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When I spotted Laura Sims’ How Can I Help You on NetGalley it reminded me of Alice Slater’s dark, funny Death of a Bookseller which I inhaled last year. Set in a library, Sims’ novel follow...
https://alifeinbooks.co.uk/2024/07/how-can-i-help-you-by-laura-sims-a-literary-page-turner/
Not my favourite prize but I can’t resist putting together a wish list for the Booker, perhaps because I know very few will be fulfilled but I’m keen to give some more neglected titles an air...
https://alifeinbooks.co.uk/2024/07/my-2024-booker-wish-list/
Disappointingly few paperbacks caught my eye for August, although some readers with a toppling tbr pile might find that a relief. I’m beginning with one I’m not too sure about but it’s publ...
https://alifeinbooks.co.uk/2024/07/paperbacks-to-look-out-for-in-august-2024/
August Thompson has chosen an unusual structure for his debut which is what made me want to read it. Anyone’s Ghost is a love story which hinges on three car crashes involving two men, boys at ...
https://alifeinbooks.co.uk/2024/07/anyones-ghost-by-august-thompson-a-love-story-in-three-parts/
Published in the States under Sarah Jessica Parker’s imprint, Alina Grabowski’s Women and Children First came billed as perfect for Elizabeth Strout fans but it was its structure and small-to...
https://alifeinbooks.co.uk/2024/07/women-and-children-first-by-alina-grabowski-a-small-town-tragedy/
This second batch of August’s new fiction begins and ends with slight disappointments from two of my favourite authors. Heart, Be at Peace returns to the setting of Donal Ryan’s A Spinning He...
https://alifeinbooks.co.uk/2024/07/books-to-look-out-for-out-for-in-august-2024-part-two/
This is an unusual one for me as it’s been published for a few months now, but I enjoyed Douglas Bruton’s With or Without Angels so much that I was more than happy to accept his offer of a re...
https://alifeinbooks.co.uk/2024/07/hope-never-knew-horizon-by-douglas-bruton-just-breathe/
I was pitched Paddy Crewe’s True Love because of my liking for Donal Ryan. Ever sceptical of such comparisons, I checked out Goodreads to find two Ryan mentions then twigged that Crewe was the ...
https://alifeinbooks.co.uk/2024/07/true-love-by-paddy-crewe-love-and-healing/
There’s a marriage theme running through the first part of August’s preview, not happy ones but those don’t tend to make for interesting fiction. I enjoyed Charlotte Mendelson’s The Exhib...
https://alifeinbooks.co.uk/2024/07/books-to-look-out-for-out-for-in-august-2024-part-one/
Six Degrees of Separation is a meme hosted by Kate over at Books Are My Favourite and Best. It works like this: each month a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six others to form a ...
https://alifeinbooks.co.uk/2024/07/six-degrees-of-separation-kairos-to-the-night-guest/