This is the second part of Irish author John Boyne’s “The Elements” Quartet. The first part “Water” made it into my Top 10 Books of 2023 and had me tearing up the rule book as it certainly shifted my feelings about short novels/novellas as it was a near-perfect example of the form, contained very nicely within its 176 pages. It’s done well commercially for the author in hardback which is a testament to his commercial power as faced with a table of new hardback books in a shop I’d be tempted to go with something thicker to get more for my money, but wherever I see it displayed it shines out at me and is obviously being chosen by many readers.
But could he do it again? There’s a bit of a niggling inside me to consider it a 5* book before even starting it as I’ve awarded this author the top rating 6 times from the 9 books of his I’ve read. He’s already at the top of my 5* rating league but even as I’m writing this I’m not 100% positive of which way I’m going to go.
We’ve met main character Evan Keogh before. In “Water” he is the teenage boy on the unspecified island off the West Coast of Ireland who is very talented at football but would prefer to be an artist. Here we find him in London, a Champions League footballer embroiled in a scandal and facing criminal proceedings. His entry into professional football is unusual and he doesn’t fit into that world. We switch, in this first-person narrative, between his present and past. A major theme of the novel is consent, a topic which has already seen me giving 5* to Ela Lee’s “Jaded” (2024) this year and a book I can never get out of my mind is Kia Abdullah’s legal thriller “Truth Be Told” (2020) yet here John Boyne certainly offers fresh perspectives.
I couldn’t put this down, which you might think is not saying a great deal as it is only 176 pages (the same length as “Water”) but, on reflection, I don’t think it is as perfectly formed as its predecessor, which felt so complete. Here, I found myself yearning for another 200 or so pages so that scenes which felt a little skimmed over could really breathe and that would have made this something really extraordinary. I have to balance that feeling with the fact that the author has certainly left me wanting more- which shifts him back up into my five star criteria.
My only niggle concerns something I mentioned in my review of “Water” where I felt that the crafting of it “belies one of my issues with novellas in that despite their brevity they can feel drawn out”. Here, there’s a character who comes back into Evan’s life in a scene which didn’t blend in so well and felt like a hint of padding within its limited pages. Maybe this character had a significance I didn’t pick up on or may reappear in one of the later works.
And what of the element itself? Earth is perhaps harder to pin down than water which was everywhere in the island setting of its novel but here it is used very well as the pull of Ireland, the home soil, its physical presence on the football pitch, the smothering sensation Evan experiences at times, as in being buried alive and in its grubbiness which dominates the whole piece, as it is a slightly queasy read throughout.
It may not be as well crafted as “Water” but, boy, is it compelling and offers a high-quality reading experience. Is it up there with the very best of John Boyne’s five star works? No, but “The Heart’s Invisible Furies” is one of my favourite novels ever so it’s probably not going to be, but it does compare with the other novels I’ve awarded 5* to this year and the answer become suddenly clear to me.
Half-way through The Elements Quartet and I don’t know whether the intention is to publish the four in one volume at some point. If it is, what a work this would potentially be! But, however mouth- watering a prospect this would be I wouldn’t suggest holding out. If I was John Boyne I’d be tempted to write a really long last instalment to stop that happening! You do need to read these now. The third volume “Fire” will be out towards the end of the year.
Earth is published by Doubleday on 18th April. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.
I’m celebrating today as this is the 9th birthday of reviewsrevues.com and my 963rd post. I wouldn’t have imagined that back in 2015 when I took the plunge with my first blog post I’d still be around 9 years later. It’s all thanks to those of you who have read my posts regularly, or just now and again, or just stumbled across the website from a search engine and I know that there are quite a number of regular readers who have been there right from the beginning so once again thank you. Last year saw another rise in the number of visitors to the site and it’s finding out things like that which keeps me going (that, and I think that after all these years it’s turned into a bit of an obsession!)
I thought I’d take this opportunity to look at my ten most read posts of the year- an always fascinating (for me!) exercise. This year’s list feels a little different as in the past there have been a significant number of old regulars who have dominated these lists. Looking back to last year there was only one new title that I’d reviewed that year making the Top 10, this year there are 7, suggesting that more people are coming to the site looking for what’s new. Here we go then with the most popular posts since the 8th birthday.
