Here we are, half way through another year. Doesn’t time fly when there are so many good books to read? This month has been one of exams and welcoming my big children back from university for the summer. I posted reviews of eleven books, mostly from independent publishers, some of whom have been killing it on the prize circuit recently – particularly pleasing to see. I attended the wonderful Greenwich Book Festival and wrote up each event in detail. Following some critical on line discussion about where people buy books I also wrote about why reading should be a pleasure.
My fiction reading has been a mixed bag with three books proving not to be my cup of tea:
The Peace Machine by Özgür Mumcu (translated by Mark David Wyers), published by Pushkin Press
The Trilogy of Two by Juman Malouf, published by Pushkin Press
and a short story collection from Comma Press.
The Book of Havana by various, translated by Orsola Casagrande and Séamas Carraher
I read three novels that and I now urge everyone to read
Only Killers and Thieves by Paul Howarth, published by One, an imprint of Pushkin Press
Lucia by Alex Pheby, published by Galley Beggar Press
Gamble by Kerry Hadley-Pryce, published by Salt
and a wonderful short story collection
How The Light Gets In by Clare Fisher, published by Influx Press
Two novels made me think, for very different reasons
Shatila Stories by various, published by Peirene Press
Thank You, Jeeves by PG Wodehouse, published by Arrow Books
I posted two reviews of non fiction books, one of which was originally written for Bookmunch
Natural Causes: Life, Death and the Illusion of Control by Barbara Ehrenreich, published by Granta Books
Linescapes by Hugh Warwick, published by Vintage
A series of six posts covered the events I attended at Greenwich. All but one featured authors whose books are published by the small independent presses. For balance, the festival party featured authors from two of the big houses, Penguin and Simon & Schuster.
An Overview
Festival Party featuring Imogen Hermes Gower, Lissa Evans, Paula McLain, Diana Evans and Louise Candlish
The long life of short fiction featuring David Hayden, Clare Fisher and Eley Williams
Keeping it real? featuring Alex Pheby, Shiromi Pinto and Matthew De Abaitua
Smackdown! featuring Carrie Dunn and Toby Litt
Class Matters featuring Yvonne Singh Alex Pheby, Matthew De Abaitua and Shiromi Pinto
As ever I wish to thank the publishers who send me their titles to review – the arrival of a book parcel makes my day.
My thanks also to those who share my words across their social media platforms. Your support is always appreciated.
neverimitate 
Here’s to a great July too!
oooh – Only Killers and Thieves and Gamble both sound like my kind of books! Thanks for sharing 🙂