Book Reviews

Fiction | Non-Fiction | Poetry

Fiction

Heavy Water by Martin Amis
‘…As he has descended from the lofty perch of the satirist, Martin Amis’s fiction has become–dare I say it?–more soulful…’ (James Diedrick)
Night Dogs by Kent Anderson
‘…the battle with memories which you can’t leave behind and can’t bear to face…’ (Vicky Nangle)
Dreamland by Kevin Baker
‘…the actual embodiment of that reviewer’s cliché, the tour de force…’ (Amanda Jeremin Harris)
Excession by Iain M. Banks
‘…puts the Culture resoundingly in its place…’ (Steven Kelly)
Ocean Sea by Alessandro Baricco
‘…singular objectives intrude upon each other with curious and fantastic results…’ (Robert Whitehouse)
Pokerface by Josie Barnard
‘…rendered with an honesty and cool empathy…’ (Jennifer Merk)
Cycle of Violence by Colin Bateman
‘…a witty thriller or a violent comedy of manners…’ (Simon Peters)
Damascus by Richard Beard
‘…something for the boffins, something for the rest of us, all this and River Phoenix too…’ (Michael Bradshaw)
Ravelstein by Saul Bellow
‘…For anyone else this would be a masterpiece…’ (Chris Wood)
Town Smokes by Pinckney Benedict
‘…people who have been stranded in the vast land which forms the America we rarely hear about…’ (Gilly Paget)
The Angel of Twickenham by Ursula Bentley
‘…mildly amusing, occasionally clever social satire on Britain…’ (Polly Rance)
Jello Salad by Nicolas Blincoe
‘…a heady cocktail of degradation – definitely not one for the faint- hearted…’ (Liz Rowlinson)
Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyre
‘…loads of potential, a cracking style…’ (Jennifer Merk)
Undue Influence by Anita Brookner
‘…Another year, another Brookner novel…’ (Robert Whitehouse)
Father and Son by Larry Brown
‘…portrays a decaying landscape of derelict cars, broken beer bottles, dried-up wells, and damaged people…’ (Jon Mitchell)
Dog Eat Dog by Edward Bunker
‘…he has been there, lived the life, and survived to tell the tale…’ (Jon Mitchell)
Cadillac Jukebox by James Lee Burke
‘…combines often chilling violence with the lyrical heart of a poet…’ (Jon Mitchell)
Elementals: Stories of Fire and Iceby A.S. Byatt
‘…Byatt seldom meets an adjective or adverb she doesn’t like…’ (James Diedrick)
A Stranger in this World by Kevin Canty
‘…a supreme collection of short stories…’ (Simon Peters)
Disco Buscuits Ed. Sarah Champion
‘…writing for people who think they don’t like reading…’ (Pippa Wright)
Official and Doubtful by Ajay Close
‘…a tremendous first novel…’ (Helena Mary Smith)
The Strange Letter Z by Debra Daly
‘…erudite, complex, sympathetic and very, very clever…’ (Sara Rance)
Equal Love by Peter Ho Davies
‘…an emotionally subtle and engaging collection of stories…’ (James Wood)
Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai
‘…thoroughly charming, funny and occasionally touching insight into the absurdities and ambiguities of life in small-town India…’ (Holly Yates)
Cheevey by Gerald Di Pego
‘…a novel to be enjoyed and then forgotten…’ (Polly Rance)
Lambs of God by Marele Day
‘…truly welcome addition to the overcrowded world of literary fiction…’ (Polly Rance)
Skating to Antarctica by Jenny Diski
‘…a hugely original and moving work.” (Jessica Woollard)
Love Warps the Mind a Little by John Dufresne
‘…moves from light, slightly wacky tale, to a powerful affirmation of humanity.” (Sara Rance)
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
‘…reads like it was written in response to a creative writing teacher’s demand for less metafictional frippery…’ (Brian Dillon)
The Auctioneer by Charles Fernyhough
‘…There can be few young novelists writing with Charles Fernyhough’s intelligence and ambition…’ (James Wood)
Lie in the Dark by Dan Fesperman
‘…Rather than dating Lie in the Dark, subsequent developments have made the novel seem prescient…’ (James Diedrick)
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
‘…a hilarious catalogue which is over the top but close to the bone…’ (Lara Burns)
If He Lived by Jon Stephen Fink
is ‘…beautifully written with terrifyingly vivid images of human suffering and terror.’ (Michelle Clump)
Oddfish and Englishmen by Sarah Francis
‘…entertaining, energetic and confident first novel…’ (Guy Danvers)
