Just bought Pat Barker’s The Women of Troy and because I wasn’t sure if that would be enough misery also bought The Silence of The Girls - doubled down on the misery porn as you can never have enough
Can't stand misery porn - though the Booker longlist seems to lap it up.
Don't know if it's the zeitgeist but cannot read anything too long or heavy. While on holiday I read such a good charity shop find I immediately tracked down 3 copies for friends. 'The Inn at Lake Devine' by Elinor Lipman. The 12 year old daughter of a Jewish family gets obsessed when they are turned down by an anti Semetic hotelier and it turns into a bit of a romcom towards the end. So lovely - perfect in fact for Summer.
The other best book was Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple (who was a solid middle brow mid century writer of domestic dramas). Apparently Virago were quite snotty about her when they were compiling their list, but she is so readable, and Persephone's best seller. This one is about a French minx infiltrating an annoyingly happy family and havoc ensuing. Why are prize bitches so delightful to read about? I ripped through this in less than a week - over 400 pages I seem to remember. I have 2 more Whipples lined up *rubs hands*.
Another Rosamunde Pilcher fan here too. Coming Home and The Shellseekers are my favourites. I revisited September last year - hasn’t aged well, particularly re portrayal of mental illness. Generally though I love all the scenery/ grand but cosy interior descriptions
Ha! Esther, I much prefer your brilliant term 'misery porn' to the publishing biz term 'psychological suspense'. Which, with the exception of Louise Candlish, I don't read; I prefer biographies or memoirs about people with darker corners in their unusual/interesting/infamous lives. I can certainly recommend William Feaver's two volume biography of Lucian Freud, which was enthralling. I once saw LF rounding a street corner in Soho, white-faced and blinking in the sunlight, with two grey whippets on leashes. He looked like a ghost. I'd say to anyone feeling exhausted by misery that historical novelists can cheer one up no end... Also loved this phrase of yours: 'The human response to story-telling propels us through the darkness to get to the light'. Too true. Lisa xx
I do steer clear of of things that are too miserable, which is not to say I can’t handle a bit of darkness, and I don’t like fluff either, but I don’t seek it out. Our holidays were oddly hectic, and I only managed to finish one book - though I bought EIGHT from various stalls and sales - so that’s a measure of my stress response I suppose. Anyway the one I did read was really odd, The Bus on Thursday, by an Australian writer called Shirley Barratt whose last book, Rush Oh, was historical fiction set in a whaling town which I really enjoyed. This was totally different. I’m about to make the laziest possible comparison here so sorry everyone while I drop the anvil but this book - wait for it - was like if - here it comes - FLEABAG - was written by Shirley Jackson. A school teacher is diagnosed with breast cancer and it begins almost like a memoir of her illness and treatment but then she goes into remission and moves to a remote outback town for a new job and a fresh start. She discovers her predecessor disappeared mysteriously and the town hasn’t recovered. Strange things happen, friends. It is like an elongated horror short story narrated unreliably by a funny, flawed woman who drinks a lot. I could find fault with it, however it was a very quick and darkly entertaining read that I actually finished and I give it maximum points for just being its own weird and quite courageously different thing. I’ve got The Feast by Margaret Kennedy, which looks really good but I’ll update if I ever manage to read it.
I was really laughing at this until I read that the author died. I hope she was rewarded for her work and happy for a while at least. I love the sound of fiction set in a whaling town
I know I found her a really funny writer - I had only just thought to look if she’d written anything new since Rush Oh! as I loved that and found this one so took it with me knowing I’d have something I’d definitely be able to read. Apparently she was diagnosed with cancer after she had finished writing a book about it, and said there should be a government health guideline telling people not to do that. It seems she had finished another book and was a filmmaker as well so I’m going to look for those.
I was just looking up the book I’ve recommended to check if I got the title correct and found that the author died in the first week of August. So that’s miserable news.