The most read of the CD reviews from my Essential CD Countdown where it sits at #80. It’s been in the Top 10 more or less since I first posted the review in February 2015 but last year had a real surge to the runner-up spot. It’s a budget priced CD which spanned the years 1960-73. Great to see National Treasure Dame Shirley Bassey is still going strong at 87 and in the New Year’s Honours List was made a Companion Of Honour and is still one of my 10 most-read posts (wonder which she’s most delighted by!).
A 2005 memoir I reviewed back in 2016 and always performs strongly, showing great love for another British songstress, this one no longer with us. The author knew her well and brings out well how some vulnerable people were exploited by fame in the light entertainment world of the 1960s. This book no longer seems to be readily available and I think that is why my review consistently picks up visits from people who want to know more about the now under-rated but in her day immensely popular Kathy Kirby.
The first of the 2023 publications to feature in this list was a book I’d highlighted I wanted to read at the start of the year and was delighted by when I read it in March awarding it five stars with it ending up in 8th place in my Books Of The Year. This was a title which got a lot of love from other bloggers as I discovered in my looking around post. The second in this literary crime series featuring ex -cop Jake Jackson is due out in April, can’t wait to read it.
There’s been a real surge in reader numbers for this since I named it my Book Of The Year and I’m delighted to see it making my Top 10. Just spotted an article from the Independent after the Booker announcement with correspondent Martin Chilton lamenting that the judges had, in choosing Paul Lynch to be the winner, picked the wrong Paul. I haven’t read “The Prophet Song” but cannot believe I would think it better than this. Looking at sales figures now the post-Booker announcement publicity has died down this seems to be outselling Paul Lynch’s dystopian work so maybe this Paul should not be downhearted as this Irish family saga continues to perform well commercially and critically.
I absolutely loved “The Great Believers“, it was a Book Of The Year and was so looking forward to this when it arrived in February 2023. I enjoyed it but it didn’t blow me away like its predecessor did and I rated it four stars. It seemed to meet with a warm critical and commercial reception rather than out-and-out praise. A drowning of a girl at an elite boarding school is examined in three time settings. I described it as “a very tight, controlled piece“.
A chunky western that my friend Louise had been pushing me to read for years. I was actually enjoying my resistance to it until I decided I’d just get on and read it. This is a book which many people are absolutely devoted to. I have come to appreciate that in comments people have made to me about it since I published my review. I must admit it didn’t completely win me over in that way when I read it in July – I rated it four stars, I had contemplated five but it felt overlong and didn’t consistently have the emotional pull I’d look for in my top rating. I am really glad I read it though and if you are looking for a big book to lose yourself in I would certainly recommend it.
A five star rated book which just missed out on my Top 10 Books Of The Year but there has certainly been a lot of interest in this historical novel about a Roman slave who finds himself living with a group of prostitutes who work in a tavern. I think the author really brought Ancient Rome to life through using a richly sensual approach as “description of sights, smells, sounds, taste and the feel of the environment .. allows the boy to make sense of his world and has the added bonus for us as readers in creating a very strong fictional depiction“. This will come out in paperback in April and will continue to attract attention and thumbs-ups from readers.
A review of a TV show which finished in 2016 and has always been somewhere in my Top 10 posts. Back in 2020 it was my most read and it’s had another resurgence this year. In 2023 Suranne Jones was riding high with “Vigil” and I enjoyed Lesley Sharp’s second series of Channel 4 drama “Before We Die”. I still miss “Scott and Bailey” and obviously so do many others judging by the numbers who read my review year after year.
My most read new review is this four star rated book number 3 in Ann Cleeves’ Matthew Venn/Two Rivers Series which is still the only series by Ann Cleeves I have read and can thoroughly recommend. I thought that this was the best one to date and felt that the author “created such an authentic environment and enriched her series characters by placing them in plausible and often gripping situations.”