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
‘…he may simply have been defeated by the scale and scope of his subject…’ (Josh Lacey)
Where You Find It by Janice Galloway
‘…Dame Barbara Cartland… would, quite probably, choke …’ (Graham Dickson)
The Beach by Alex Garland
‘…afraid to stick the boot in where needed…’ (Steven Kelly)
Provinces of Night by William Gay
‘…it is a great feat to marry such poetical linguistic talent with deep-rooted understanding of the human condition…’ (Gregor Milne)
Clever Girl by Tania Glyde
‘…you want to know what goes on in girls’ heads? Read this…’ (Sara Rance)
Of Tender Sin by David Goodis
‘…an excellent example of existential post World War Two noir fiction…'(Jason Starr)
The Cast Iron Shore by Linda Grant
‘…the great emotional pay-off we are waiting for never happens…’ (Sara Rance)
The Arizona Game by Georgina Hammick
‘…a fabulous excursion into Georgina Hammick’s impressive new world…’ (Sara Rance)
Fork in the Road by Denis Hammill
‘…tragic conflict and uproarious slapstick in more or less equal measure…’ (Jennifer Merk)
What’s a Girl Gotta Do? by Sparkle Hayter
‘…reads like a US Bridget Jones meets Raymond Chandler on the pages of the National Enquirer.” (Pippa Wright)
Nice Girls Finish Last by Sparkle Hayter
‘…Ginger Spice could learn a thing or two about girl power from this feisty chick…’ (Victoria Williams)
Miami Purity by Vicky Hendricks
‘…a book that grabs you firmly by the crotch and dares you to blink…’ (Jon Mitchell)
Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg
‘…A book to read with the doors locked and every light in the house burning…’ (Jon Mitchell)
The Meeting Place by Mary Hocking
‘…some sensitive, observant writing…’ (Sasha Fooks)
A Farewell to Prague by Desmond Hogan
‘…beautiful, haunting elegy to lost love and friendship…’ (Adam Baron)
Atomised by Michel Houellebecq
‘…the kind of novel that many of its liberal defenders will grit their teeth and declare “profoundly moral”…’ (Brian Dillon)
Op Non Cit by Alan Isler
‘…illuminates the wider tragedies of history…a complex and remarkable book…’ (Polly Rance)
Trumpet by Jackie Kay ‘…subtle and humane novel…’ (Helena Smith)
A Visitation of Spirits by Randall Kenan
‘…composed and impressive debut…’ (Adam Baron)
Original Bliss by A L Kennedy
‘…what began as an utterly implausible conjunction becomes a healing, revivifying union…’ (James Diedrick)
Undiscovered Country by Christina Koning
‘…seems less like a novel than an overlong exercise in creative writing.” (Polly Rance)
Intimacy by Hanif Kureishi
‘…an appallingly honest and almost anatomical dissection of “the modern relationship”…’ (Polly Rance)
A Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester
‘…part thriller, part culinary guide…’ (Sara Rance)
Renegades by Robert Leuci
‘…low-down, dirty tale of bad guys and worse cops…’ (Jon Mitchell)
The Hunter by Julia Leigh
“…a mesmerizing tale of survival set in the wilds of Tasmania…” (David Remy)
No Pockets in a Shroud by Horace McCoy
‘…his books stand the test of time and remain as fresh as ever…’ (Jon Mitchell)
The Giant’s House by Elizabeth McCracken
‘…a quirky one from a writer to watch…’ (Sara Rance)
Four in the Morning by Nick McDowell
‘…a dynamic, provocative and deeply enjoyable book.” (Jessica Woollard)
The Orchard on Fire by Shena Mackay
‘…a glorious, heady plunge into childhood…’ (Helena Mary Smith)
Grace Notes by Bernard MacLaverty
‘…’Prozac-lit’ rarely comes as uplifting …’ (Graham Dickson)
Marked for Life by Paul Magrs
‘…a take on the human condition via the excretory fluids…’ (Tara Howard)
The Age of Wire and String by Ben Marcus
‘…Ben Marcus has fashioned a style with which to write about the unthinkable…’ (Jerry Bass)
The Evening of The World: A Romance of The Dark Ages by Allan Massie
‘…an imaginative premise utterly deflated by Massie’s style…’ (Gregor Milne)
Lovesick by Angela Mastretta
‘…Gabriel Garcia Marquez meets Gone With the Wind…’ (Helena Mary Smith)
Personal Velocity by Rebecca Miller
‘…Miller has a poet’s ability to always choose exactly the right word or phrase…’ (Michael Redman)
The Restraint of Beasts by Magnus Mills
