Becky Doherty - Bookseller in Saratoga Springs
Submitted by bdoherty@norths... on Sat, 11/09/2013 - 11:33am
"If I'm honest I have to tell you I still read fairy-tales, and I like them best of all."
- Audrey Hepburn
I adored this book! It is a tale of friendship and the healing qualities of nature, beauty and art.
We spend a gentle, honey hued summer with Calvert and Redbone, as they strive to create their crop circle masterpieces, in secret, under the light of the moon. Their goal is to create new myths, and draw people’s attention to the endangered countryside. It philosophizes along the way about war, trauma, class inequalities, poverty, and forming a life outside of the norm. It is written with great hope, compassion and a poetic style. Glorious! ~ Reviewed by Becky Chambers
Powerful, explorative, empathetic and full of compassion. Stuart does not disappoint with his latest novel. Set again in working class Glasgow, our protagonist is a young man, Mungo, who is trying to find himself as a gay man, amidst this overtly brutal masculine landscape of the time. Stuart deftly explores the many nuances of maleness, as well as the divisiveness of religion in the area, at a time when big industry is dying in Glasgow, leaving many without jobs and meaning in their lives.This novel takes on much, and through the brilliance of Stuart’s writing, wins. ~ Reviewed by Becky Doherty
No-one conveys, so perfectly, people’s inner selves as Hadley does. She has a way of getting to the truth so sublimely, it’s as if she can see straight into her subject’s very being, the core of them, and the setting for this novel couldn’t be more perfect. We are immersed into the London of the 1960’s, a time of sexual and intellectual awakening, and when women were beginning to feel free from their familial constraints. Phyllis, a middle aged housewife in the suburbs, suddenly comes alive to a world of possibilities she never imagined, and rather than stay unhappily in her lot, she walks away from the familiar into a new life. Beautiful, beguiling, precise, a jewel of a novel. ~ Reviewed by Becky Doherty
A beautifully written, fever dream of a novel. Pheby’s world building is stunning, and it’s an adventure in itself to discover all the parts of it, as he introduces us to the gothic world of Mordew. Fans of Peake’s Gormenghast will love this first novel of a new series. It has living mud running through its streets, which creatures occasionally crawl out of, dead gods, talking dogs, secret libraries, and dark magic. Excellent addition to the Grimdark genre. ~ Reviewed by Becky Doherty
I never want Rooney’s books to end, the writing is such a delight. This is another deep dive of a novel into relationships, and the characters are so well realised, that they seep into your thoughts well after you’ve finished the book. But what I appreciated the most from this novel was the philosophising that Rooney indulges in, via long emails between the two protagonists, making this an extremely satisfying novel. ~ Reviewed by Becky Doherty
