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Summer reading list

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 18:29:00 +0100

Poor old blog, I’ll do it again in the autumn.

Also it feels quite cockish to say “Here, read this,” but I love book recommendations. So here, for anyone who vaguely shares my literary tastes, is what I’d Kindle to take on holiday, in no particular order.

1. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce, which is charming and uplifting but not saccharine, crucially, and which made my hardest friend cry twice on the train and once in the car.

2. The Wicked Girls, by Alex Marwood. Not charming at all - about two girls who killed another child when they were children themselves. They are now adult women with new identities and new lives and one day, by a terrible quirk of fate, they meet again. “Unputdownable” is overused, but it really applies here. NB: not cheery.

3. Amexica, by Ed Vulliamy, because I loved Breaking Bad, and then by extension I started reading up on Mexico and its drugs war, and then I got completely obsessed. Clear, gripping, and, terrifyingly, non-fiction. If you’d rather read about this in thriller form, see The Power of The Dog, by Don Winslow.

4. Capital, by John Lanchester, because it’s genius and because it’s the closest we’ll get to The Big London Novel.

5. Swimming Studies, by Leanne Shapton. Shapton is brilliant and polymathic - she’s a fantastic artist (*and* she did the jacket for my last novel) and also wrote a small masterpiece with a very long title, which took the form of an auction catalogue (buy that too; it’s amazing, but it won’t work on a Kindle - you need the physical book). She just writes beautifully, in this instance “about” her swimming-champion past, except it’s about everything.

6. The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller, which I blogged about aaaaaages ago and which gratifyingly went on the win the Orange Prize. You may think you don’t especially want to read about Greek mythology, but you’d be wrong. Aside from anything else, beautiful love story.

7. State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett. This also deserved to win the Orange. It is deeply, deeply weird as well as GREAT, and will stay in your head for ages after you finish reading. It’s about a doctor turned Big Pharma researcher who heads off into the jungle to find out about a new fertility drug and the people who discovered it. It would take me two paragraphs to explain it properly, and it would sound really mad - just read it. Poisonwood Bible sort of vibe - you feel a bit suffocated as you turn the pages- but very much its own peculiar-genius thing.

8. Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn. Both a brilliant thriller and a brilliant description of the breakdown of a marriage and of the games men and (the nuttier) women play, brilliantly written. Up til 3am job.

9. I read this last summer, but if you haven’t found your way to A Visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, then, God, HURRY UP AND READ IT.

Dunno how fast you read but that should do for now. I’m also taking Where’d You Go, Bernadette, which I haven’t yet read but which everyone whose taste I trust is raving about; Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel (although tbh I doubt I’ll ever love anything, not even Wolf Hall, as much as I loved A Place of Greater Safety, which actually I might have to re-read); and I’m going to be the last woman in the world to read Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, who is the Bernard Levin of “romantic fiction”. Oh, and Tigers In Red Weather by Liza Klaussman, which is another one everyone’s raving about. And Cold Hands by John J Niven - his first thriller - because I love everything he writes.

Very subjective list, obv, and I’ve hardly read any fiction that’s not a thriller this year, due to writing my own book and not wanting to feel accidentally “inspired”, but if you’re wandering about Waterstones feeling overwhelmed, I hope this helps.

Nan-hats reinvented in lace or leopard print. Six quid from...

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:56:58 +0000

Nan-hats reinvented in lace or leopard print. Six quid from Bubble Betty, here. Found via here.

You know how sometimes you invite people to stay and they stay...

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:09:17 +0000

You know how sometimes you invite people to stay and they stay for slightly too long? These might help. $50, from here. Found via The Daily Muse.

Fantastic historical mugs from Cole of London - portait on the...

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:27:00 +0000

Fantastic historical mugs from Cole of London - portait on the front, relevant dates on the back. Bone china, hand-decorated in Stoke on Trent. There’s also a Writers series, and a London one. Last order date, December 19.

And a Christmas jumper from TopShop, £50. Also comes in Penguin...

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:16:00 +0000

And a Christmas jumper from TopShop, £50. Also comes in Penguin and Snowman. However, it’s acrylic. If you want the proper, old-school wool Christmas jumper, take a look here. I’m also eyeing up the Mulberry pear jumper.

Or you could buy someone one of Paul Ferney’s Little Paris...

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:58:00 +0000

Or you could buy someone one of Paul Ferney’s Little Paris Paintings and two Eurostar tickets. NB Last date for orders for Christmas is tomorrow, December 14. Found via Bright Bazaar.

And a Christmas tree for book-lovers, via My Modern Met.

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:50:34 +0000

And a Christmas tree for book-lovers, via My Modern Met.

For babies 0-9 months: lobster hat and mittens from Luna and...

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:44:15 +0000

For babies 0-9 months: lobster hat and mittens from Luna and Curious. Not cheap, mind. But: LOBSTER.

… and a present for the Steve Jobs fans. All proceeds to...

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:33:15 +0000

… and a present for the Steve Jobs fans. All proceeds to charity. Via Swiss Miss.

Present for smallish boys: Hot Wheels Wall Tracks, from Amazon...

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:23:24 +0000

Present for smallish boys: Hot Wheels Wall Tracks, from Amazon among others. Pic nicked from A Cup of Jo.

Nice alternative to Christmas stockings. From here.

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:37:24 +0000

Nice alternative to Christmas stockings. From here.

Mr Men books reviewed on Amazon

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:49:51 +0000

Mr Men books reviewed on Amazon

Marcel The Shell With Shoes On, part 2. Part one is here.

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:49:58 +0000

Marcel The Shell With Shoes On, part 2. Part one is here.

Baroness Trumpington of Sandwich, 89, in the House of Lords last...

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:25:38 +0000

Baroness Trumpington of Sandwich, 89, in the House of Lords last Thursday. She’s quite something.

My novel Comfort And Joy is out in paperback today, looking like...

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:41:00 +0000

My novel Comfort And Joy is out in paperback today, looking like a Tunnock’s Teacake. It’s about family Christmases, so it’s timely. *sladeface*

My house is in the December issue of Red magazine, out today.

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:18:11 +0000

My house is in the December issue of Red magazine, out today.

The most beautiful eulogy for Steve Jobs, by his sister

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 22:47:36 +0000

The most beautiful eulogy for Steve Jobs, by his sister

Am indebted to @mrchrisaddison for raving about this on Twitter....

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 22:59:54 +0100

Am indebted to @mrchrisaddison for raving about this on Twitter. It’s Vous Les Femmes, a French sketch show, written and performed by Olivia Côte and Judith Siboni, it’s hysterically funny and it’s currently being shown on BBC2, where it is called Women. Episode 1 fas fallen off iPlayer but episode 2 is here.

Marlene Dietrich and Edith Piaf, from Awesome People Hanging Out...

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:56:00 +0100

Marlene Dietrich and Edith Piaf, from Awesome People Hanging Out Together (via The Karachi Kid).

Annual outing of the Mummy Dogs. (See also the less cute Severed...

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:54:00 +0100

Annual outing of the Mummy Dogs. (See also the less cute Severed Fingers - thanks Trish).