‘…Mills has some classy tricks up his sleeve which he produces with immaculate comic timing …’ (Victoria Williams)
Demonology by Rick Moody
“…love of words and imagery beats at the heart of every story, and makes the most prosaic scene spill over with stunning meaning and portent…” (Drew Cherry)
In the Cut by Susanna Moore
‘…a Martin Scorcese project starring Joe Mantegna … given to Jane Campion to interpret…’ (Peter Rodgers)
The Procedure by Harry Mulisch
‘…combines a profoundly emotional story with some dry, cunning intellectual enquiry…'(Josh Lacey)
Life Class by Jenny Newman
‘…the story skips along in a lively, if utterly undemanding, fashion…’ (Helena Mary Smith)
Son to the Father by Tony Peake
‘…complex inner journey towards a sense of self-identity…’ (Julian MacMillan)
The Law of Enclosures by Dale Peck
‘…art imposes order, even if only to reveal an essential disarray…’ (Sara Rance)
The Big Blowdown by George P. Pelecanos
‘…If you like James Ellroy and Ed Bunker you have to read The Big Blowdown…’ (Jason Starr)
RL’s Dream by Walter Mosley
‘…If the blues can be put down onto paper then this is it…’ (Jon Mitchell)
Mindgame by Yang-May Ooi
‘…an entertaining story with reflections on how and why we live…’ (James Wood)
An Image To Die For by Mike Phillips
‘…classic, gutsy crime thriller peppered with cultural insight, a touch of humour and a gritty measure of urban realism…’ (Jon Mitchell)
The Brentford Chainstore Massacre by Robert Rankin
‘…a wonderful read, proving that the Brentford magic is still there…’ (Toby Bryans)
Playing for Thrills by Wang Shuo
‘…great plot, witty narrator, sometimes hilarious dialogue …’ (Jon Haynes)
At Paradise Gate by Jane Smiley
‘…a poignant chronicle of the final twenty-four hours of a fifty-two year marriage…’ (Polly Rance)
Hotel World by Ali Smith
“…Smith revels in exploring the stylistic boundaries the novel-form offers her…” (Adam Vaughan)
The Sky Changes by Gilbert Sorrentino
‘…an America filled with apathy and lost dreams, cheap souvenirs and “monotonous, straight” superhighways…’ (Scott Adlerberg)
Coconuts for the Saints by Debra Spark
‘…the staple ingredients of the South American magical realist novel…’ (Sara Rance)
Several Deceptions by Jane Stevenson
‘…a sparkling debut that promises greater achievements in future…’ (Robert Whitehouse)
The Bear & his Daughter by Robert Stone
‘…Stone is a writer who has undergone a complete irony bypass…’ (Polly Rance)
The Informer by Akimitsu Takagi
‘…a fun, vigorous read by a true crime maste…’ (Jason Starr)
The Collected Stories by Paul Theroux
‘…a voice that is enormously attractive, both honest and understated…’ (Jessica Woollard)
The Book Of Revelation by Rupert Thompson
‘…To be honest I don’t think this is Thomson’s magnum opus…’ (Amanda Jeremin Harris)
The Devil’s Carousel by Jeff Torrington
‘…’A grand in the hand’s better than two feet in the picket line.’…’ (Helena Mary Smith)
Richard Dadd in Bedlam and Other Stories by Alan Wall ‘…it is impossible to deny the existence of a formidable skill at work…’ (Robert Whitehouse)
The Sopranos by Alan Warner
‘…Alan Warner has written the definitive Girl Power novel for the ‘Nineties…’ (Polly Rance)
Wicked Women by Fay Weldon
‘…a stunning collection of short stories…’ (Lucy Boardman)

Non-Fiction

Hall Caine by Vivien Allen
‘…prompts some questions about reputation and literary history, but unfortunately does little to answer them…’ (Ben Hawes)
The Last Bedu by Michael Asher
‘…wherever Asher poses his question, fights ensue, Kalashnikovs bristle…’ (Helena Mary Smith)
The Size of Thoughts by Nicholson Baker
‘…fresh and joyous approach to terms such as chicken-fucker, banana nose and cunt-struck…’ (Tara Howard)
How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom
‘…the relationship of literary criticism to its object is one of perpetual failure to grasp the truth of its object…’ (Brian Dillon)
On Grief and Reason: Essays by Joseph Brodsky
‘…like reading the bon mots of a provincial school master in the fifties…’ (Laura McNeill)
Bronson by Charles Bronson
‘…an intimidating thug with doubtful sanity…’ (Chris Wood)
With Chatwin by Susannah Clapp
‘…a book of, and about, good taste…’ (Helena Mary Smith)
The Theory Of Inspiration by Timothy Clark
