I knew I’d missed out on something big with this book when I chose it as one of my “What I Should Have Read In 2023” picks. From its publication at the end of May last year this book seemed to be everywhere- helped by a provocative title and cover and with an author with an excellent reputation from her previous four books offering us something very different. Almost a year on I’ve got round to reading it (just in time for the paperback publication on 9th May). It topped best-seller lists, Foyles had as their Novel Of The Year and it was an Amazon Book Of The Year. Big expectations for this then, but to be honest I wasn’t sure what I was going to make of it.
I loved it! It’s a satirical swipe at social media and the publishing industry. I’d always fancied a job in publishing, I’m not so sure after this. It’s a well-paced thriller and at times a chilling horror story and cautionary tale. There’s dark humour and quite a few moments when I wanted to shrivel up in discomfort. It’s both a very clever work and very commercial and that explains the accolades.
June Heyward, a published author whose writing career is in the doldrums lives under the shadow of the more successful Athena Liu, a Chinese-American author whose success June can only look on with envy. After a night out together Athena dies and June takes a manuscript Athena has been working on. This tale of literary theft becomes increasingly problematic both for the thief and the issues it raises.
Plot-wise I’m saying no more. Character-wise Rebecca Kuang has created a first-person narrator whose actions can be outrageous and egregious but who continually provokes a range of emotions from the reader from delight in her misfortune to almost willing her to get away with it, from unease to disbelief at the lengths she will go to maintain her writing career.
It’s a brave book as you feel that he author is setting herself up to be shot down by detractors and negative reviews focus on June as well as the controversial issues aired here, even pitching this to her publishers would have been a courageous move. Luckily Harper Collins got behind it and have been rewarded with strong sales. I’m not surprised to see a mixed spread of Amazon reviews between 3 and 5 star and GoodReads has it averaged out to 3.79 from nearly 450,000 ratings but I was behind this all the way.
Yellowface was published in the UK in hardback by Borough Press and imprint of Harper Collins in 2023. The paperback is out on 9th May 2024.
I really only became aware of this book and its potential when I was compiling my “Looking Around” post at the start of the year and discovered the love it was getting from other bloggers. I had a feeling I would love it. There’s over five pages of plaudits from this Irish author’s peers including Donal Ryan (“amongst the very best storytellers in the world”), Graham Norton (“twisted and twisty, dark and gripping”), Val McDermid, Abir Mukherjee all of whose books I’ve really enjoyed and whose opinions I feel I can trust.
Trust which certainly paid off as for this book I have resurrected my 100 Essential Books thread making this the most recently published work to make it into my elite group of super-reads. To start off, this has the best openings I’ve read for ages;
“Put me out with the bins, he said regularly. “When I die, put me out with the bins. I’ll be dead so I won’t know any different. You’ll be crying your eyes out” and he would laugh and I’d laugh too because we both knew that I wouldn’t be crying my eyes out. I never cry.
When the time came, on Wednesday 29th November 2017, I followed his instructions. He was small and frail and eighty-two years old by then, so it was easy to get him into one large garden waste bag.”
In two short paragraphs Liz Nugent sets her stall out introducing us to a character, who we can already tell from her first-person narrative is unemotional, literal, twisted and has difficulty sorting right from wrong – meet strange Sally Diamond. There’s darkness and humour which goes side by side throughout and this introduction has that feel which seems to be present in the best of Irish writing. This is a family relationship which needs to be explored further.
I really don’t want to give too much plot away, only that it goes in directions that couldn’t be predicted and it continues to do so throughout this novel which also defies categorisation. I suppose you could call it a thriller. It’s dark and there are scenes which are difficult to read, but it is abundant in its warmth and heart, which makes it a fairly unique thriller in my opinion and genuinely makes it difficult to stop reading.
Hopefully, by the time this book arrives in paperback at the end of this month word of mouth will be so good that it will be the huge seller it deserves to be. This is the book I expect to see people missing their tube and bus stops for. It won Crime Novel of the Year in the 2023 Irish Book Awards and should elevate its author, who I actually hadn’t heard of before, despite this being her 5th novel (I’m going to love catching up) into the very top rank of contemporary popular novelists.
Strange Sally Diamond was published in 2023 by Penguin Sandycove. The paperback is published on 28th March 2024.
The coming-out tale is given a fresh slant with a Nigerian perspective in this striking debut novel. We first meet fifteen year old Obiefuna at home in Port Harcourt in 2006 when his father brings home Aboy to be an apprentice in his hardware store and instals him in the room Obiefuna shares with his brother who is 13 months younger. Ekene is mad on football, Obiefuna cannot play but does dance well until chastised by his father. Obiefuna finds himself drawn to Aboy, a situation his father will not tolerate and takes drastic action.
The novel follows Obiefuna’s education in school and in life up until the age of twenty-three when Nigeria, dismayed by lenient policies in the US and with unpopular politicians seeking re-election criminalises homosexuality in a bid to pander to the bigotry of religious groups.
The focus is on Obiefuna and his mother Uzoamaka, devoted to her son but pretty powerless to intervene and whose own secrets further compound the family dynamics.