And discarding Crawdads from my reading pile as we speak - another book swop job but having read the comments below there’s enough conflict, rape and abuse in the world without me inviting into my bed!
someone once described Crawdads to me as the "live, love, laugh" of books, which was very accurate. I thought it was utter drivel but it seems to have captivated the world so what do I know
Yes, each to her own. But there are too many fantastic books in the world to plough the stuff that’s not pulling you in. As per White Teeth and many others I’ve just thought ‘No’.
yes exactly, just sort of meaningless nonsense. the poetry in Crawdads was so toe-curling, though. but so many people just adoring toe-curling shite and I mustn't be so snobby about it
I’ve enjoyed Rosamund Pilcher’s Coming Home, a family saga similar to The Cazelet Chronicles. Lots of reassuringly cosy domestic detail, well drawn characters and satisfying plots. I also - unusually for me - regularly reread Catherine Bailey’s Black Diamonds and The Secret Rooms. Both are non-fiction accounts of early 20th wealthy family sagas. She is such a crisp but evocative writer and the research is so detailed that you can really immerse yourself. I also picked up a copy of Rosamund Lehman’s Invitation to the Waltz from a book swop. It’s a story of young woman ahead of her first ball in the 1930s. Such minutely observed characters and the scene where Olivia is ripped off by someone selling a lace collar is so true to life that will cringe / laugh out loud at how close it is to all those times you’ve fallen for the patter, only to blush with embarrassment later.
Marian Keyes - wonderful writer, I particularly liked Grown Ups. But really, anything goes. As the great Richard Madeley once said, ‘it if nourishes you - read it’. Sometimes for me that is something fairly heavy non-fiction and other times I spend weeks guzzling up the garden centre chick lit: Christmas / Summer / Easter / Wedding at the Butterfly Cafe / Cottage / Island etc. Utter shite but exactly what I need.
Reading The Whalebone Theatre, which I thought was lovely, made me reread The Cazlet series - which are just brilliant - exquisite writing. The page, or half a page given to the doctor who delivers the babies at the start - concisely heartbreaking.
On "accidentally" reading a lot of misery porn, I realised the other day how many of the books I've read in the last 12 months have featured sexual abuse / rape. It was a lot of them, and I *really* wasn't seeking it out.
Most were bought on recommendation without knowing anything about them, but they included Kate Elizabeth Russell's My Dark Vanessa (sexual abuse by a teacher), Edna O'Brien's Girl (Nigerian schoolgirl kidnapped by Boko Haram), Elif Shafak’s 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds in this Strange World (murdered prostitute looks back at her life), and two books about abandoned children living feral lives in America, both involving rape (the Crawdads one, and My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent).
All of them were enjoyable or compelling enough to keep reading, a couple even quite uplifting, but still I'm picking books a bit more carefully now!
I am still completely baffled by A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. So many people I know and respect absolutely loved it and urged me to read it. To me it was just torture porn masquerading as literary fiction. If Jude is really such a genius why can’t he escape from all the pedophiles and abusive men he encounters? I see that black and white photo of the wincing man on the newer edition of almost every book shop I go to and it annoys me so much as well as the fact it was torturously long and I wasted so much time reading it.
I agree completely. What bothered me most was the sheer detachment in the writing. It took me a while to realise that the writer lacked empathy for her characters so the whole book was just as you say, torture porn. I found a copy where I was staying in Greece of ‘my year of rest and relaxation.’ Loathed it. Well written undoubtedly but the main character was so hideously depressed that it left me cold!
yes I'm pretty much with you. the oddest thing is that I have two friends in common with the author and they both say what a marvellous hoot she is, what a jolly presence... how could anyone like that have spent so much time dreaming up such dreadful things to happen to a blameless soul? I am, like you, BAFFLED. and also - same - mystified by the people who loved it. It was horrifying!! a truly divisive text...
It was truly the most awful book ever . The premise that despite experiencing such horrendous and relentless abuse throughout early life and without years and years of therapy , Jude becomes this charming, incredibly clever , successful, loved by all man who once again suffers shocking abuse is completely unbelievable . I hated it and still 5 yrs later resent wasting my time reading it hoping for a redemptive ending, dreadful.