I am delighted that this book I read and reviewed in 2017 when it was my Book Of The Year is for the second year the most read of my reviews. It is fitting as it is the book I recommend more than any other- I really do think everyone should read it. John Boyne was back in my year end top 10 with his 2023 publication “Water” and I will certainly be reading the second part of his elemental quartet, “Earth” when it appears in May
Where are you reading from?
The Top 10 countries for visitors to reviewsrevues.com. The figures in brackets relate to 202e when I last published this list.
1(1) UK
2(2) US
3(4) Italy
4(3) Australia
5(5) Canada
6(10) Ireland
7(6) Germany
8(8) France
9(9) Netherlands
10 (-) Spain
Thanks once again for all your support! I’m off to treat myself to something made out of clay (9th anniversary gift is potterny, apparently!)
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 that time of year again. I read 73 books in 2024, 7 of these were not-yet-ready for publication titles to provide authors with feedback on their drafts so couldn’t count them towards my Good Reads goal of 70. So, although Good Reads thinks I didn’t make my goal I actually did and that is the first time ever I’ve done so. There’s an exact same number of five star ratings as last year – 15, but with 12 more books read than in 2022 it is even harder for a title to make the Top 10. As always, if I’ve read it this year it is included even if published in a previous year. This year the titles span from 1944-2023 with a pretty impressive 50% being books published in 2023.
73 books -that’s fifteen 5 star ratings (around 20% of titles read), 46 at 4*, 11 at 3* and just the one 2* for Tobias Smollett who won’t worry about it too much seeing as he died 252 years ago. 65 of these books have been reviewed on the site and they can be found by scrolling through or using one of the two indexes. I’ve let you know when they first appeared on here. I haven’t reviewed the incomplete titles I have been giving feedback on and there is another title which I am waiting to closer to the publication date in January (which hasn’t made it into the list) . There is only one non-fiction title in my Top 10 this year representing the 15 non-fiction titles I read. There’s a 60-40 gender split in favour of the men this time round, 50% were debut novels and just two authors have been on my end of year list before. It’s also been a great year for the Irish, which seems to mirror what has happened in the publishing world anyway this year with many top-rated titles coming from Irish authors and Paul Lynch winning the Booker Prize with a book I haven’t yet read.
Here is the first part of the list 10-6. If you would like to read the full reviews (and I hope you do as these are the books I most want to point out to you) just click on the title
I’m starting off with the non-fiction pick of the year and this is the first time ever an independently published book has made my list. This is a revised edition of a book which Harper Collins put out in 2004 when the subject was still alive. The author fully reworked things ten years later to reflect the loss and legacy of one of the finest ever song stylists and R&B legend. This is the version I’m recommending. I found it as an e-book on Amazon. Luther Vandross (1951-2005) was notoriously private and there is a lot about him which we will probably never know but the author has an impressive go at bringing what made him special to life. I said of this title, that; “on sheer readability, thoroughness (while keeping to the facts) and entertainment value alone merits my top rating (a view shared by an impressive 73% of 682 ratings on Amazon.)” So, not the easiest book to find on the list but one that readers have certainly found rewarding. I did think long and hard as there were at least another three titles I could have put in this number 10 slot but after much reflection this is the most deserving. I do know people who have read this because of my recommendation and I think it’s important to not always to seek out the books with the big promotional budgets behind them.
Certainly no stranger to my end of year list is former Book Of The Year winner John Boyne. This is his fifth appearance, he was at the very top in 2017 with “The Heart’s Invisible Furies“, 2nd in 2018 with his 2015 modern classic “The Boy With The Striped Pyjamas” at number 4 the same year with “A Ladder To The Sky” and 5th in 2021 with “The Echo Chamber“. I’ve now read 9 of his books and rated 6 of them five stars so definitely up there amongst my all-time favourite authors. This is a 176 page short novel and is probably the shortest book to make it into my Top 10 ever. It’s the first of a projected quartet which will contain “Earth” (out in May), “Air” & “Fire”. It challenged everything I seem to always gripe on about when I’m reading short fiction and is “packed with character development, plot twists and a delight in story-telling“. It’s a tale of a woman in her 50s arriving on a sparsely populated Irish island and changing her identity. With still a number of his back catalogue and these projected titles to read I am sure that this will not be this Irish writer’s last appearance on these lists.