‘…every literary theorist these days also mysteriously doubles as a qualified psychoanalyst, despite having forgone the training…’ (Amanda Jeremin Harris)
Yes We Have No by Nik Cohn
‘…an extraordinary gallery of contemporary character and experience…’ (Robert Whitehouse)
Yes We Have No by Nik Cohn
‘…a book about invisible people brought to life by a unique writer…’ (Graham Dickson)
Altered State by Matthew Collin
‘…a very happy 10th birthday for Ecstasy culture…’ (Pippa Wright)
The Jew of Linz by Kimberley Cornish
‘…unconvincing, sometimes even unintelligible…’ (Andrew Harrison)
The Age of Kali by William Dalrymple ‘…offers a compassionate view of a nation struggling against forces both modern and ancient…’ (David Remy)
alt.culture by Steven Daly and Nathaniel Wice
‘…coffee-table book for hip young things…’ (Steven Kelly)
Auden by Richard Davenport-Hines ‘…he picked and ate his snot in front of others…’ (Jerry Bass)
Auden by Richard Davenport-Hines
‘…the development of a genius…’ (Lucy Boardman)
Microcosm by Norman Davies and Roger Moorhouse
‘…an impressive and timely history of one of the continent’s great cities…'(C.J. Schüler)
Name in the Window by Margaret Demorest
‘…no substitute for a properly reasoned and judiciously presented argument using all the evidence concerned [with Shakespeare authorship].” (Adam Rounce)
Kant And The Platypus by Umberto Eco
‘…humorous but imprecise illustration tends to cloud Eco’s meaning, rather than clarify it…’ (Amanda Jeremin Harris)
Blood Rites by Barbara Ehrenreich
‘…convincingly questions the testosterone-led theory of war…’ (Cath Walsh)
Exquisite Mayhem by Theo Ehret
‘…the crucial, and perhaps only, link to the extravagant, inexplicable, histrionic, and downright reptilian world of predominantly female flesh that was…Apartment Wrestling…’ (Kim Hjelmgaard)
The American Century by Harold Evans
‘…worth buying – if only for the pictures…’ (Jennifer Merk)
Swimming the Channel by Sally Friedman
‘…despite the title, Sally never actually makes the attempt…’ (Rupert Sater)
Catullus in English edited by Julia Haig Gaisser
‘…After centuries of neglect, Catullus’ fame has burnt a slow fuse from the Fourteenth Century to the present day…’ (Gregor Milne)
Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
‘…the only way out of the cultural impasse the West finds itself at…’ (Jennifer Merk)
Time Travel In Einstein’s Universe by J Richard Gott
‘…The perception that non-scientific readers need primary-level ‘visual aids’ is as ‘charitably’ patronising as our current education system — science made understandable, should not mean science-lite…’ (Gregor Milne)
Sex, Stupidity and Greed by Ian Grey
‘…a broad, uneven swipe at Hollywood…’ (Mark Walsh)
Byron’s Corbeau Blanc Ed. Jonathan David Gross
‘…provides us for the first time with the full transcripts of the letters of Elizabeth, Lady Melbourne…’ (Polly Rance)
Digital Business by Ray Hammond
‘…well-worth chucking at your boss if he or she hasn’t quite got things yet…’ (Steven Kelly)
Pulp Culture by Woody Haut
‘…good compendium guide to the seminal crime novels…’ (Russell Celyn Jones)
Willeford by Don Herron
‘…a bumpy, occassionally insightful, and often hilarious trip down memory lane…’ (Jason Starr)
Divining Desire by James W. Hood
“…a book which pushes the boundaries of interpretation back…” (Amanda Jeremin Harris)
The Music in My Head by Mark Hudson
‘…There is no economy in this style – none. ‘Yeah, but this is Africa, man…’ (Michael Bradshaw)
Tongue First by Emily Jenkins
‘…blithe adolescentisms just don’t do justice to the intellectual energy of the adult interpretations…’ (Amanda Jeremin Harris)
The Liar’s Club by Mary Karr
‘…from that American tradition of fine memoirs of awful yet fondly remembered childhoods…’ (Andrew Wille)
In God’s Country by Douglas Kennedy
‘…first-hand insight into the religious culture of the Bible Belt…’ (Simon Peters)
Shakespeare’s Language by Frank Kermode
“…Kermode could not have written this book at a better time. It has all the trained sophistication of the lifelong specialist…’ (Gregor Milne)
Selected Writings 1974-1999 by Richard Mabey
‘…considers the difference between landscape and country…’ (Graham Dickson)
