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Reflections in a Golden Eye by Carson McCullers: Book 12 of #20booksofsummer23
When Carson McCullers published her first novel, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, in her early twenties; it was a literary sensation, establishing her as one of the most gifted voices of her generation....
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Death in Summer by William Trevor #williamtrevor23 #20booksofsummer23
I am now nearly two-thirds through my year with William Trevor and it has been interesting to see a core theme emerge from his novels. Death in Summer was published in 1998, four years after Felicia’s...
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An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge: Book 14 of #20booksofsummer23
“You need not be sorry for her. She was one of the kind that likes to grow up. In the end she grew up of her own free will a day quicker than the other girls.” J M Barrie, Peter Pan Beryl Bainbridge...
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Old School by Tobias Wolff: Book 15 of #20booksofsummer23
Make no mistake…a true piece of writing is a dangerous thing. It can change your life. Old School is set in the early 1960’s and is narrated by an unnamed senior student at a fictional elite boarding...
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The Prestige by Christopher Priest: Book 16 of #20booksofsummer23
‘Legerdemain’ – late Middle English: from French, léger de main meaning ‘dexterous’, literally ‘slight of hand’; a display of skill or adroitness Christopher Priest’s The Prestige is a taut yet...
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Hotel World by Ali Smith: Book 17 of #20booksofsummer23
Ali Smith’s Booker-shortlisted second novel Hotel World is made up of five sections, each relating to a verb tense, is a panoptical view of five women, all of whom are drawn for various reasons to a...
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Nothing is Black by Deirdre Madden: Book 18 of #20booksofsummer23
The title of Deirdre Madden’s 1994 novel comes from Frida Kahlo’s catalogue of definitions of colour. She associated yellow with ‘madness, sickness, death’ and cobalt blue with ‘electricity and...
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The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton: Book 19 of #20booksofsummer23
I am cutting it fine with this year’s 20 Books of Summer, but am still hopeful that I can complete the challenge. I had a family bereavement last week and a very busy weekend in work, with a programme...
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Forbidden Notebook by Alba de Céspedes, translated by Ann Goldstein: Book 20...
Alba de Céspedes was a reporter, bestselling novelist, screenwriter, radio personality, journal editor, and antifascist activist who lived her life on a very public stage. The protagonist of her most...
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20 Books of Summer is back: Post Your Links Here!
It’s been a whole ten years since the first 20 Books of Summer Reading Challenge! That’s a decade of frazzled reading, rushed reviews and brilliant piles of books. Shall we do it again? I think so,...
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My 20 Books of Summer ’24 Choices!
Right. I’ve been dithering for weeks. I got to 17 confirmed choices a fortnight ago and have been tinkering ever since, so I finally need to confirm my 20 choices for my summer reading. This year, I’m...
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It’s Launch Day! #20booksofsummer24
Can you hear it? That’s the sound of loads of TBR piles being shuffled and rearranged as we all kick off 20 Books of Summer ’24! I was away in Kerry last week at the Listowel Writer’s Week Festival...
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In A Lonely Place by Dorothy B Hughes: Book 2 of #20booksofsummer24
Dorothy B. Hughes’s In A Lonely Place is a tight, elegant and intriguing slice of noir, pushing the boundaries of what that genre can do to create a surprisingly philosophical narrative which presents...
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Suzanne by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, translated by Rhonda Mullins: Book 3 of...
You had to die for me to take an interest in you. For you to turn from a ghost to a woman. I don’t love you yet. But wait for me. I’m coming. Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette only ever knew her Grandmother...
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Blue Ruin by Hari Kunzru: Book 4 of #20booksofsummer24
Hari Kunzru’s Blue Ruin is effectively a pandemic novel, but don’t let that put you off, it’s also a novel of ideas about art, notoriety, relationships and legacy. Jay, a one-time star of the British...
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Orbital by Samantha Harvey: Book 5 of #20booksofsummer24
Orbital feels like an optical illusion of a book, a slender novella that manages to contain multitudes. The book follows a crew on the International Space Station for a single day, although a day in...
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The Untouchable by John Banville: Book 6 of #20booksofsummer24
Part literary thriller, part existential roman-à-clef, The Untouchable presents a fictionalised version of the well-known story of Anthony Blunt: art historian to royalty, writer and intellectual and...
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The Living and the Rest by José Eduardo Agualusa, translated by Daniel Hahn:...
This month Stu over at Winston’s Dad blog is hosting Spanish and Portuguese Lit Month so I’m joining in with The Living and The Rest by José Eduardo Agualusa. José Eduardo Agualusa is an Angolan...
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In Zanesville by Jo Ann Beard: Book 8 of #20booksofsummer
Jo Ann Beard’s In Zanesville is the opposite to last year’s Cheri, which was my book of the year. Where that slim novella explored a woman facing the end of her life thanks to a breast cancer...
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Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel: Book 9 of #20booksofsummer24
Fun Home is quintessentially the story of a daughter’s relationship with her father and focuses on her attempts to understand him through their shared, but uncommunicated bond of homosexuality....
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