This was the best contemporary crime novel I read this year. A debut from a writer who has excelled in other literary forms and whose love of the genre persuaded him to have a go. In doing so, he’s written his own little crime classic which clearly demonstrates his awareness and devotion to such fiction. Like the main character in John Boyne’s “Water” Stig Abell’s protagonist Jake Jackson is going it alone to an isolated house in the middle of nowhere inherited from an uncle where he will eschew his former career and modern technology in favour of a library full of detective fiction. But events dictate otherwise. I said of this “Stig Abell knows exactly what he is doing here- his love and absorption of crime novels and his years of professional analysis of literary works is so evident and has resulted in this first-class example“. This book will appear in paperback at the end of February and the second in the series “Death In A Lonely Place” is published in April 2024.
Another debut and one which arrived with a bang ending up with shortlist nods for Waterstone’s Best Debut and Women’s Prize for Fiction. It has appeared on many end of year lists and although it may not be for everyone I fell in love with the authors confidence, lyricism and the rhythms of dub reggae. Written in three sections beginning in late 1970s South London moving to Bristol and then Jamaica with main character Yamaye trying to find her place in the world. It has an involving plot and strong characterisation with a language which is “rich and rooted in Black British Caribbean which feels poetic and powerful and often mystical and elusive.” Due out in paperback in February this will continue to win plaudits and attract readers.
On the surface a tale of a yellow house in Massachusetts woodlands and those who lived there over generations, this intriguing American author with his fifth novel incorporates “songs and ballads, letters, speeches, a true crime column from a pulp magazine, medical case notes, and estate agents details” amongst other forms to support an unpredictable work which is also so rich in the workings of the natural world. It’s original and will certainly stay with me. I said of it “The history and ecology of a location go side by side within this vividly told literary novel.” Lit-Hub’s review of American publications found it on 11 end-of-year best of lists with the Washington Post describing it “a time-spanning, genre-blurring work of storytelling magic.“
I am aware that I have grumbled a few times on this site about short novels or novellas. This year I’ve read short work by Philippe Besson, Claire Keegan and Mike McCormack and I’ve felt the need each time to mention my ambivalent feelings towards this form. In my review of Claire Keegan’s much celebrated “Small Things Like These” (2021) I said “faced with a couple of tempting novels, one short, one longer I’d generally pick the longer.” Trust John Boyne to challenge my prejudices.
It’s no real surprise that this is one of the few under 200 pages (176 in the hardback edition) that I’m giving my top rating to. Irish writer John Boyne is the author I’ve given the most five stars to ever (this will be the 6th out of the 9 books of his I’ve read).
The author is getting all elemental on us with this the first in a projected quartet which will also feature Fire, Earth & Air, producing a literary sequence which is reminiscent of the seasonal quartet which did so well for Ali Smith (note to self- must get round to the other three of these).
“Water” is the tale of a woman in her early fifties who arrives on a sparsely populated Irish island to escape her past. The first things she does is change her name and shave her head so we know the past is obviously a problem. Slowly, we get to know why she is there and what she is hiding from. What John Boyne does so well is to hide the horrors amongst domestic detail – there’s a point where the situation is grim for main character Willow/Vanessa related through her first-person narrative but she becomes preoccupied with the arrival of her new credit card. Although she has chosen a solitary life there’s some great interactions especially with neighbour and busybody Mrs Duggan. The author knows exactly when to release information to us (generally just slightly before you think it’s coming, which keeps the reader on their toes). It is superbly crafted. This belies one of my issues with novellas in that despite their brevity they can feel drawn out. Here, it feels packed with character development, plot twists and a delight in story-telling. Water is everywhere, unsurprisingly as the main character has relocated onto a smaller island than where she previously lived but it is the danger and unpredictability of it which influences this work most.
I really did not want it to end but it feels as if it does so at an appropriate time which challenged another of my short-fiction notions. I’ve read two sub-200 pages books by celebrated authors back to back. In my opinion John Boyne gets the form exactly right and really drew me in whereas Mike McCormack, which also dealt with serious issues, distanced me somewhat and left me unsatisfied. I can’t wait to read the other three works in this quartet- whether they are going to be short or long.