My former colleague wrote the Whalebone Theatre. I feel oddly proud every time I see it mentioned - I know her! I loved it, especially astonished it is a first novel. The rest of my summer reading has been terrible crime novels and the Bridgerton series, so perhaps I should dive into one of these darker ones to prove I am serious after all...
It is a very good first novel, it doesn't read like a first novel at all and she has managed to dodge the commercial fiction predictable plot line I so despair about, while also constructing a good story
I read the Jackie Pullinger about 25 years ago when I first met my husband (then a missionary). Astonishing book. Personally not a fan of misery fiction/ memoir at all. I skipped your comments on the Whalebone Theatre (after the line about it NOT being miserable!) in case there were spoilers. I bought it earlier this month in St Ives as a holiday souvenir but I’m waiting until autumn to read it because like you I’m getting solid chest of drawer vibes and to me that says autumn/winter reading! If anyone is still looking for summer reads I can recommend Emily Henry’s Book Lovers. Haven’t read anything by her before but it was like a Nora Ephron film in book form. V nicely plotted. Also, The Feast by Margaret Kennedy which was absolutely superb. Set late 1940s in Cornwall. Modern morality tale meets Agatha Christie (but Who will survive? rather than Whodunnit?)
I’ve just discovered Emily Henry this summer also. Very good holiday books. Not quite Marion Keyes, but close. Very sexy tho (I’m clearly a prude!). I read a lot of Non fiction and general ‘end of times’ social analysis/ commentary. I don’t want to read that level of despair in my fiction!
I read my first Marian Keys earlier this year (Rachel’s Holiday) and was completely taken by surprise. Alcoholism/ dysfunctional families NOT signalled by the girly pink fluffiness of MK marketing campaigns...
I know! Marian Keyes has always been packaged as light and fluffy - not at all. I also only recently read Rachel's Holiday and was similary surprised by the content. And it was so good
Rachel’s Holiday was really powerful. The recent sequel is also very good about pain and self deception. The Break was excellent about long term relationships (with a few caveats about OTT plot lines). This charming man about manipulative abusive men.. etc.
I often come away with some useful reflection about myself/ relationship/ family etc
I’m not sure why these books are marketed as fluff, rather than epic Family sagas along side eg Ann Tyler? Is it the jokes ? Maybe the sexy bits?
I think you’re onto something with the jokes - Anne Tyler is also a really funny writer and I did not realise this about her for years because of her family saga marketing. I think comic writing, especially by women, doesn’t often really get its due.
there's a bit in a spool of blue thread where a woman is describing how she can't stop laughing at how her grandson plays the clarinet because it randomly makes terrible squeaking sounds that makes *me* laugh every time I think about it. And the bit in the Accidental Tourist where someone takes an internal flight and the pilots are nattering on and an empty can of drink is rolling around under their chairs and for some reason it made me cry with laughter at the time. she really is very funny
Having been ill the last 3 and a half weeks with a horrible respiratory virus (not Covid - almost wish it was, because at least that would be an explanation for quite how grim it’s been), misery porn sounds right up my street! But maybe it would be more productive to cheer myself up with The Whalebone Theatre - thank you, it sounds a worthwhile read. I have just finished re-reading O Caledonia, by Elspeth Barker. I was unaware that it had been re-published recently (I hadn’t read it since my late teenage years in the early 90s) so immediately downloaded it. What a joy! Again, not exactly uplifting (chronically misunderstood, socially inept, isolated young protagonist) but what writing! Sublime. Heartily recommend.
Ditto re O Caledonia - read it for the first time recently and it's a little gem. Sadly Elspeth Barker only wrote the one novel! I'll just have to keep re-reading this one I guess......
Just finished 'Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk' by American author Kathleen Rooney. It's a novel but is inspired by the life and work of Margaret Fishback, the highest-paid female advertising copywriter in the world, in 1930s New York. Interesting woman and a true feminist.
Thanks for this recommendation! I’m Scottish but have been living ‘down south’ for 25+ years and I yearn for good Scottish fiction, and I haven’t read this. And I’m on holiday and have time to read, wahoo…!! Hope you are feeling better.
