Nikita Lalwani: Gifted
After the announcement of the Booker longlist, Gifted by Nikita Lalwani was the first of the thirteen that I picked up in my eagerness to find out what the chosen…
Anne Enright: The Gathering
Although it’s a stereotype, sometimes it seems all an Irish writer has to do is take a populous family, spice it up with alcoholism, suicide, some sexual abuse, and then…
Mohsin Hamid: The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Given the brouhaha regarding the length of Ian McEwan’s On Chesil Beach (is it a novel? is it not?) Mohsin Hamid’s second novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, seems to have escaped…
A.N. Wilson: Winnie And Wolf
The good thing about wanting to read all Booker nominees is that it introduces you to new authors who you may never have thought to read, and A.N. Wilson definitely…
Ian McEwan: On Chesil Beach
While most of the Booker debate regarding Ian McEwan’s On Chesil Beach seems to be about its length and whether it qualifies as a novel, I say it doesn’t actually…
Indra Sinha: Animal’s People
Novels from India are something that seem to make their way to my shelves but never get read (a few examples being Arundhati Roy’s The God Of Small Things, Vikram…
Peter Ho Davies: The Welsh Girl
When it comes to fiction I tend to have a preference that excludes novels revolving around war. No real reason – it’s just a topic that has never interested me.…
Gilbert Adair: Buenas Noches Buenos Aires
That Gilbert Adair’s Buenas Noches Buenos Aires opens with an emphasis on how true the ensuing story is, the reader has every right to be suspicious. But, other than a…
Lloyd Jones: Mister Pip
Already having taken the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book, Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones now has its sights firmly set on the Man Booker Prize 2007, having been recently…
Julienne Van Loon: Road Story
Road Story by Julienne Van Loon is not a novel I would have ever picked up by free choice. I’d never even heard of it when it was given to…