War of Words by Elizabeth Mapstone
‘…psychology self-help book that doesn’t compromise on academic integrity…’ (Cath Walsh)
Dante Gabriel Rossetti: Painter and Poet by Jan Marsh
‘…the definitive source book on Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his work…’ (Vivien Allen)
Travels in the Shining Island by Roger Burford Mason
‘…the inventor of a written language for the Cree people…’ (Helena Mary Smith)
Who Wrote Shakespeare? by John Michell
‘…witty, concise, elegantly written and brilliantly constructed…’ (Polly Rance)
School for Women by Jane Miller
‘…in depth exploration of the role of women in education…’ (Polly Rance)
Keats by Andrew Motion
‘…gives new life and energy to a figure that has too long been fossilised” (Polly Rance)
I’m a Man: Sex, Gods and Rock’n’Roll by Ruth Padel
‘…cut-price Calasso-isms and a shockingly banal retelling of the history of the music…’ (Brian Dillon)
The Origin of Satan by Elaine Pagels
‘…attempt to understand the identity of evil…’ (Francesco Spagnolo)
The American Revolution: A People’s History by Ray Raphael
‘…This is bad history — too personal, much too enthusiastic about the fact that common people played a real, definable, and documented role in a war for once…’ (Gregor Milne)
Rimbaud by Graham Robb
‘…Robb is that marvellous creature, the entertaining pedant…'(Gregor Milne)
dreams and drama: Psychoanalytic Criticism, Creativity And The Artist by Alan Roland
“…Roland’s understanding of the nature of metaphor in dreams is much more contextualised than is the conservative norm….” (Amanda Jeremin Harris)
Tunnel Visions: Journeys of an Underground Philosopher by Christopher Ross
‘…Ross’s lessons of tolerance would be well heeded by many of us as we rush around the Underground…’ (Adam Vaughan)
Mandy by Paul Routledge ‘…full of fear, suspicion, sensation and conspiracy theories…’ (Polly Rance)
Time Travel by Jon Savage
‘…a passable pillow for the beach…’ (Peter Rodgers)
Painted Shadow: A Life Of Vivienne Eliot by Carole Seymour-Jones
‘…The reader who is not an Eliot scholar will be left with the impression that Vivenne Eliot was a poor thing who took a good photograph…’ (Amanda Jeremin Harris)
Bruce Chatwin by Nicholas Shakespeare
‘…the book that disposes of much of the nonsense that crystallized into the posthumous Chatwin mystique…’ (Robert Whitehouse)
Unfinest Hour: Britain and the destruction of Bosnia by Brendan Simms
“…designed to bring to light the mistakes of perception and understanding perpetrated not only by the British policy elite but also the popular press…” (Michael Redman)
Lights Out for the Territory by Iain Sinclair
‘…an intense and multi-layered contribution to the psycho-geography of the capital…’ (Dan Smith)
Creative Britain by Chris Smith
‘…more spin than my tumble drier…’ (Rachel O’Riordan )
Lost in Music by Giles Smith
‘…a wide-eyed, anecdote-laden eulogy to pop…’ (Francesco Spagnolo)
The Devil by Peter Stanford
‘…the horned one as he rears his ubiquitous head…’ (Francesco Spagnolo)
The Queen of Whale Cay by Kate Summerscale
‘…Privileged, daring and extraordinary, she was the fastest women on water…’ (Jessica Woollard)
Netherworld by Robert Temple
(Ben Hawes) ‘The next time someone asks your star sign, talk to them about lumps on the organs of cattle, or cracks in old tortoise carapaces…’
Below the Parapet by Carol Thatcher
‘…account of a rather splendid dad…’ (Tara Howard)
Secrets Of The Flesh, A Life Of Colette by Judith Thurman
‘…an elaborately constructed portrait of a famously elusive personality…’ (Amanda Jeremin Harris)
No Go the Bogeyman by Marina Warner ‘…an ambitious project, and one that Warner achieves with consummate skill…’ (Rachel O’Riordan)
The Habsburgs by Andrew Wheatcroft
‘…the definitive analysis of the machinery of their rule and the ethos which informed it…’ (Jennifer Merk)
Freelancing by Hugo Williams
‘…the tiny, unmentionable things that happen to all of us…’ (Sara Rance)
The Smallest of All Persons Mentioned in the Records of Littleness by Gaby Wood
‘…the girl whose 19″ height, ‘strange unearthly voice’ and automata-like manner exerted a strange fascination over her male visitors…’ (Graham Dickson)

Poetry