenny Offill (Dept of Speculation), Rachel Cusk (Outline), Vicki Jarrett (The Way Out), Benjamin Johncock (The Last Pilot), Anna North (The Life and Death of Sophie Stark), and Pippa Goldschmitt (The Need for Better Regulation of Outer Space). All of those should be checked out as they were awesome.

And I haven’t read the new Scarlett Thomas either...

#books #books of 2015 #kate atkinson #patrick ness #louise o'neill #j. ryan stradal #kirsten innes #lauren groff

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tincascade · 8 years

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Best of 12 Days of Kindle Sale (UK)

There’s a load of good stuff in the Kindle Sale (below) but also a few things discounted that are not part of the sale (see below).

FICTION

All The Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr (link) -Pulitzer Winner

The Miniaturist - Jessie Burton (link) - A lot of people’s “best of” from 2014

Trigger Mortis (James Bond) - Anthony Horowitz (link) - “new Bond”

Capital - John Lancaster (link) - recently on BBC1

The Shock of the Fall - Nathan Filer (link) - Costa 2014 Winner

Still Alice - Lisa Genova (link) - Alzeihmers’ tale.

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves - Karen Joy Fowler (link) - much talked about book of 2014, multiple award nominee

Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (link) - Bailey’s shortlisted from 2014, wonderful.

Undermajordomo Minor - Patrick DeWitt (link) - from the writer of Sisters Brothers

All My Puny Sorrows - Miriam Toews (link) - Folio nominated 2015, one of the best books on this list... along with...

Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides (link) destined to be a “”great American novel””

May We Be Forgiven - A. M. Homes (link) Baileys Winner, 2013, A-MAZING

The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton (link) The Booker 2013 winner

The Finkler Question - Howard Jacobson (link) The Booker 2010 winner

The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga (link) The Booker 2008 winner

Apple Tree Yard - Louise Doughty (link) - a real page turner of a Thriller

The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden - Jonas Jonasson (link)

The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul - Deborah Rodriguez (link)

Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy (3) - Helen Fielding (link)

You Had Me At Hello - Mhairi McFarlane (link)

Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel (link) - you know...

Phillipa Gregory’s Tudor Court series (book 1) (book 2) (book 3)

The King's Curse - Philippa Gregory (link)

SCIENCE FICTION

The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi (link) both Hugo and Nebula award winners

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street - Natasha Pulley (link)

World War Z - Max Brooks (link) - zombieeees.

OTHER STUFF NOT IN THE SALE BUT RANDOMLY CHEAP

A Brief History of Seven Killings - Marlon James (link) The Booker 2015 winner

Fishnet - Kirstin Innes (link) (Guardian Not the Booker Prize Winner): £2.99

Meatspace - Nikesh-Shukla (link) Much talked about and very good £1.99

The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair (link) £1.99

Life and Death of Sophic Stark - Anna North (link) Great and published in real book form in 2016. - £2.99

Only Ever Yours - Louise O Neill (link) - 99p Just read it, FFS.

Versions of Us Laura Barnett - (link) - £1.99 brilliant alternative narrative tale thing.

Sweet Caress - William Boyd (link) - 1.99

Station Eleven - Emily John Madel (link) - £1.19 - amazing vision of a near future.

Dept of Speculation - Jeny Offill (link) an astounding book.

#books #kindle #amazon

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tincascade · 9 years

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Josie and the Pussycats - Pretend To Be Nice

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tincascade · 9 years

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Favourite Books of 2014

These are my favourite books of the year. Are they the best? Who knows. These are the ones I enjoyed reading the most when I look back at the list. I managed just over 50 novels this year, which is a personal achievement, at least since I was a kid, I reckon. I've had such great fun with novels and fiction this year, I can only hope my 2015 is like it. So here goes, with my badly written summaries / reviews.

List:

All The Birds, Singing - Evie Wyld (paperback)

Animals - Emma Jane Unsworth (paperback)

Any Other Mouth - Annelise Mackintosh (paperback)

Chop, Chop - Simon Wroe (hardback, library)

Glow - Ned Beauman (hardback, library)

Red or Dead - David Peace (hardback)

Redeployment - Phil Klay (hardback)

Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandell (hardback)

The Lemon Grove - Helen Walsh (kindle)

Thirst - Kerry Hudson (kindle)

This Song Will Save Your LIfe - Leila Sales (kindle)

Why:

All The Birds, Singing - Evie Wyld (paperback)

This is the kind of book that the blurb didn't appeal to me, neither did the description. But it stalked me constantly in Wembley Library, and I read the odd couple of pages from it, eventually. I didn't borrow it though, until I got it as a second in a BOGOHP offer in Waterstones.

Good job I did. It was lovely and subtle, deeply atmospheric, and a very real character within it. Jake, the female protagonist, has secrets, and in some way is living with them yet battling them. The structure was lovely - alternating chapters between then and now, and with another narrative flourish too, that you'll pick up as you read. While short, it's worth cherishing every word, and I don't think you'll run into another non-human supporting character who's as well written either ("Dog").

Animals - Emma Jane Unsworth (paperback)

The cover says "Withnail for girls" or some such, attributed to Caitlin Moran. It isn't - it's too superficial a description. The narrator, Laura, faces the classic dilemma of being caught between the pleasures of continued hedonism and the comfort provided by a stable relationship - but executes it with such a blend of reflection and immediate, stream of conciousness pieces, that it's elevated above similar accounts. This is a very 2010s book - it is massively of the moment, yet timeless as well. Ms Unsworth writes her characters so, so well - so while they're larger than life, you may feel you've met examples. Hugely anticipated by me, and it delivered.