I’m very late to this party (although of course it’s not one), but have just finished Shuggie Bain and thought it was incredible. I guess it may count as misery porn, but the writing is so transportive and heartbreaking. And it’s Scottish. I’m planning to read his latest next.
100% agree Shuggie Bain is phenomenal. It transcends misery porn because it’s so beautifully written and isn’t in any way gratuitous. I grew up about 10 miles from where it’s set in fairly opposite economic circumstances, and I’m about the same age as the author, and the feelings that stirred in me when I read it last year have stayed with me. Haven’t read Young Mungo yet either but it’s on the list.
Ah you will love this! Proudly half-Scottish through my mother (also married to a Scotsman!) - the landscape and weather descriptions will sing to you. Go get it right now! And thank you for the get well wishes.
I read Chasing the Dragon years and years ago, and some of the grimmest things have stayed with me, as well as the miracles.
I am obsessed with books about people escaping from cults - Jehovah’s Witnesses, strict Hasidic Jewish communities, and unnamed peculiar set ups. Also escapes from North Korea, and Cambodia under Pol Pot - truly gruesome. Then I turn to Judy Astley for west London Mum problems, or Nancy Mitford and Jilly Cooper, everyone’s favourite comfort, surely? Throw in the occasional Enid Blyton and Agatha Christie. Read what you like, there are no rules as long as you are reading something x
Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? My first Agatha, read when I was 10 on holiday in France with my parents, bored stiff. No Poirot or Marple but always my favourite
Thank you, need some new recommendations. Always think I like something frothy, especially this time of year, but actually prefer a bit of grit. Did you ever read A Little Life? I did about 5 years ago and am still floored by its relentless misery but it remains one of my favourite books!
Just bought Pat Barker’s The Women of Troy and because I wasn’t sure if that would be enough misery also bought The Silence of The Girls - doubled down on the misery porn as you can never have enough
Can't stand misery porn - though the Booker longlist seems to lap it up.
Don't know if it's the zeitgeist but cannot read anything too long or heavy. While on holiday I read such a good charity shop find I immediately tracked down 3 copies for friends. 'The Inn at Lake Devine' by Elinor Lipman. The 12 year old daughter of a Jewish family gets obsessed when they are turned down by an anti Semetic hotelier and it turns into a bit of a romcom towards the end. So lovely - perfect in fact for Summer.
The other best book was Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple (who was a solid middle brow mid century writer of domestic dramas). Apparently Virago were quite snotty about her when they were compiling their list, but she is so readable, and Persephone's best seller. This one is about a French minx infiltrating an annoyingly happy family and havoc ensuing. Why are prize bitches so delightful to read about? I ripped through this in less than a week - over 400 pages I seem to remember. I have 2 more Whipples lined up *rubs hands*.
I love your book posts, Esther.
Mrs March. Just dreadful.
Agree. I felt it was just misogynistic trope of “crazy housewife”
Another Rosamunde Pilcher fan here too. Coming Home and The Shellseekers are my favourites. I revisited September last year - hasn’t aged well, particularly re portrayal of mental illness. Generally though I love all the scenery/ grand but cosy interior descriptions
Ha! Esther, I much prefer your brilliant term 'misery porn' to the publishing biz term 'psychological suspense'. Which, with the exception of Louise Candlish, I don't read; I prefer biographies or memoirs about people with darker corners in their unusual/interesting/infamous lives. I can certainly recommend William Feaver's two volume biography of Lucian Freud, which was enthralling. I once saw LF rounding a street corner in Soho, white-faced and blinking in the sunlight, with two grey whippets on leashes. He looked like a ghost. I'd say to anyone feeling exhausted by misery that historical novelists can cheer one up no end... Also loved this phrase of yours: 'The human response to story-telling propels us through the darkness to get to the light'. Too true. Lisa xx
oh THAT'S what "psychological suspense" means!! xx
Yep.