Water is published in the UK by Doubleday on 2nd November 2023. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.
Today I am celebrating 8 years and 891 posts and a big thank you to those of you who have stuck with me or joined me along the way or even just discovered one or two posts randomly when looking for something else! I thought I would celebrate by looking at the top 10 most read posts of the last year – some of which were written quite a long time ago now and which have continually appeared on my most-read lists (in fact only number 3 was read and reviewed in 2022). I admit I do continue to find it fascinating to see what people are reading. So here goes:
Posted back in 2018 and has been one of the most read posts ever since. The musings of the couple from “Gogglebox” has certainly been of interest- although it has slipped down from its number 5 spot in 2020.
When I last looked at the top posts back in 2020 this was the most read even though this last series of the ITV police show was first shown in 2016. Suranne Jones and Lesley Sharp certainly made a lasting impression.
I reviewed this 1986 novel in 2018. This was the debut novel from the much loved British crime writer and despite me saying at the time “I am convinced, however, that there will be some real gems in the 25 or so works of his that I am still to encounter” I haven’t got around to reading him since. I do have a copy of his 2020 novel “The Fine Art Of Invisible Detection” looking across at me from the bookshelves as I write this so I might very well find myself rediscovering this author this year.
I read and reviewed this in 2018 when it was dominating best seller lists. It’s just reminded me that I have not got around to watching the BBC TV adaptation which was so well received and which starred Ben Whishaw- I have the whole series recorded on Sky but never seem to be in the mood to get started with it. Looking back at my review I’m wondering if that is because I said “I haven’t read anything before with so much bodily fluids sloshing around”. It’s one thing reading about it but another when you are watching it whilst eating your tea!
Obviously one of my guilty pleasures which is 60s songstress Kathy Kirby has had a bit of renewed interest in the last year as she features twice in my most read list. At number 6 we have this four star 2005 memoir which I reviewed in 2016. Harman shines a light on a woman who found fame under the shadow of her lover and mentor the much older celebrated band leader Bert Ambrose but who after his death went into free fall. Exploited by both the music business and the press her naivety ran alongside a determination to bounce back. Harman knew her well and conveys the 1960s showbusiness world she inhabited as well as the vulnerability of some who rose to the top. It might be a struggle to get hold of this book now which may explain why fans are searching for my review of it.
Another consistent top 5 performer is this 2019 five star review of a 1975 publication of the completion of Jane Austen’s unfinished fragment which was completed by the “Another Lady” in this case Australian-born author Marie Dobbs. I’m sure the ITV series has helped maintain the interest in what I thought about this.
Number 79 in my Essential CD lists is the 2016 review of a 1997 20 track release on the Spectrum label. I’m pleased to see this getting a good number of reviews – I wouldn’t want this singer who was once reputedly the highest paid woman on British television being forgotten. By the mid 60’s when Beatlemania was at its height her chart career was over yet within these twenty tracks there are some fine examples of British pop music.
My four star review of this 2022 novel meant that it was out of the running when I came to choose my Top 10 books of the year as I had read so many 5 star titles but this is a book which remained with me throughout the year that I am wondering if my original four star rating was not a little stingy. A splendid Dorset-set debut and I am pleased that so many people have wanted to find out more about it. A book which achieved a very good level of critical and commercial success.
This budget Music For Pleasure CD spans the years 1960-73 and made it to number 80 in my Essential CD countdown. This has tended to hover around the lower half of the Top 10 most read posts since publication but has had a real surge this year to become my second most read post. This is surely because of the continued love and support for this now 86 year old Dame of the Realm, living legend and national treasure.
How delighted am I to see this at the very top of my most read pile as this is one of my favourite books of all time and I don’t miss many opportunities to mention this and recommend it so I do hope that readers have found their way to this book through my promotion of it. I reviewed this back in 2017 and in the eight years I have been writing this book I think only this year’s Book Of The Year “Young Mungo” by Douglas Stuart has come close to toppling this off my favourite book pedestal. Thank you for seeking this review out in considerable numbers and thank you for reading this book.