This is a well-paced quick to read tale of the need to be vigilant, of grabbing moments of happiness while you can but never relaxing the need to keep looking back and being prepared to deny others the right to live the way they wish in order to be seen to be fitting in. It’s a universal tale but the Nigerian setting gives it an extra dimension which will seem especially terrifying to a young British, European or American adult, who would seem the ideal audience for this book, used to greater freedoms. Despite the seriousness of the issues involved this is very much a character-led narrative with the reader rooting for Obiefuna throughout. This is a significant addition to the canon of coming out stories which still demand to be told and Chukwuebeka Ibeh tells this well.
Blessings is published on 22nd February 2024 by Viking. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.
I can’t remember being so seduced by a cover. This book practically leapt off the table into my hands at Waterstones. Faber’s 2023 republication of this 1959 novel looked stunning- the front cover with the idyllic seaside vista, the splashes of blood and the “Welcome To the Nightmare Summer Holiday” tagline, the equally attractive back cover without the expected information, I had to open to the flyleaf to see a synopsis and the Sunday Times’ claim that Celia Fremlin (1914-2009) was “The grandmother of psycho-domestic noir”. I didn’t even need to read what the book was about I was already reaching for my wallet.
I can now say that had this book not looked so good I probably would never have read it but is it a case of style over substance? I’m actually tempted to say yes. Not a lot happens in this tale of a summer holiday in the seaside town of Seacliffe. Meg responds to a cry for help (there’s a surprising number of telegrams sent in this book) from her sister who is braving a caravan stay with her two young sons. Also in the vicinity is the women’s half-sister Mildred renting a primitive cottage. The tension ramps up very slowly concerning the whereabouts of the titular uncle (who was actually Mildred’s husband so not an uncle to Meg who refers to him as this). There’s mysterious footsteps, a lot of misapprehensions (some of which seem inexplicable given the people concerned) which adds to an air of hysteria and paranoia which the author is happy to let simmer.
I did enjoy the depiction of seaside life- the only place that seems to have running water is the faded hotel some of the characters decamp to. The importance of good weather to maintain sanity comes across well. Character development is solid and I liked the interaction between them but I would have enjoyed a stronger plot more.
Celia Fremlin wrote 16 novels. To date Faber have republished three, “The Hours Before Dawn” was a prize-winner at the time and a Christmas themed novella “The Long Shadow” reappeared in prominent positions in bookshops over the festive period and also looked lovely. I would read other books by her now that I know more what to expect but I’m less likely to be buying them just because of the cover and Faber’s strong presentation of her work.
Uncle Paul was originally published in 1959. I read the 2023 Faber & Faber paperback edition.
For my last retrospective post I like to have a look around the blogosphere and see the books which have impressed other bloggers during the last twelve months. One of the most striking aspect this year compared to the last few is that there is a bit more consensus with some books appearing a few times. Reading lists of people’s favourites is always a joy to me.
Mid-way through the year I succumbed and signed up to Instagram where I am posting as @phil.reviews. Publishers seem to like a social media presence and I have been using mine to drive readers to this blog site. This does seemed to have worked as compared to last year there has been a 33% rise in the number of visitors. This seems especially heartening in the world of vlogs, TikTok, podcasts etc (although don’t count me out from exploring these avenues in the future) that people are prepared to read about books and visit sites such as www.reviewsrevues.com. I must admit I get far more pleasure preparing posts for this than the photo+sentence setup of Instagram. However, whilst looking around I have been using Instagram posts as well as bloggers. I can’t really get much of a feel of what they actually liked about the books they recommended in most cases but their presence in their end-of-year rundowns certainly mean something. Where I’m referencing an Instagram account I’ve used the @link, for bloggers there is a link connected to the name of the site that should take you to them should you wish to find out more, and I hope you do.
My book of the year for this year is “The Bee Sting” by Paul Murray and I was delighted to see it in a Top 5 at 746 Books. Cathy has three lists to recognise books from her shelves, new books and Irish authors. I would imagine that the Irish authors list was even more demanding this year as so much good writing is coming from there (I had four Irish authors in my Top 10). Cathy described “The Bee Sting” as a “fantastic, immersive read, sad and funny in equal measure.” I totally agree. To show we are not always of the same opinion she also includes “This Plague Of Souls” by Mike McCormack in her list, a title which left me cold, but she does acknowledge that its “strange and elusive narrative” will divide readers. I’m afraid I was on the other side of the divide on this. Another book which she praises on her new titles list is “The Shards” by Bret Easton Ellis, whose books I have enjoyed in the distant past but who is acknowledged to have lost his way somewhat in recent years. This book with its detached view of 80s pop culture is being seen as a return to form and seeing it praised here reminded me that The Guardian had mentioned that this was the book he was born to write. “The Bee Sting” also made it onto lists by @fictionmatters and at #8 for @benreadsgood and 7th place in the Top 10 of @Nicky-reads-stuff (where top book was “Close To Home” by Michael Magee which was shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Prize and won the Rooney Prize for Literature and Waterstones Irish Book Of The Year and is certainly on my reading radar for 2024).