Any Other Mouth - Annelise Mackintosh (paperback)

I can't describe this to do it justice, so I'm not going to attempt to seriously. It's a book of short stories and collected writing that you're never really sure whether the author is being utterly autobiographical or inventive. It's class, starting to pick up awards and rightly so. It's raw, breathless, and worth biting off in small chunks rather than devouring quickly.

Chop, Chop - Simon Wroe (hardback, library)

This is just fun. It's a massively (I hope) exaggerated story of starting in the bottom in a kitchen somewhere in London, and the characters encountered along the way. It has it all - food, drink, love, comedy relief and a couple of villains.

Glow - Ned Beauman (hardback, library)

This is a book is chock full of ideas, some of which Ned uses very well, and some of which he plants and doesn't quite deliver on. But that's the thing about real life - it's not perfect, and that's what works so well in this book. The narrator has a sleep disorder, has just recently broken up with his girlfriend and the book manages to include drugs, pirate radio, an international company, and a chase around a Sainsbury's in South London where I used to do my fortnightly shop for four years (Dog Kennel Hill).

Red or Dead - David Peace (hardback)

This is clearly Marmite. You're either going to love what he's trying to do, with quotes like this:

Bill stopped typing. Bill took the letter out of his typewriter. Bill put down the letter on his desk. Bill put his hand inside his jacket. Bill took out his pen. His red pen. Bill unscrewed the top of his pen. Above the word Manager, Bill signed the letter B. Shankly. Bill put down his pen on the desk. Bill opened the top drawer of his desk. Bill took out an envelope...

But it is David Peace, and if you've ever picked up one of his books you know that it's style and substance matched. The book is poetic, it's wonderful, and like all great books of his, it's a character study. The second half is truly amazing, as Shankly transitions from being all that he wanted to be to be something less complete, with a hole in his life he struggles to fill. That's not to denigrate the first half, but it's a shame all but one of these wonderful quotes come from the first half - however, they're all about real team work, real individual effort, how to be someone.

The book's a herculean effort, and I'd go to The Damned United or The Red Riding sequence for a better jump off point. But this is wonderful to get lost in the rhythm of a story.

(And in a moment of posing, a warm Sunday in early March, I finished this book outside Wembley stadium for the last 40 pages or so. Oh god.).

Redeployment - Phil Klay (hardback)

I rarely take my work home with me these days - honestly - I just stay at work longer :~ . Picked this up on the back of a couple of puff pieces in the papers, and it's a wonderfully written collection of stories from a recent war veteran around the impact of being on tour. That makes it sound dull, and routine but it truly isn't - it's all human emotion, it's real, there's very little jargon (except for one story which is done deliberately that way). It's like a perfect companion piece to Billy Lynn's Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain.

Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandell (hardback)

This was so hyped by everything I was afraid it was going to be rubbish, I'll be honest. Is it SF? Is it Literary Fiction? Does anyone care? I didn't. Without spoiling it, it's the story of what happens eventually - like, 2 decades - after an apocalyptic event wiping out most of the population, going beyond movies which deal with the event or the three days after.

It's so intelligently written, with every sentence showing signs of being elegantly crafted, yet it's a sumptuous, flowing story. Difficult to say much without spoilers, but there's a reason this has been rushed into paperback and is January's Waterstones book of the month in my humble opinion.

The Lemon Grove - Helen Walsh (kindle)

Helen Walsh continues to be massively under-rated in my humble opinion. She's written four very different novels - Brass, the epic Once Upon a Time In England, the moving Before I Go To Sleep and this. The Lemon Grove (along with Emma Straube's The Vacationeers) is one of those books which takes you from an artificiality lit Metropolitan Line carriage to a sun-drenched holiday destination. Yet the book manages a wonderful amount of tension, both simmering and at the surface, without resorting to cliches. It's a reflective, coming of age story - but not concerned with teenage life, but about how relationships develop, mature and deal with temptation.

Thirst - Kerry Hudson (kindle)

I loved Kerry's first book "Tony Hogan Bought Me An Ice Cream Float Before He Stole My Ma" - writing from someone as they age was compelling. Simply put, this was everything I wanted her second novel this and more. It's about a couple's Dave and Alena, from London and Siberia respectively; who "rescue each other" (urgh) after she's caught shop-lifting by Dave. Far too simpler a description, but the book's narrative is so well constructed - alternating between Dave and Alena's perspectives, and between the immediate past and the present in such a way that is natural and not jarring and that so many other authors could hope to emulate.

But regardless of whether it was lovely to read - and it was - the story is the strongest element, and every part of it feels real. I'll not spoil and go beyond the book's own summary - but the tale of Dave and Alena's meeting and how their relationship develops is compelling.

This Song Will Save Your LIfe - Leila Sales (kindle)

Apparently, some people have issues with adults reading young adult fiction. I have issues with labelling people's creations into categories. It's the story of a girl, who effectively discovers friends and indie music and DJing indie music. It's kinda cool, it's nostalgic and it's utterly driven by music, and a lot of music that's close to me - IIRC, there's a lovely moment between two characters to New Order's Temptation. It was a great way to lose a quiet February weekend for me.

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