Where are you reading from?
The Top 10 countries for visitors to reviewsrevues.com. The figures in brackets relate to 2020 when I last published this list.
1(1) UK
2(2) US
3 (7) Australia
4(-) Italy
5 (6) Canada
6(4) Germany
7(-) China
8(-) France
9(5) Netherlands
10 (-) Ireland
Welcome to the new countries in the Top 10. Not sure what has happened to my Belgian visitors who have slumped from the number 3 position. Hopefully they will be back before I celebrate reviewsrevues 9th birthday.
A new John Boyne title is always a reading highlight for me. I’ve read 7 of his up to now, 4 of which have ended up in my end of year Top 10s. I was both thrilled and made nervous by his decision to write a sequel to his most famous and my 2nd favourite of his, (“The Heart’s Invisible Furies” is probably still my most loved book of the 21st Century so far), “The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas” (2006) which I read in 2018 when it was runner up in my Books Of The Year to “The Count Of Monte Cristo.”
It is such an impressively self-contained piece that it seems an unlikely and perhaps unnecessary book to have a sequel. In his Author’s Note John Boyne says he’s been mulling the idea over for years and the isolation of lockdown felt like the right time. The question for me was, did I want to revisit these characters in another setting?
This is the first-person narrative of Gretel, the sister to Bruno, main character in “Striped Pyjamas” and it follows a dual narrative, one which moves through time from the end of World War II and one taking place in modern day London. Here, Gretel is a sprightly 91 year old living in a smart apartment in Winterville Court, overlooking Hyde Park, the other narrative explores how Gretel has reached this point in her life.
Unsurprisingly, the central theme in the novel is guilt. Gretel has got to 91 living daily with her family’s involvement in the hostilities in the place Bruno thought was called “Out-With”. The immediate post-war years saw a need for re-invention in different locations until she settles in London.
My dilemma here, and I think this will be the case for many readers, is Gretel. She is realistically rather than sympathetically drawn but I couldn’t help rooting for her and I struggled whether this was the right response, and this was likely to be the author’s intention. Obviously she has got to an old age thousands were deprived of and there are some extraordinary moments in her past which will stop you in your tracks and will fundamentally change the way you feel about this character in “Striped Pyjamas” and Boyne does extremely well to also convey her effectively as an elderly woman still struggling after many decades to come to terms with her past.
Supporting characters do not seem as well drawn as in other of this author’s novels (especially in the contemporary section) but we are seeing them from Gretel’s perspective and words and she is very wrapped up in herself, so perhaps this is appropriate. As “The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas” builds to a big twist there are a couple of those along the way for those readers looking for a big reveal.
I did enjoy this and wanted to know what was going on but my ongoing niggle as to whether a sequel was necessary was unresolved and so I take that as meaning that this book is not as Essential as “The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas”. All of the now 8 Boyne works I have read have had something in them to enrich my life but this for me does not quite make it into my Top 5 of his novels. It is thought-provoking and at times really gripping but remains slightly in the shadow of his 2006 masterpiece.
All The Broken Places is published by Doubleday on September 15th 2022. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.
Happy New Year! I’m celebrating the start of 2022 by having a look back at my favourite reads of 2021. Those I rated between 10 and 6 can be found here. On with the Top 5!
No stranger to my end of year Top 10, John Boyne wrote my 2017 book of the year “The Heart’s Invisible Furies” (2017) was runner-up in 2018 with “The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas” (2006) and also made it to 4th that same year with his 2018 “A Ladder To The Sky“. These were all very different books and this biting comic satire was also very much a departure and inspired by social media response of his YA novel “My Brother’s Name Is Jessica“. This is an author who loves to take risks and I like that. Reviews, have unsurprisingly, because it is such a departure, been a little mixed and I can understand why some people have thought this fell short of what they were expecting from Boyne. I however, stand by my description of it as “a great comic novel of our time which should provide a great tonic for these strange times we live in“.