Talking of the Waterstones Debut Prize, the winner “In Memoriam” by Alice Winn was heralded by Bookish Beck who delightfully describe it as “Heartstopper On The Western Front” and @bookish_lizzy and although she’s not confirmed it was probably the best book of the year for my good friend Louise who has recommended so many books to me (although I think I was first with this one!) Another Waterstones short- listed debut made it to number 7 on my Top 10, “Fire Rush” by Jacqueline Crooks also loved by @bookish-lizzy, @books.with.boo and caused a dilemma for @sowhat_books who couldn’t decide and who had to give a joint first place to this alongside “The Living Sea Of Waking Dreams” by Richard Flanagan. My #3 book Louise Kennedy’s “Trespasses” made it onto a number of lists last year when it really came to my attention and this year found favour with Jen at Books on the 7.47 who like me was really impressed by the characters accepting whatever was thrown at them (bombs/army raids etc) saying “They take it all as it comes” which was a lasting impression I also took away from this book.
Another top 10 title which attracted a lot of attention from bloggers was my number 8 the debut novel from Stig Abell “Death Under A Little Sky”. FictionFan’s Book Reviews had it top of her best modern crime fiction winner, I said in my round up that it was the best contemporary crime novel I’d read all year so great to see agreement there. She said of this “I found it completely absorbing, savouring ever lovely descriptions of the natural world and every layer of characterisation.” Lynne at Fictionphile also had it on her list describing it as a “truly delightful and well-written read.” She also singled out a title on my last year’s list “The Queen Of Dirt Island” by Donal Ryan as it is “skillfully written with beautiful prose that at times had an almost musical cadence”.
Also on my list last year but only because I couldn’t wait to praise it as it was not published until 2023 was “The New Life” by Tom Crewe (I had it at number 6) Bookish Beck acknowledged that it was her Book Of The Year (if she was made to choose one). I couldn’t find any other takers for John Boyne’s “Water” (my #9)- maybe that will change when it comes out in paperback but his back catalogue still continues to fare well with Australian Instagrammer @thebookninja_ having a former Top 10 book for me (#4 in 2018) “A Ladder To The Sky” as their favourite read with his “All The Broken Places” topping the sequel/prequel category, @books.with.boo had one of my all time favourites “The Hearts Invisible Furies” (my #1 in 2017 and the book I recommend more than any other) in their list together with my Top book from last year “Young Mungo” by Douglas Stuart (also in the backlist titles list of @mrd_reads.)
A writer who was all over Instagram earlier on in 2023 was Rebecca F. Kuang with her latest “Yellow Face” which was the Foyles Book Of The Year and featured in my What I Should Have Read list. This book must have given her back catalogue a boost as recommendations seem to be quite evenly spread between this (@flashes.of.fiction had it at #3, @booksta_dan at #4 and her previous novel “Babel” (#1 for @booksta_dan and recommendations from @onechapteraday.ph and @books.with.boo)
Books that I know I should have read in 2023 (see my post for more info on these) were praised – Chris Van Tulleken’s “Ultra-Processed People” was described by Margaret at Books Please as being “absolutely fascinating and a real eye-opener“, @od1_40reads had Diarmuid Hester’s “Nothing Ever Just Disappears” at number 4 and Justin Torres’ “Blackouts” at joint number 1 on his Queer Reads list, the latter also making number 6 for @benreadsgood. And there were mentions for the poptastic “Reach For The Stars” a study of 90s pop music by Michael Cragg from Books on 7.47 on her Non-Fiction list, a #5 read for @nicky-reads-stuff.
As well as looking for titles I’ve also enjoyed one of the delights of going through these lists is to find out what you’ve missed. One title that seemed to keep reminding me of its presence was “Strange Sally Diamond” by Liz Nugent. Books On The 7.47 had it in her Crime Top 3 praising its “highly memorable lead character” and called it “ a strong psychological thriller with sinister undertones.” Novel Deelights said it was “unnerving, unsettling, often entirely uncomfortable, but oh so incredibly good.” Fictionphile went further to name it “one of the darkest thrillers I have ever read”. It was the favourite thriller of @thebookninja_. I am definitely going to be seeking this out this year. I’m also highlighting “Return To Valetto” by Dominic Smith, a recommendation from Australian blogger Kim at Reading Matters who has lured me in with her “Past and present collide in this intricately woven novel set in a near-abandoned Italian village perched on a rocky outcrop in Umbria“. She said it set her off on a search to find out more about Italy in World War II.
And now for some Books Of The Year. FictionFan’s Book Reviews reminded me of “Ragtime” by E L Doctorow, which I have read a couple of times, firstly in the late 70s/early 80s when I absolutely loved it and last time in 2011 when it didn’t make such an impression. Maybe it’s time to have a decider read – I’m being won over by the description of it as “In his story is all the howl of rage that still reverberated a hundred years on from the setting and fifty years after this book was published.” My Mashed Up Life opted for Erin Morgenstern’s 2019 novel “The Starless Sea” “bursting with a love of storytelling, a wondrous sense of adventure and mysterious magic.” Linda’s Book Bag had me looking up her choice “When I First Held You” by Anstey Harris as did Fictionphile’s top of the pile read “No Two Persons” by Erica Bauermeister, which is a book about a book perfect for book lovers. I’m not sure I’ll ever get around to Samantha Shannon but her latest “Day Of Fallen Night” certainly did it for @flashes.of.fiction and @booksta_dan (both of whom recommended titles which suggest we are not too far apart reading-wise). “Soldier, Sailor” by Claire Kilroy, “Demon Copperhead “ by Barbara Kingsolver, “Romantic Comedy” by Curtis Sittenfeld were three more titles I saw pop up a few times.
