My Best Books for 2023

Posted by Kate W in Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with 2023, book list, Daniel James Brown, Gabrielle Zevin, Georgi Gospodinov, Isobel Beech, Katherine Heiny, Lionel Shriver, Maggie MacKellar, Maggie O'Farrell, Monica Heisey, Phoebe Walker, R. F. Kuang, Robbie Arnott, Sarah Holland-Batt, Sloane Crosley December 31, 2023

I did away with ‘top tens’ a few years ago, and instead I finish the reading year with a recap of the books that are still speaking to me (less about four and five-star ratings, more about what has stuck). Continue reading →

The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O’Farrell

Posted by Kate W in Fiction and tagged with 2023, book review, Costa Book Award, fiction, historical, Irish, Maggie O'Farrell, review July 17, 2023

Let your eyes drop to my score for Maggie O’Farrell’s Costa Book Award-winning-novel, The Hand That First Held Mine, and freak out. Because nearly everyone I know loved it. And when I finished both of her completely immersive historical novels earlier this year (here and here), I expected I would also love it. But I didn’t and I’ll (very briefly) tell you why. Continue reading →

20 Books of Summer (except that it’s Winter)

Posted by Kate W in Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with 2023, Adam Kay, Anna Funder, Anna LeBaron, Anna Wiener, Charmaine Craig, Claire Keegan, David Malouf, Doreen Cunningham, Emma Mitchell, Gabrielle Moss, Georgi Gospodinov, Hanya Yanagihara, Jen Beagin, Jente Posthuma, John Boyne, Maggie O'Farrell, memoir, Pamela Paul, Phoebe Walker, Sarah Gilmartin, Sarah Krasnostein, Sloane Crosley May 26, 2023

Cathy at 746 Books is hosting the 20 Books of Summer reading challenge again this year. As Cathy explains, it’s the most relaxed reading challenge you’ll participate in (swap books out, change your target, do whatever). The challenge is straightforward – read twenty books between June 1st and September 1st. Continue reading →

Reading Ireland Month – four reviews

Posted by Kate W in Fiction, Non-fiction and tagged with 2023, Alice Kinsella, book review, fiction, grief-lit, historical, Irish, Louise Kennedy, Maggie O'Farrell, memoir, reading challenge, review, Roddy Doyle April 3, 2023

Argh! I’ve officially missed the deadline for logging reviews for Reading Ireland Month, so I’ll keep it brief: Continue reading →

Things That Are Making Me Happy This Week

Posted by Kate W in Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with 2023, author talk, Barbara Kingsolver, cooking, COVID-19, Elizabeth McKenzie, film, gin, grief-lit, Jennifer Croft, longlist, Louise Kennedy, Maggie O'Farrell, movie, Nagi Maehashi, Sloane Crosley, Sophie Mackintosh, Women's Prize for Fiction March 12, 2023

01. Best night at the Wheeler Centre seeing Sloane Crosley. She talked about writing both fiction and nonfiction, noting that “In complimenting fiction, people say ‘It’s so believable, so realistic’ but in complimenting memoir they say ‘It’s unbelievable!’”. Plus I was thrilled to hear that there’s a movie script for Cult Classic underway, and that her new work of narrative nonfiction focuses on grief (Grief is for People, out next year). Continue reading →

Reading Ireland Month 2023

Posted by Kate W in Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with 2023, Anne Enright, Colm Toibin, Eimear McBride, Irish, John Boyne, Lisa McGee, Maggie O'Farrell, reading challenge, Roddy Doyle, Sarah Gilmartin February 26, 2023

It’s fast approaching March which in the bookish world, is Reading Ireland Month. Cathy at 746 Books has set a theme for each week (to be used as a prompt if needed). My theme is ‘attack the TBR stack’. Continue reading →

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

Posted by Kate W in Fiction and tagged with 2023, book review, fiction, historical, Maggie O'Farrell, review January 24, 2023

There’s usually lots that peeves me about historical fiction (actually, I covered the majority of it here). But when historical fiction is done well, it can be absolutely captivating, and I frequently find myself more engrossed in these stories than if I were reading something contemporary, perhaps because I become absorbed in the imagined time and place. And that certainly applies to Maggie O’Farrell’s latest novel, The Marriage Portrait. Continue reading →

The Top 54 from the Best Books of 2022 List of Lists

Posted by Kate W in Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with 2022, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Akwaeke Emezi, Amy Bloom, Barbara Kingsolver, Bonnie Garmus, book list, Celeste Ng, Charmaine Wilkerson, Cormac McCarthy, Douglas Stuart, Ed Yong, Elif Batuman, Elizabeth McCracken, Elizabeth Strout, Emily Henry, Emily St. John Mandel, Gabrielle Zevin, George Saunders, Hanya Yanagihara, Hernan Diaz, Hua Hsu, Ian McEwan, Ingrid Contreras, Jennette McCurdy, jennifer egan, Jessamine Chan, Joanna Quinn, Jonathan Escoffery, Julia May Jonas, Julie Otsuka, Kate Atkinson, Kate Beaton, Kathryn Schulz, Kevin Wilson, Leila Mottley, Lydia Millet, Maggie O'Farrell, Margo Jefferson, Meghan O’Rourke, Morgan Talty, Moshin Hamid, Namwali Serpell, NoViolet Bulawayo, Ocean Vuong, Olga Tokarczuk, R. F. Kuang, Rachel Aviv, Rob Delaney, Sarah Thankam Mathews, Shehan Karunatilaka, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Stacy Schiff, Tess Gunty, Xochitl Gonzalez, Yiyun Li December 22, 2022

Presenting the 2022 Commonly-Agreed-by-the-People-Who-Publish-Best-of-2022-Book-Lists-Before-December-31 top 54 books.

(This is my annual community service to book-bloggers – a list of the books that appear most frequently on the 52 lists that I listed on Best Books of 2022 – A List of Lists – enjoy!). Continue reading →

A Year of Sample Saturdays – 2022 Edition

Posted by Kate W in Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with 2022, Antoine Wilson, Christine Smallwood, Ellis Gunn, Emmanuel Carrère, Heather Lende, historical, Katherine Heiny, Kirsty Bell, Liza Klaussmann, Maggie O'Farrell, Marijke Schermer, Meena Kandasamy, memoir, Merve Emre, Rob Delaney, Sample Saturday, Tish Delaney, translated, Violaine Huisman December 17, 2022

I’ve read 78 Kindle samples this year – I reckon that downloading sample chapters is more prudent than impulse buying books that don’t quite pan out after the first few chapters. Continue reading →

Sample Saturday – war, Florence, and an airport

Posted by Kate W in Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with Antoine Wilson, Biff Ward, historical, Maggie O'Farrell, memoir, Sample Saturday December 10, 2022

Sample Saturday is when I wade through the eleventy billion samples I have downloaded on my Kindle. I’m slowly chipping away and deciding whether it’s buy or bye. Continue reading →