This was the best non-fiction work I have read this year. I’m not sure how ready I am to read about the Covid-19 pandemic, it might still be a little too much too soon but I was certainly prepared to make an exception for this collection of prose poems from a writer I very much admire who nearly became a Covid death statistic. His writings on his illness and recovery are interspersed with extracts from a diary those caring for him maintained to show him how much they cared. I said of this “These people were exhausted, often redeployed from their usual job and no doubt stressed beyond belief but they made the time to communicate with this comatose man in this way and these diary entries form an extremely moving section of the book.” There’s much humour in the darkness and when I read this on the anniversary of the first lockdown I felt strongly that; “When we are moaning about lockdown restrictions and posing conspiracy theories it’s important to feel the voice of those affected and Michael Rosen’s experience speaks for the thousands who have been similarly affected and for those thousands we have lost.” This was a title I had highlighted from the start of the year and I did think it would end up as one of the year’s biggest sellers, with numbers comparable to Adam Kay. This hasn’t happened which suggests that maybe we are not all totally ready for this yet but it will be a lasting testament both to the man and the times in which we have been living.
Here’s one I kept flagging up before I got round to reading it. I featured it in my “What I Should Have Read In 2020” post and in my “Looking Around” post so I was building up the expectations. It delivered. Two twin girls escape their small time life for a new home in New Orleans. One eventually returns to her home town whilst the other is “passing” as a white woman in a decades-spanning saga. I felt that “There are so many discussion points in this novel regarding identity that one might expect it to feel issue-driven but no, plot and characterisation are both very strong and that together with its immersive readability provides an extremely impressive rounded work.” Over the past year I’ve selected it for reading groups and have recommended it probably more than any other book. I always ask what people think of it and it’s always a thumbs up- however, there are often reservations voiced about the ending, and I do agree with them.
An astonishing debut. When I read it I was convinced that this would be my book of the year and posted it within my “100 Essential Books” strand. It’s a book which has got the odd nod from awards committees but hasn’t swept the board winning awards as I had expected it to. I was convinced a Booker nomination would be assured but it was not even longlisted. The paperback is expected in the UK in late January and hopefully this will generate the serious sales this book deserves. I said this slave plantation-set novel “could very well become a contender for the twenty-first century Great American novel.” Don’t just believe me, check out the Amazon reviews where it has 61% five star and 22% 4 star which is excellent going for a book which is demanding, poetic and at times overwhelming. Extraordinary.
2020 was the year that the Booker Prize judges got it exactly right. I’d become a little wary after the year they awarded it to “Lincoln In The Bardo” (I must stop harping on about that!). I featured this in my “What I Should Have Read In 2020” but this year this book’s reputation has continued to grow as more and more people have fallen in love with it. It’s another I’ve selected for reading groups throughout the year and admittedly, some people are never going to give it a go, put off by its working class Glasgow 1980’s setting but those who do generally praise it to the skies. And deservedly so, as this study of a relationship between Shuggie and his mother has provided us with two of the most memorable characters in modern fiction. I said “It’s gritty and raw but at its heart is an incredible beauty and humanity which even when the reader is dabbing away tears of sadness, frustration or laughter is life-affirming.” I cannot wait for this Scottish author’s second novel “Young Mungo” which is due in April. This is the first time in nine years I have awarded my Book Of The Year to a UK writer. Douglas Stuart deserves his place in my own special Hall Of Fame. Here are my other top titles going back to 2008.
Special mentions for the three five star reads which did not make it into the Top 10. “Next Of Kin” by Kia Abdullah (2021) just missing out on two consecutive Top 10 recommendations by the narrowest of margins, Bryan Washington’s “Memorial” (2021) and “Love After Love” by Ingrid Persaud (2020).
Here it is! My 800th post! To celebrate I thought I’d choose to revisit 8 posts -my creme de la creme. This is a celebration of the best books/music/TV/film which makes up reviewsrevues.com which I have discovered or rediscovered and most enjoyed during the last six+ years.
Feel free to visit the reviews by clicking on the titles, hopefully it will spur you on to discover or rediscover some of my favourite things. Many thanks for supporting me in ever increasing numbers over the last 800 posts. Here’s to plenty more!
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