Anyway, I think that’s enough of looking back to 2023 and start to get on with the reading joys 2024 has in store. Just want to thank these other bloggers and Instagrammers for keeping up the good work. Long may it continue!
This is my end of year report, looking back at the 10 titles I had eagerly anticipated last year and seeing how many of them I actually got around to reading as well as picking ten more choices for 2024. Last year I got round to reading nine out of the ten titles. Let’s see if I can top that and whether they turned out to be the big-hitters of the year.
Devil’s Way- Robert Bryndza (Raven Street Publishing)
Read and rated this three stars in January which was lower than the four star rated previous three books in this author’s Devon based Private Detective Kate Marshall series. This is a strong series and I am sure this book would have not disappointed fans . I felt the plot wasn’t as rich or intense this time round but what remains strong is the relationship between the lead characters Kate and her younger gay assistant Tristan.
The Mysterious Case Of The Alperton Angels – Janice Hallett (Viper Books)
Loved “The Appeal”, the “Twyford Code” not quite so much but this her third book seemed less suited to her quirky structure. Research material for a true crime novel provided the slant as we got two writers’ interview transcripts, emails, found materials and associated fiction on an eighteen year old ritual suicide/murder case. It was a darker piece and lacked the effervescence of her earlier works and I didn’t enjoy it as much. Shorter novel “The Christmas Appeal” pleased fans at the end of the year. I’m more likely to hold out for “The Examiner” due out in 2024 – a case involving students on a Multimedia Art Course.
My Father’s House – Joseph O’Connor (Vintage Books)
Joseph O’Connor tragically lost his sister Sinead this year. In January I was very impressed by his fictional adaptation of the wartime experiences of Monsignor Hugh O’ Flaherty, a Vatican-based priest and the build up to a rescue mission planned for Christmas Eve 1943. I said “O’Connor writes beautifully with multi-sensory descriptions being layered to build a picture of events and the tale he tells here is involving and often thrilling.” I rated it four stars which meant I wasn’t quite as bowled over as I was by his “Shadowplay” which was a Top 5 read on my 2019 list.
All The Dangerous Things – Stacy Willingham (Harper Collins
Two strong titles now from this American author who sets her twisty plots in locations bristling with Southern Gothic which gained her a second four star rating from me and I said I think I enjoyed it even more than her debut. A journalist with a son who has been missing for three years turns to a true-crime convention in the hope that more information will come forward. On the way home she meets a man who can provide the opportunity for new perspectives on the case. An intense, almost sweaty novel. It certainly warmed up January for me.
Hungry Ghosts- Kevin Jared Hosein (Bloomsbury Publishing)
At the start of the year it looked like this debut might be one of the big-hitters, I’m not sure if it lived up to expectations in terms of sales but I was certainly impressed with superb story-telling and a poetic recreation of its environment – Trinidad in the 1940s. I described it as “a haunting, impactful tale which has the feel of a modern classic whilst rooted in a historic, oral tradition.” I did acknowledge that bits were over-done and there was a queasy over-ripeness to some sections which made it at times a challenging read . I rated it four stars when I read it in February.
Fire Rush – Jacqueline Crooks (Vintage Books)
At the time I first highlighted this debut it had a good bit of buzz about it but within weeks of publication this British author found herself shortlisted by Waterstones and the Women’s Fiction Prize. I rated it five stars and placed it at number 7 on my end of year Top 10 which made it my third favourite title published in 2023. I said it is “rich and rooted in Black British Caribbean which feels poetic and powerful and often mystical and elusive.”
The Sun Walks Down -Fiona McFarlane (Sceptre)
A four star read when I read it in March. Set in 1883 in Southern Australian desert this is a tale of the search for a missing 6 year old boy. I found it “very much a character-led ensemble piece with a sizeable cast of fascinating characters.”
Death Under A Little Sky – Stig Abell (Harper Collins)
This debut crime-fiction novel certainly made an impression on me. I gave it a five star rating and it ended up at number 8 on my end of year list. As much as it has a very effective crime plot it is an escape from the rat-race story as ex-policeman Jake Jackson explores life in a rural location without close neighbours or technology and plans to devote his time to reading the former owner’s library of detective fiction. What is demonstrated so clearly here is Stig Abell’s love for the crime novel genre. I thought this was the best contemporary crime novel I read in 2023.
Arthur And Teddy Are Coming Out – Ryan Love (HQ Books)
Of the 10 books I was hotly anticipating in 2023 this is the one I felt didn’t quite live up to my expectations. I rated it three stars and recognised it as a good debut but would have liked a couple of laugh-out-loud moments amongst the feel-good atmosphere. It’s a tale of an inter-generational bond as 79 year old Arthur and his 21 year old grandson decide to reveal their sexuality to their family. The title says it all plot-wise, the unique selling point here is the way in which they deal with the obstacles and the reactions of their relatives.
