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Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman
We are in the near future. The euro has, for reasons of simplicity, the same value it had in 2022, but everything else is exactly as it...
Jul 25, 20232 min read


Tiepolo Blue by James Cahill
James Cahill’s debut novel Tiepolo Blue enjoyed quite a bit of excitement before its release. I picked it up after listening to a podcast...
Jul 18, 20233 min read


Antarctica by Claire Keegan
“She thought of Antarctica, the snow and ice and the bodies of dead explorers. Then she thought of hell, and then eternity.” Just before...
Jul 4, 20232 min read


Echtzeitalter von Tonio Schachinger
English version below Till Kokorda ist fehl am Platz. Das elitäre, private Halbinternat, das er besucht, ist voll von Kinder, die mehr...
Jun 13, 20236 min read


Spring by Ali Smith
It is May, still spring, I‘m sure, and I am ready to discuss the third instalment of Ali Smith’s seasonal quartet. This week, we have...
May 23, 20233 min read


Pew by Catherine Lacey
“The reason churches have so many doors is that people tend to leave churches in groups, in a hurry. It seems people have a lot of...
May 11, 20233 min read


A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
Set on a thousand acres of land is the Cook family’s farm, sternly ruled by patriarch Larry who teaches his daughters and their husbands...
May 2, 20233 min read


Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
"First, I got myself born. A decent crowd was on hand to watch, and they've already given me that much: the worst part of the job was up...
Mar 22, 20234 min read


Winter by Ali Smith
The seasons have changed, from Ali Smith’s Autumn but we are still in contemporary Britain and therefore still in political turmoil. Four...
Mar 6, 20233 min read


Ruth & Pen by Emilie Pine
Dublin, October 7, 2019. Two women wake up to a new day in the old city. Ruth and Pen do not know each other, they are at vastly...
Feb 23, 20233 min read


Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey
Maggie is 29 years old, working on a PhD she is not actually all that interested in, and now about to be divorced – after only 608 days...
Feb 7, 20232 min read


Vita Nostra by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko
Prepare for the vaguest of reviews - but the secrets of this book cannot be given away. It’s been a few weeks since I have finished...
Nov 24, 20222 min read


Autumn by Ali Smith
‘It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times.’ I love a good opening line. And how true, describing 2016, the year of chaos and...
Nov 8, 20222 min read


The Booker Prize 2022 #12: Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
Kiara is seventeen and desperately trying to pay the rent that has been increased yet again. After her father’s death and with her mother...
Nov 6, 20222 min read


The Booker Prize 2022 # 10: Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer
Lia’s carefully calibrated life is about to be turned upside down yet again. The cancer she battled years ago is back. And spreading....
Nov 1, 20222 min read


The Booker Prize 2022 #7: The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
Maali Almeida is dead and has just woken up in the afterlife, though he does not know yet. For how he still believes he is having a weird...
Oct 7, 20222 min read


The Booker Prize 2022 #6: The Trees by Percival Everett
Money, Mississippi does not hold what its name promises but is home to an interesting set of characters who wake up to a series of brutal...
Oct 6, 20221 min read


The Booker Prize 2022 #5: Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet
The author GMB, interested in psychiatry and one prolific 1960s psychiatrist in particular, is trusted with a set of notebooks kept by...
Oct 4, 20222 min read


The Booker Prize 2022 #4: The Colony by Audrey Magee
Two men make their way to a tiny Irish island. On uncertain and uneasily, the other more self-assured. Mr Lloyd crosses the sea from...
Sep 28, 20223 min read


The Booker Prize 2022 #3: Booth by Karen Joy Fowler
Karen Joy Fowler’s new book is but isn’t the story of John Wilkes Booth, assassin of Abraham Lincoln. Is but isn’t because it tells the...
Sep 27, 20222 min read
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