Prophet Song
Paul Lynch
What could be more festive than a dense and desperate (sort of) prose poem about a descent into a fascist dystopia in Ireland? There are easier reads but this is immersive and compelling, where – very much like the protagonists – it’s not always clear what’s happening beyond the end of the street but the distant gunfire and rumours are enough to keep you on edge. And in a country where ‘Stop the Boats’ has become a constant mantra, this shows how people end up in boats and how close those boats are for all of us.
Western Lane
Chetna Maroo
This tale of a family struggling to overcome the death of the mother (via the medium of squash!) split my book group in two. Half loved the clean, sparse prose and the need to fill in the book's many gaps and silences; the other half felt that the gaps were simply too big - there wasn't enough for the reader to get hold of. If you want to see which side of the fence you're on, then it's a very short novel, so there's nothing to lose. And it was on the Booker shortlist, so clearly stood out as something special to the judges.
Sea of Tranquility
Emily St. John Mandel
The author of Station Eleven takes a sidestep into different time streams with this novel and creates an overlapping series of lives and fates, across different centuries and locations, on earth and beyond.
Standard Deviation + Single, Carefree, Mellow
Katherine Heiny
I wanted to recommend Early Morning Riser but although it’s her most recent, I don’t think it’s Katherine Heiny’s best. Instead I’m recommending Standard Deviation, which is laugh out loud funny, perceptive and charming, and the short story collection Single, Carefree Mellow – similar but with a full range of suburban moments, warmly observed – and no one in it is single, carefree or mellow. It’s about relationships and comically about the domestic complications of adultery. It’s unexpectedly full of love.
Why Politics Fails: The Five Traps of the Modern World and How to Escape Them
Ben Ansell
Why Politics Fails is a more developed discussion of the landscape covered in this year’s Reith Lectures by Ben Ansell. He’s Professor of Comparative Democracies and what’s done so well in the book and in the lectures is reading across different jurisdictions to evidence the impact of policy elsewhere, teasing out how the UK is similar and different. There is a lot of up-to-date research here too which substantiates the arguments but is offered in a very readable way. Despite the title, the book is very optimistic!
Ariadne
Jennifer Saint
A compelling take on the Greek legend – if you enjoyed Circe and The Silence of the Girls, you’ll probably like this too. Jennifer Saint gives voice to the princesses of Crete Ariadne and Phaedra through an alternating narrative. It’s a bit slow to start, setting up the tyranny of King Minos and the story of Asterion, her minotaur brother. But hang on because it quickly becomes pretty gripping and has a satisfying ending!
The Fade Out
Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips and Elizabeth Breitweiser
This graphic novel draws on the visual and narrative style of film noir to paint a complex picture of Blacklist-era Hollywood, broken dreams and seedy studio shenanigans. It’s a great read and perfectly realised visually.
Bel Canto
Ann Patchett
I came to Bel Canto via Patchett’s The Dutch House, and it wasn’t quite what I expected! It’s engrossing and dramatic from the first page, set somewhere in South America and based on the Japanese embassy hostage crisis of 96-7. It follows the relationships between a group of young terrorists and their hostages – including a Vice President, a Japanese businessman, his translator and an opera singer! – over several months. Patchett is so good at world-building, with gorgeous language and compelling characters. I loved it.
Silver Sparrow
Tayari Jones
Its first sentence is ‘My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist’ and it’s the story of two 14-year-old African American half-sisters: Dana and Chaurisse. The narrative is shared equally – unlike their father – between the sisters, one who knows about the other and one who doesn’t. We know the two sisters will meet, but what really propels the narrative are the other a-ha reveals along the way. Plenty of melodrama and momentum.
The Land of Short Sentences (trans Hunter Simpson)
Stine Pilgaard
This funny and sad novel tells the story of the narrator, recently moved to a remote part of Denmark and her efforts to fit into (and sometimes not fit into) both the community and her new life as a mother.
Forbidden Notebook (trans Ann Goldstein)
Alba de Céspedes
Originally published in 1952, this novel tells the story of Valeria Cossati who having illicitly bought a notebook on a Sunday (such things being forbidden in post-war Italy) becomes obsessed with writing her life. As she does so (always terrified someone will find her notebook), she becomes increasingly discontented with her life, seemingly determined by her role as wife, mother and daughter.
Memorial 29 June (trans Misha Hoekstra)
Tine Høeg
An invitation to a memorial for a university friend upskittles Asta’s life, forcing her to revisit what really happened 10 years ago. This is a novel of very few words where, like poetry, the gaps and silences contribute to the meaning.