The Making Of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece – Tom Hanks (Penguin Random House)
Grrr! Got to the very end of the list to discover the one that I did not get round to reading. It didn’t quite make the splash in the publishing world that might have been expected when it arrived over here in May. Reviews were generally good and applauded story-telling and an interesting structure so I might yet get round to it. This is the sort of book that could really realise its potential when published in paperback which should happen in June 2024.
Another 9 out of 10 year for this list. And now to the Looking Forward bit. Here are ten titles which have attracted my attention pre-publication which I hope to be getting around to in 2024. Will any of these make it onto my Top 10 list at the end of the year?
The Gallopers- Jon Ransom (Muswell Press) (Due out on 25th January)
Jon Ransom’s debut novel “The Whale Tattoo” won the Polari First Book Prize for LGBTQ+ representation in literature. I rated it four stars when I read it in 2022. I felt he created an “unsympathetic environment (which) had a very hypnotic pull making this an impressive, unflinching debut.” I’d be happy with more of the same with his latest once again published by the independent Muswell Press. This time we are promised a “visceral and mesmerising read” which spans thirty years from the 1950s to London at the time of AIDS.
Come And Get It – Kiley Reid (Bloomsbury) (Due out on 30th January)
Another author who made a splash with her debut “Such A Fun Age” in 2020 which ended up in the number 10 position in my Books Of The Year list where it was the only debut making the final cut that year. I felt it dealt with big issues with warmth, humanity and great characterisation and really wasn’t surprised that it became a strong seller. This, her second novel, is about “desire, consumption and bad behaviour” and concerns a writer researching college students on attitudes towards money and marriage who meets up with Millie, where “roommate theatrics, vengeful pranks and illicit intrigue” follows.
The House Of Hidden Meanings – Rupaul(4th Estate) (Due out on 5th March)
Rupaul’s first memoir “Lettin’ It All Hang Out” was published in 1995 and was a frothy, fun work which I actually enjoyed enough to read a couple of times. The pre-publication buzz suggests that this is a much more sober work offering “a profound introspection of his life, relationships and identity.” Over the three decades since his first book Rupaul has transformed the entertainment industry and how it perceives television programming concerning LGBTQ+ people and has made drag into a worldwide phenomenon. Publishers say “If we’re all born naked and the rest is drag, then this is Rupaul totally out of drag. This is Rupaul stripped bare.” There’s always been a fascinating tension between Rupaul the man and Rupaul the global brand so I think this book should be extremely illuminating and for me a must-read.
Death In A Lonely Place – Stig Abell (Harper Collins) (Due out on 11th April)
Hopefully by the time this comes out many, many more people will have discovered the talents of this writer in the crime fiction genre as “Death Under A Little Sky” will be out in paperback and hopefully riding high in best sellers list. I said it was the best contemporary crime novel I read in 2023 and it ended up at number 8 on my Best Books Of The Year list. This also features ex-policeman Jake Jackson relocated into a quiet, rural environment. The publishers are certainly whetting appetites by saying it “will challenge your detective skills and leave you craving more.”
Earth – John Boyne (Doubleday Books) (Due out on 2nd May)
Another book which is picking up on a title which made it into my current Top 10. This is the second part of Irish writer John Boyne’s elemental quartet which will hopefully delight me as much as “Water” did. I’ve read nine of his works and rated 6 of them five stars- will this be the 7th?
Cinema Love – Jiaming Tang (John Murray Press) (Due out on 9th May)
This debut novel takes in post-socialist China, 1980s Chinatown and contemporary New York we are being offered “ a tender epic about men and women who find themselves in forbidden and frustrated relatonships as they grapple with the past and their unspoken desires.” It seems a heady mix . The writer holds a Master Of Fine Arts degree from Alabama University and lives in Brooklyn.
House Of Shades – Lianne Dillsworth (Random House) (Due out on 16th May)
I really enjoyed this author’s four-star rated debut when I read in 2022. She made this very list that year as it was a title I was eagerly anticipating and the author’s vivid creation of 1840s London and the Crillick’s Variety Theatre setting was enriched by her good story-telling skills. Lianne Dillsworth has a MA in Victorian Studies and she looks like she is going to be putting this into good use again with an 1833 London setting. It concerns a Doctress, Hester who is offered a commission to up sticks and move to a creepy house in Fitzrovia to cure the ailing owner. We are promised a Gothic tale brilliantly told. I’m a sucker for tales set in London in this period so I am certainly looking forward to this.
The Secret Public – Jon Savage (Faber) (Due out on 6th June)
This is my non-fiction pick. I know of Jon Savage but have not read him before but I am fascinated to know his perspective on this which is subtitled “How LGBTQ+ Resistance Shaped Popular Culture (1955-79) which looks at key moments in music and entertainment from Little Richard through to Sylvester.
The Unforgettable Loretta Darling – Katherine Blake(Penguin) (Due out on 20th June)
A Golden Era Hollywood setting seems perfect for sitting on the beach in June (well, that’s what I imagine I will be doing by then). An Englishwoman reinvents herself as a make-up artist in a tale of secrets and revenge.
