My book week

To 23 April 2016

 

Well here we are another week is over and another exciting book filled week it has been. It started earlier in the week when the 2016 Pulitzer Prize winners were announced.

• Ozone Journal by Peter Balakian
• The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
• Custer’s Trials by T.J. Stiles
• Barbarian Days – A Surfing Life by William Finnegan
• Black Flags by Joby Warrick

 

 

One book that I have had my eye on for a while seemed to have crept under everyone’s radar since it was released that is the incredible The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Ngyen which looks like being another outstanding book for 2016 based on the fall of Saigon during the Vietnam War it is dark, fascinating and at times witty and ironic look at politics.

Having heard so much already about this book I am looking forward to getting into it and a review will follow in due course. I think it deserves to be read by a wider audience here in the UK.

Moving on to the book reviews for the week it started with the collection of short stories by Helen Oyeyemi called What is Not Yours is Not Yours nine amazing stories that have a connection with keys, lost libraries and locked gardens. My review Here

Then later in the week I reviewed Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, a memoir from a single minded and determined woman driven to become the best at what she does a botanical scientist. This for me was a memorable memoir from Jahren who now runs one of the best laboratories in the world studying plants and trees. When you read this you will look at trees and the natural world very differently. You can read my review  Here

It has been a fabulous week for books received for review. This is the collection that has arrived this week.

• The Birdwatcher by William Shaw. Published by Quercus Books
• The Huntingfield Paintress by Pamela Holmes. published by Urbane Publications.
• The Rwandan Hostage by Christopher Lowery. Published by Urbane Publications.
• Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld. Published by The Borough Press
• The Wolf Road by Beth Lewis. Published by The Borough Press
• The Evolution of Fear by Paul E. Hardisty. Published by Orenda Press
• The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
• Different Class by Joanne Harris. Published by Doubleday
• Macbeth (abbreviated) by John Crace & John Sutherland. Published by Doubleday
• Romeo and Juliet (abbreviated) by John Crace & John Sutherland. Published by Doubleday.
• Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave.

On my Kindle I have a review copy of The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney which is being published by The Borough Press on 19 May.

Also received this week is a collection of poems by Ana Maria Caballero called Mid-Life.

Coming up this coming week more book reviews including Rain by Melissa Harrison and there will also be an interview with Hallie Rubenhold and a review of her new historical novel which is out now called The French Lesson.

That’s it for this for this week, look out for more reviews and you can also keep up to date via my Twitter feed @thelastword1962