My Sister the Serial Killer
Oyinkan Braithwaite
I picked this one up from the school library after my Year 10s thoroughly enjoyed an extract in our lesson - it’s sharp, funny and weirdly horrifying. It left me wondering how far I would go to protect my siblings… A quick read, would certainly recommend!
I’m a Fan
Sheena Patel
This is a modern and challenging novel, told in short punchy chapters with terrific titles like ‘i might look innocent but i screenshot a lot’ and ‘unbothered moisturised happy in my lane focused flourishing’. We’re inside the mind of a young woman who’s obsessed with a woman who ‘the man I want to be with’ is in love with (not his wife). It’s not a comfortable place to be; she’s at once formidable and staggeringly intelligent and utterly beholden to this man who’s a total dick. But she’s so appealing in her blunt honesty, and the prose is hugely entertaining whether she’s describing appalling lifestyle Instagram posts, unsatisfactory sex with her boyfriend (who she abuses in front of his parents) or dishing out devastating perspectives on race, identity and feminism. I read it in two days, it was intense and invigorating and I’m excited to see what Patel does next.
Septology
Jon Fosse
A septology entirely devoid of full-stops might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but this ‘slow-prose’ sequence set over the course of a week, with each novel covering a day, is an immersive joy. As a reader, you hardly notice the voice of the narrator, Asle, bleeding into a narrative about his doppelgänger, also called Asle. It sounds slightly preposterous, but it’s hypnotic, compelling stuff. If you’re slightly wary of giving it a go, you can buy the first two novels in a separate edition and take it from there. Fosse, a playwright as well as a novelist, won the 2023 Nobel Prize for Literature.
The Fraud
Zadie Smith
As with Smith’s other novels, this is a funny, linguistically rich exploration of identity and belonging, set in and around North West London. There’s one major difference, though, namely that it’s historical fiction. Centred largely around the celebrated Tichborne Conspiracy of the 1860s and 1870s, it focuses on issues of class and race, with an added bonus for English teachers, in that it features a number of real-life novelists, including none other than Charles Dickens.
David Copperfield
Charles Dickens
Whenever I meet someone who’s never seen a great box set like The Sopranos or The Wire, I am overcome with excitement and jealousy for the hours and hours of incredible storytelling they have ahead. If you’ve never read David Copperfield you’re in for similar delights. Sure, it’s long and sure, it’s that pre-1914 prose we might all be sick of but this is a wonderful book. So funny, so cleverly-observed, such astonishingly well-drawn characters! I’ve had one foot in David’s life story for the last couple of months and it has been an absolute treat.
(I recommend the Macmillan Collectors library edition – my compact hardback with gilt-edged pages has been the envy of the EMC office.)
The Thursday Murder Club, The Man Who Died Twice, The Bullet that Missed and The Last Devil to Die
Richard Osman
If you haven’t read of any of Osman’s crime series, there’s a high chance you’re put off by the idea of ‘celebrities’ writing novels. Leave your snobbery in 2023! Osman is no Walliams. To create a successful TV show format you need to be a skilled storyteller so it’s no surprise that Richard 'Pointless' Osman’s clever, twisty murder-mysteries are selling in the millions. He writes beautiful relationships between characters from all walks of life and sketches them with such warmth, generosity and wit. I was moved, entertained and so surprised at how good these books are that I’ve been evangelising ever since I read the first.
The fourth in the series, The Last Devil to Die, is available now.
A Portable Paradise
Roger Robinson
I bought this collection after listening to Roger in conversation with Raymond Antrobus at the EMC's Big Poetry Day - I'd come across the poem that gives the collection its title a couple of years ago and used it as unseen practice with my Year 11s. Since AQA released the 'Worlds and Lives' anthology, and we worked on some accompanying resources, I've read it many more times. But it really made sense to me when I read it in context as the final poem of the full collection. Across the collection there's wide variety in subject matter and form but common ideas keep resurfacing - family, injustice, Paradise, violence - and by the time you get to the final poem you can hear the other poems echoing through it.
Sarn Helen: a journey through Wales past, present and future
Tom Bullough
Helen’s causeway is the old Roman road that runs from the bottom to the top of Wales. Bullough chronicles his travels from the South to the North, along the way providing close observations of the contemporary and historical landscapes he passes through. Difficult to categorise, this beautifully written and captivating book explores geography, history, identity, the climate emergency and much more.