Anyone’s Ghost – August Thompson (Picador) (Due out on 11th July)
Picador have a very strong looking list of new publications in the first half of the year but you will have to wait to July for the one I want to highlight most of all. Set over two decades it features the relationship between two men. Theron is fifteen when he meets Jake who is older and cooler and likes the same things he does and is determined to live life on the fast lane. Jonathan Safran Foer convinced me with his description of it as “an overwhelmingly beautiful love story. This book will make you cry.” The rights to this book were won in a strongly contested five-way auction and it is a debut that we will surely be hearing a lot more about the closer we get to publication.
It’s time for the annual namecheck for 10 books which I didn’t get round to reading in 2023 but I think I should. Perhaps they are books I’ve intended to read since publication or titles that passed me by and which I’ve only found out about recently from end of year lists. This year they are evenly divided between fiction and non-fiction. I’m not sure how much this is an impetus for me as I noticed that from last year’s list I have actually now only managed to read 1 of them. I do have another 4 on my shelves or on the Kindle so I hopefully will get round to them in 2024. Obviously, my reading this year went off in some different direction which has led to 90% of the books I was keen to read a year ago still unstarted Here then are 2023’s ten titles in alphabetical order of author’s surname.
Reach For The Stars- Michael Cragg (New Eight Books)
This is a title which appeared on nearly every music publication’s list of best books including Mojo, Classic Pop and Rock N’ Roll Club as well as getting end of year nods in the Times, Telegraph, Independent and Guardian so a widely appreciated work for something which is so rooted in British popular cultural history. Michael Cragg has produced a history of British pop from the Spice Girls to 2006. Subtitled “Fame, Fallout and Pop’s Final Party” he has interviewed very many people to provide an oral history of these heady times. Richard Osman says of it “This really is a wonderful book” and as I already have a copy on my Kindle from an Amazon Daily Deal earlier in the year I can’t wait to find out if I agree.
Nothing Ever Just Disappears – Diarmuid Hester (Penguin)
This is one which I noted from reviews when it was published at the end of August. Written by a radical cultural historian it is subtitled “Seven Hidden Histories” and explores the lives of seven LGBTQ+ figures through the places they called home and explores who they loved and the art they created. E M Forster, Josephine Baker, James Baldwin, Derek Jarman are amongst those under the spotlight and the author takes us from London at the time of the Suffragettes, Jersey during the Nazi occupation during WWII to New York and San Francisco. We are promised a “thrilling new history, and a celebration of freedom, survival and the hidden places of the imagination.” Sounds good enough to me!
Althea – Sally H. Jacobs (St. Martin’s Press)
This is a biography of tennis star Althea Gibson whose fame is now overshadowed by the huge celebrity and prize money in modern tennis but whose trailblazing means that those with only a passing interest in the sport should know all about her. She was the first black woman to win a Grand Slam title (French Open 1956), won Wimbledon and the pre-cursor to the US Open in both 1957 and 58. For two years she was the World number 1 player and when her career was over she challenged expectations in another sporting field when she became the first black female professional golfer in 1965. She was an inspiration but she had it tough and this critically acclaimed work places her life and career amidst the racist context of her time. I probably read one sports book a decade but I feel this should be the one.
Age Of Vice – Deepti Kapoor (Fleet)
Published at the start of the year I do have a copy of this on my Kindle. Why have I not read it yet? Stephen King describes it as “unputdownable”, Lee Child says “certain to be a book of the year”, Marlon James claims it “one of the best I’ve read” this mixture of gangster novel and family saga certainly sounds like “binge-worthy entertainment at its literary best”. Not surprisingly, this, her second novel, has had TV rights snapped up. I need to read the book before the adaptation is screened.
Yellowface- Rebecca F Kuang (Borough Press)
It has been impossible to escape this book in 2023. From its provocative title, distinctive cover and thousands proclaiming their devotion to it across all social media this thriller was recently named Foyles’ Fiction Book of the Year, Amazon UK’s Book of the Year and topped Best Seller lists. I haven’t read it -although I’m ready to as I bought a very competitively priced copy as part of Amazon’s Black Friday deals. I have another book by this author her best-selling fantasy title “Babel” also on my Kindle. Yellowface is about literary theft and how far people will go when they think they can get away with it. This is a book I’m hoping to get round to very soon.
Only This Beautiful Moment- Abdi Nazemian (Little Tiger)
This YA novel had passed me by until I saw it recommended by The Guardian in their Books Of The Year where it was described as “An arresting celebration of activism, forbidden love and family bonds”. Set in Iran and the USA by a Stonewall Award winning author who has won me over because he has a dog called Disco. It features three generations of the same Iranian family from 1939, 1978 and 2019. Intended for a 13-18 year old readership this book seems to have bags of potential to win over an adult audience.
The Ghost Theatre- Mat Osman (Bloomsbury)
Another choice from the Guardian Books Of The Year. This is a historical romp offering a “twisted version of Elizabethan London” and also featured in end of year lists in The Observer, The Times and The Evening Standard. A combination of the fantastic and gritty realism sees a mismatched couple form a troupe staging plays in London’s hidden corners. The publishers state it “charts the rise and dramatic destruction of a dream born from love and torn apart from betrayal.” This is the second novel from the bassist in Suede.
