Best Books I’ve Read So Far This Year
At the halfway point of 2023, here are the highlights of my reading year so far, including a Saudi Arabian novel, a history of Algeria and an Australian masterpiece.
Danny Boy by Barry Walsh
My review of Danny Boy by Barry Walsh, a novel of beautifully drawn relationships and the sometimes funny, sometimes painful experience of growing up on a council estate in 1960s London.
November 2022 Reading Roundup
It was an all-fiction month for me in November, involving a 17-year-old sex worker in the US, a novelist seeing her stolen manuscript come to life, a young woman fleeing from London to Jamaica to escape an abusive relationship, and…
Reading Roundup for October 2022
This month, I read a dense Serbian novel, an analysis of capitalism as a snake eating its own tail, and a couple of Elizabeth Strout's latest novels.
The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid: Book Review
What would happen if white people started turning brown, one by one? Mohsin Hamid explores the question in his latest novel.
August 2022 Reading Roundup
My reading in August was dominated by listening to six books by the same author on a long, long road trip across Europe.
Freedom and Death by Nikos Kazantzakis: Book Review
"Captain Wildboar was his apt nickname in Megalokastro. With his sudden rages, his deep, dark, round eyes, his short, stubborn neck and that jutting fang, the heavy, broad-boned man was really like a wild boar, rearing for the spring."
June 2022 Reading Roundup
A summary of the books I read last month, taking me from Barbados to rural Montana via London and Italy.
May 2022 Reading Roundup
Here's what I read this month, from a novel set in Cyprus and partly narrated by a fig tree to an exploration of the importance of disorder in cities.