Very occasionally my reading group makes a book-scheduling boo-boo, and it happened this year when we chose Irish writer Claire Keegan’s So late in the day: Stories of women and men for our May read. This book, which comprises three of Keegan’s short stories, “So late in the day”, “The long and and painful death”, and … Continue reading Claire Keegan, Small things like these (#BookReview)
Reading group book
Maxine Beneba Clarke, Beautiful changelings (#BookReview)
Maxine Beneba Clarke's latest book, Beautiful changelings, is the first poetry collection scheduled by my reading group in our 38 years, and it went very well. I should clarify, lest you think we are poetry-avoiders, that we have read some verse novels and we've had a couple of poetry evenings where we've shared favourite poems, … Continue reading Maxine Beneba Clarke, Beautiful changelings (#BookReview)
Ann Patchett, Tom Lake (#BookReview)
I have not read Ann Patchett for a long time. In fact, I've only read one novel, Bel Canto, way before blogging, and one nonfiction piece, “The bookshop strikes back” (my review). So, when I saw all the love her latest novel, Tom Lake, was getting in 2023's end-of-year lists (including Kate's annual compilation), I … Continue reading Ann Patchett, Tom Lake (#BookReview)
Samantha Harvey, Orbital (#BookReview)
Samantha Harvey's Booker Prize-winning novella, Orbital, is one of those novels you want to keep by your side after you've finished it, hoping that its calm beauty and quiet provocations will stay with you just that little bit longer. And here, in this opening sentence, I am channelling the "you" voice that she slips into occasionally … Continue reading Samantha Harvey, Orbital (#BookReview)
Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Barton (#BookReview)
My reading group has a tradition of choosing a "big" book for our January read. We also like to do a classic each year. This year the two coincided when we chose Elizabeth Gaskell's first novel, Mary Barton, as our 2026 starting book. I have read several Gaskell novels and stories - plus Nell Stevens' … Continue reading Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Barton (#BookReview)
My reading group’s favourites for 2025
Once again, I am sharing my reading group's top picks for the year, because I think, like me, many of you enjoy hearing about other reading groups. I'll start by sharing what we read in the order we read them (with links on titles to my reviews): Andrew O’Hagan, Caledonian Road: novel, Scottish author Andra Putnis, Stories … Continue reading My reading group’s favourites for 2025
Colum McCann, Twist (#BookReview)
Colum McCann said during the conversation I attended back in May that books are never completed until they are in the hands of readers who tell back what a book is about. This is essentially reception theory, which, referencing Wikipedia, says that readers interpret the meaning of what they read based on their individual cultural … Continue reading Colum McCann, Twist (#BookReview)
Brian Castro, Chinese postman (#BookReview)
Serendipity is a lovely word, and is even lovelier when it touches my reading. Such was the case with my last two books, Olga Tokarczuk's House of day, house of night (my review) and Brian Castro's Chinese postman. The connections between them are simple and complex. Both focus more on ideas than narrative, are disjointed … Continue reading Brian Castro, Chinese postman (#BookReview)
Louise Erdrich, The night watchman (#BookReview)
Louise Erdrich's Pulitzer Prizewinning The night watchman is historical fiction about a community fighting back against a government set on "terminating them". Erdrich, whom I have reviewed before, is an enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota and it is the story of this community's response to something called the … Continue reading Louise Erdrich, The night watchman (#BookReview)
Winnie Dunn, Dirt poor Islanders (#BookReview)
When my reading group chose our books for the second half of the year, the shortlist for the Miles Franklin Award had not yet been announced. However, wonderfully, the three books we chose from the longlist, all ended up on the shortlist. One of those was Winnie Dunn's debut novel, Dirt poor Islanders. It is … Continue reading Winnie Dunn, Dirt poor Islanders (#BookReview)
Whispering Gums 