Masquerade- The Lives Of Noel Coward- Oliver Soden (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Back in 2010 I really got into the life and works of Noel Coward and polished off his diaries, his autobiography, his plays and a biography by Philip Hoare. I absolutely loved the diaries edited by Graham Payn and Sheridan Morley which was my runner-up in my Books Of The Year that year. Since then I’ve read nothing by him or about him but was very keen to start things rolling again when I heard about this biography which according to the Telegraph was the one “that Coward deserves”. Over 600+ pages Oliver Soden allows his story-packed account to sparkle. The plural “lives” refer to Coward as actor, director, playwright, songwriter, queer pioneer and spy.
Blackouts- Justin Torres (Granta)
Another prize-winner which I knew very little about until its appearance on end of year lists despite it gaining the National Book Award for Fiction. US author has already got much acclaim for his “We The Animals” his latest is described as “an intimate emotionally rich novel in which two men- young and old- reckon with queer histories and their place within them.” It seems a little off-beat but is really being praised for the quality of the writing and the richness of its multi-layered plot. A lot of readers are saying they have never read anything like it before. A five star Amazon review by Nemra totally won me over from the depiction of it as “a wonderful mix of culture, love, stories, truth, lies, childhood, growth and many other things.”
Ultra-Processed People – Chris Van Tulleken (Penguin)
A big seller which I expect to do huge business when it comes out in paperback in 2024. Subtitled “Why Do We All Eat Stuff That Isn’t Food…And Why Can’t We Stop” from one half of the extremely likeable and trustworthy Van Tulleken twins. Bee Wilson says of it “If you only read one diet or nutrition book in your life, make it this one.” Chris Evans says “Read a page and think about it for the rest of the week.” It’s a study of the effects of industrially produced food in our diets and the difficulty of making informed food choices within an environment that makes such choices almost impossible. Another book I can’t wait to read because I know the author will present all this in a highly readable and yet totally informative and convincing way.
The British love their comedy. In an uneasy but fascinating opening to his book this author and music journalist uses this to explain the rise of Boris Johnson, that people liked him because he was deemed to be funny with his media-friendly adoption of a blustering amusingly inept persona which some had seen and enjoyed on “Have I Got News For You” or who just thought made a welcome change to the usual guise of a politician. The reality is this was an elaborate conceit hiding a man who lacks a sense of humour or pretty much any of the empathy that we Brits like in our humourists.
This is all an introduction to what follows on- a chronological examination of comedy in Britain beginning with two massive exports – Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel, two men who started as friends and flatmates but then weren’t and whose paths to unprecedented fame (much earlier for Chaplin than Laurel) removed any Britishness. It could be seen that here is the first of many splits in the comedy route as nowadays it is easy to deem one of these as funny and one as not, so that’s why we need a perspective on the times they lived.
With comedy so much a personal taste thing linked to the times, Stubbs, the same age as me, tries to explain the appeal of Ealing Comedies (which I do get) and The Goons (which I never have) to those of us who weren’t there at the time. I do remember the 70s and a Britain awash with situation comedies, most now forgotten but which in the TV-always-on households living in a 2-3 channel world (we didn’t get BBC 2 until the mid 70s) were just often watched whether anyone actually enjoyed them or not. These were the comedies that drew huge audiences at the time but are pretty much forgotten (“Oh No, It’s Selwyn Frogett”, “And Mother Makes Five”, “My Good Woman”, “In Loving Memory”- just four examples of rating toppers). These have just dwindled in our collective memories but some have gone because of thankfully changing attitudes, including “Love Thy Neighbour” and “Mind Your Language” but these too are problematical, the author recognises, because as well as promoting stereotypes and tension these shows were sometimes huge hits in the households where the individuals watching would have been the butt of the jokes, which perhaps could be put down to any representation is better than no representation even if it meant people were being fed wrong ideas.
Watching comedy from a different era, even just a few years ago, will bring about the odd shudder or discomforting sense that this was the distant part and that things would probably be done differently nowadays. Stubbs does attempt to put this into context but often acknowledges those who made the programmes should have known better- for most of the time it wasn’t funny then so certainly wouldn’t be now.
Although controversy is a central theme and is embodied within the title of the book this is also a celebration of comedy and will probably be the most over-riding reason people will seek out this book. (Stubbs acknowledges “Fawlty Towers” as the greatest TV sitcom). It moves from the satire of the 60s to the hugely popular workhorses Morecambe and Wise, Ken Dodd, Tommy Cooper of whole family entertainment; to our love of smut and innuendo; the offbeat “Monty Python”; then onto the “fresh start” alternative comedy embodied from “The Young Ones”; through the Thatcher years; the cruelty of some 90s comedies onto the laughter-track free observational humour of “The Royle Family” and “The Office” to our gentler more inclusive comedies such as “Outnumbered”, “The Detectorists”, “Motherland”and “This Country” also exploring stand-up and the odd comedy film.
Comedy is always going to get people talking as it’s so embedded in the national psyche and bound up in political and social views, class and age. Stubbs concludes; “They don’t make comedy like they used to, which is at once a good thing, given that back then not everyone got to be in on the laugh, and another reason to seek out and cherish it all the more.” A statement which reflects the double-edged approach which is probably the right one to take with his subject.
