Author Archives: Teresa

The Underground Railroad

Posted on September 25, 2016

For an embarrassingly long time, I thought the Underground Railroad was an actual railroad, at least partly underground. A secret train to freedom is an image than can easily catch a child’s imagination—especially when that child hasn’t been around trains … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Historical Fiction, Speculative Fiction | 14 Comments

Mr. Fox

Posted on September 19, 2016

Mr. Fox does not know what to do with the women in his books. Or, rather, he knows of only one thing to do with them. He kills them. Roberta saws off her hand and foot and bleeds to death … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Speculative Fiction | 10 Comments

The Glorious Heresies

Posted on September 13, 2016

After finishing the Booker longlist, I decided to try a book that perhaps should have been on the longlist, so I turned to Lisa McInerney’s The Glorious Heresies, winner of the 2016 Bailey’s Prize. It turns out that it was published … Continue reading →

Posted in Contemporary, Fiction | 8 Comments

The WoMan Booker Shadow Panel Shortlist

Posted on September 12, 2016

Frances, Meredith, Nicole, Rebecca, and I have put our heads together and come up with a shared shortlist for the Man Booker Prize. I think it’s safe to say that few of us were particularly pleased with the longlist. Most of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

My Man Booker Shortlist

Posted on September 11, 2016

Those of you who’ve followed my reading of the Man Booker longlist this year know that I’ve been unimpressed with the offerings. The judges this year seem to value experimentation over storytelling and mistake darkness for daring. Even though most … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction | 12 Comments

His Bloody Project

Posted on September 7, 2016

I love a good historical thriller, so I was delighted to see this book by Graeme Macrae Burnet on the Booker longlist. It was, after all, the Booker longlist that finally got me to read Sarah Waters. Might Burnet be … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mysteries | Leave a comment

Hot Milk

Posted on September 5, 2016

Deborah Levy’s novel about a twenty-something daughter and her ailing mother is one I’m going to be pondering for a while. Much like Levy’s previous novel, Swimming Home, this is a book that I’m not sure that I liked, but I’m finding … Continue reading →

Posted in Contemporary, Fiction | 4 Comments

Do Not Say We Have Nothing

Posted on September 4, 2016

If you’ve been following my Man Booker reading this year, you’ll know that I’ve not been particularly happy about many of the books on the longlist. I’ve only thoroughly loved one of them (The North Water), and I’ve found two of them … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Historical Fiction | 7 Comments

All That Man Is

Posted on September 2, 2016

The stories in this collection by David Szalay trace the life history of man by looking at nine men at different stages of life. There’s a university student named Simon, traveling through Europe with a friend. There’s Bérnard, who has … Continue reading →

Posted in Contemporary, Fiction, Short Stories/Essays | 5 Comments

Serious Sweet

Posted on August 29, 2016

One of the most frustrating things about this book by A.L. Kennedy is how close it came to being precisely my thing and how far it ultimately fell short. A lot of the books on the Booker long list this … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction | 8 Comments