The Member of the Wedding
Carson McCullers
I’ve read this before but recently came back to it (as I often do with Carson McCullers’ work). The complex feelings and experiences of adolescence, the setting in the deep South and subtle, complex exploration of race, prejudice, rooted in a strong understanding of the environment and its people, make this a richly rewarding read. The depiction of adolescent Frankie and her relationship with Berenice, the African-American cook she’s known for most of her life, is very moving.
Flamingo
Kathryn Bevis
This pamphlet came with a high recommendation from a poet friend and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s a sparklingly inventive collection, with surprising metaphors and wonderful uses of language, exploring powerful feelings and experiences. The poem about teaching will undoubtedly resonate especially strongly with English teachers!
Children's and YA Fiction
Steady for This
Nathaneal Lessore
This is a genuinely laugh-out-loud YA novel set around the life of Shaun, aka MC Growls. Shaun is a regular kid living on a tough estate in South London. Life often deals him a tough hand, but he always comes through with humour and determination. But how will he cope after he accidentally livestreams his mum holding up a pair of his skiddy pants for all the world to see? The answer is, in the way he knows best: by drawing on his own unique brand of freestyle rap.
Crossing the Line
Tia Fisher
Erik’s behaviour spirals out of control after the death of his father, until he finds himself at the mercy of ruthless drug dealers. A hard-hitting verse novel for older YA readers that really showcases the possibilities of this popular, innovative form.
Wild Song
Candy Gourlay
Brilliant novel based on the real life story of people from the Philippines travelling to the 1904 World Fair in St Louis, USA, where they found themselves put on display so that visitors could gaze at the ‘natives’. The story is told through the character of Luki, who some readers will remember from Gourlay’s previous novel, Bone Talk.
Impossible Creatures
Katherine Rundell
A novel that takes the reader into a parallel world, very much in the style of Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights Trilogy, but in the humble opinion of this reviewer, Rundell does it better. Christopher Forrester finds himself in the Archipelago, a hidden cluster of islands containing animals from well-known myths (unicorns, griffins, krakens, sphinx, mermaids, manticores and many more). But a mysterious force is putting the animals at risk of extinction. Christopher links up with Mal, a girl from the Archipelago, and together they battle to save the animals. Pretty much the perfect children’s novel.
Children of the Stone City
Beverley Naidoo
A tale of life lived in a segregated community, with echoes of real-life situations that people in some parts of the world live in today. (Naidoo was inspired to write the book after spending time in Palestine.) In this society, people are separated into Perms and Nons. Adam, gifted musician, must fight for his freedom when he is wrongfully imprisoned for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Away With Words
Sophie Cameron
A book about words that will appeal to younger secondary readers and might provide support for students for whom English is their second language. Gala finds herself struggling to understand what is being said in her school when she moves from Northern Spain to Northern Scotland. She has a peculiar gift, though; she can visualise words, even catch them as they float through the air. A heartwarming tale of relocation, friendship and language.
The Wolf Wilder
Katherine Rundell
This is a thrilling book for young readers. It has a wonderful, feisty heroine, a gripping storyline, a beautifully evoked setting in snowy, rural Russia and themes of resistance, resilience and determination in fighting, not only for your life, but also for the values you hold dear.
Audiobooks
The Woman In Me
Britney Spears
This is a short listen about Britney’s life in her own words, narrated by Michelle Williams. She covers her personal highs and lows following her freedom from conservatorship, but her story raises so many bigger issues. Times have changed, but not that much – the sexism and mental health struggles she describes are still important for her to have her say about, and important for us to listen to. As a kid of the 90s, it was a must-read (or listen) for me.
Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing
Matthew Perry
Perry is clear from the first sentence of his memoir: he should be dead. I started listening after his sad passing in October, so his confessional, super-personal account of his death-defying life feels a bit different now. Everyone knew about Perry’s struggles with addiction, but I didn’t expect his book to be quite so open and graphic with the details – a trigger warning is a given here. He chronicles his time on Friends, which fans will surely appreciate, but it’s his candid voice and his characteristic dark humour (he narrates the audiobook, so it’s particularly good) that I really enjoyed.
Charles Dickens: A Life
Claire Tomalin
I failed to get through this in print form, so thought I’d give it a go as an audiobook. It was perfect for listening to in shorter chunks and its chronology means you don’t get lost. And what a life! Despite Dickens being so well-known, there was still plenty to discover about the ins and outs of his childhood, his flaws and route to the heights of Victorian fame. Well worth a listen if you don’t mind the time investment.