I’ve seen mixed reviews for this book, some taking the author to task probably without having read much of the book, some saying his arguments are muddled which they frankly are going to be because a lot of this isn’t straightforward but I really enjoyed it as a guide to an important part of our British cultural history with a valiant attempt to place into some context to a point and all presented in a thought-provoking way.
Different Times was published by Faber & Faber in July 2023
This is an author with proven pedigree as far as I am concerned. I did very much enjoy “Skippy Dies” (2010) but he really surpassed this with his 2015 novel “The Mark And The Void” which I read pre-publication and considered whether it might be “The Great Comic Novel Of Our Time”. I expected it to be a really big seller which didn’t quite happen as I anticipated. That year in my Best Books retrospective it ended up at #2 behind the 2009 translation of Hans Fallada’s “Alone In Berlin”. It was my favourite book published that year and at this stage of 2023 this looks like it might be the case again.
Eight years feels a long time to wait for another book from this Irish writer and it does seem now that this is the title to confirm his reputation. Winner of Novel Of The Year at the Irish Book Awards and much favoured on the Booker shortlist it is doing well in hardback and when the paperback arrives (scheduled May 2024) this big book should become a big seller.
“Skippy Dies” explored school life, “The Mark And The Void” made financial institutions funny (who’d have thought?), “The Bee Sting” sees the author settling into an area where Irish writing is so strong- the ups and downs of family life. Meet the Barnes family, especially school leaver Cass and her younger brother PJ and their parents Dickie and Imelda. They each get focused narratives and I found myself from the initial spotlight on Cass and best friend Elaine loving this book right from the start. Imelda’s sections are more tricky to read as they lack full stops (there are capital letters at the start of where each sentence should be though). I would imagine this is done to reflect an area of Imelda’s personality but it’s not really necessary. The past and present combine to create a tale which is funny, moving, unpredictable and extremely impressive. It was one of those books I didn’t want to end and yet I must admit as the end approached the author concertinaed the narratives and switched to the third person, the narrator directly addressing the protagonists which I didn’t enjoy as much as the rest of the book but I was completely sucked in by the time this occurred in Paul Murray’s tale and it did build up a sense of urgency as the plot drove to a conclusion.
I wonder if it was these small aspects which saw the Booker judges awarding the prize to “Prophet Song” by Paul Lynch. I was mid-way through when the prize was announced and at that point it seemed inexplicable that there could have been a better book published this year than this. I was so hopeful that this would do for this writer’s career which a previous outstanding Booker choice “Shuggie Bain” did for Douglas Stuart.
I’ve not focused much on plot here and that’s deliberate but I do need to tell you that the novel is so rich and rounded. Backtrack to “Skippy Dies” where I felt in the opening stages of that novel the author threw so much into it that I was initially bewildered, here he does much the same throughout the novel but 13 years on it works superbly. This also makes it a book which will reward re-reads. I’m certainly keeping my copy on the shelves.
The Bee Sting was published by Hamish Hamilton in June 2023.
Domestic Noir- it’s not a genre I particularly enjoy reading. There’s something about nasty neighbours which triggers an anxiety in me. I think it’s to do with home spaces being threatened by others close by- this kind of intensive no-escape situation chills me, and not in the stimulating way of a creepy horror story. I can only think of a couple of irritations I’ve had with neighbours over the years in the various places I’ve lived so it ‘s not to do with that but I can sense how easily these can get out of hand.
I don’t think the reading public are in line with me here as these home-based thrillers tend to sell very well. I must admit that here I was a little put off by the title wondering if Kia Abdullah had written a book which wasn’t for me and in the early stages this felt like this might have been confirmed but I was driven on by the cover also informing me that this was a legal thriller and I know this is what this author does so well.
This is the fourth Kia Abdullah novel and I’m pleased to say I’ve read them all and I’d have to think very hard to come up with an author who is better at plotting and building a novel to provide maximum thrills. Her novels have tended to follow a formula -structure-wise and this works really very well. Debut “Take It Back” I described as “really impressive”; “Truth Be Told” I said “I savoured every word “; of “Next Of Kin” I said “Also like last time I found myself covering the bottom half of pages as I didn’t want to know of various outcomes until the exact moment Kia Abdullah intended me to”. This happened again with her latest book.
Salma and Bil Khatun move into a new neighbourhood with teenage son Zain and the thrill of the new move is tainted when their neighbour Tom takes offence at a “Black Lives Matter” banner Zain has put in a flower-pot. Nothing in a Kia Abdullah novel can be taken at face value. Sometimes the motives are not the most obvious ones and there’s a level of complexity to issues which is intoxicating.
Relationships get further strained as incidents between the neighbours mount up (and I did find some of this difficult reading) until, we assume, because this has been the pattern of each of her novels so far, that something will occur which will end up in a court-room.
The legal proceedings feel slightly less prevalent than in some of its predecessors but with aspects of the case not fully revealed it makes for gripping reading, This feels her most commercial novel so far and I am not surprised it is doing so well for this author. If this is your introduction to Kia Abdullah you are in for a treat but please discover her back catalogue so far as two of her novels have been outstanding. This book will help to confirm her position as I said in my “Take It Back” review into “The Premier League of contemporary crime-writers”.
Those People Next Door was published by HQ in 2023.
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