I do steer clear of of things that are too miserable, which is not to say I can’t handle a bit of darkness, and I don’t like fluff either, but I don’t seek it out. Our holidays were oddly hectic, and I only managed to finish one book - though I bought EIGHT from various stalls and sales - so that’s a measure of my stress response I suppose. Anyway the one I did read was really odd, The Bus on Thursday, by an Australian writer called Shirley Barratt whose last book, Rush Oh, was historical fiction set in a whaling town which I really enjoyed. This was totally different. I’m about to make the laziest possible comparison here so sorry everyone while I drop the anvil but this book - wait for it - was like if - here it comes - FLEABAG - was written by Shirley Jackson. A school teacher is diagnosed with breast cancer and it begins almost like a memoir of her illness and treatment but then she goes into remission and moves to a remote outback town for a new job and a fresh start. She discovers her predecessor disappeared mysteriously and the town hasn’t recovered. Strange things happen, friends. It is like an elongated horror short story narrated unreliably by a funny, flawed woman who drinks a lot. I could find fault with it, however it was a very quick and darkly entertaining read that I actually finished and I give it maximum points for just being its own weird and quite courageously different thing. I’ve got The Feast by Margaret Kennedy, which looks really good but I’ll update if I ever manage to read it.
I was really laughing at this until I read that the author died. I hope she was rewarded for her work and happy for a while at least. I love the sound of fiction set in a whaling town
I know I found her a really funny writer - I had only just thought to look if she’d written anything new since Rush Oh! as I loved that and found this one so took it with me knowing I’d have something I’d definitely be able to read. Apparently she was diagnosed with cancer after she had finished writing a book about it, and said there should be a government health guideline telling people not to do that. It seems she had finished another book and was a filmmaker as well so I’m going to look for those.
I was just looking up the book I’ve recommended to check if I got the title correct and found that the author died in the first week of August. So that’s miserable news.
And discarding Crawdads from my reading pile as we speak - another book swop job but having read the comments below there’s enough conflict, rape and abuse in the world without me inviting into my bed!
I could not get on with Crawdads at all.
someone once described Crawdads to me as the "live, love, laugh" of books, which was very accurate. I thought it was utter drivel but it seems to have captivated the world so what do I know
Yes, each to her own. But there are too many fantastic books in the world to plough the stuff that’s not pulling you in. As per White Teeth and many others I’ve just thought ‘No’.
Oh did you mean ‘live, laugh, love’ as in the stuff you see on inspirational driftwood? Again, no.
yes exactly, just sort of meaningless nonsense. the poetry in Crawdads was so toe-curling, though. but so many people just adoring toe-curling shite and I mustn't be so snobby about it
I’ve enjoyed Rosamund Pilcher’s Coming Home, a family saga similar to The Cazelet Chronicles. Lots of reassuringly cosy domestic detail, well drawn characters and satisfying plots. I also - unusually for me - regularly reread Catherine Bailey’s Black Diamonds and The Secret Rooms. Both are non-fiction accounts of early 20th wealthy family sagas. She is such a crisp but evocative writer and the research is so detailed that you can really immerse yourself. I also picked up a copy of Rosamund Lehman’s Invitation to the Waltz from a book swop. It’s a story of young woman ahead of her first ball in the 1930s. Such minutely observed characters and the scene where Olivia is ripped off by someone selling a lace collar is so true to life that will cringe / laugh out loud at how close it is to all those times you’ve fallen for the patter, only to blush with embarrassment later.
Marian Keyes - wonderful writer, I particularly liked Grown Ups. But really, anything goes. As the great Richard Madeley once said, ‘it if nourishes you - read it’. Sometimes for me that is something fairly heavy non-fiction and other times I spend weeks guzzling up the garden centre chick lit: Christmas / Summer / Easter / Wedding at the Butterfly Cafe / Cottage / Island etc. Utter shite but exactly what I need.
Reading The Whalebone Theatre, which I thought was lovely, made me reread The Cazlet series - which are just brilliant - exquisite writing. The page, or half a page given to the doctor who delivers the babies at the start - concisely heartbreaking.
On "accidentally" reading a lot of misery porn, I realised the other day how many of the books I've read in the last 12 months have featured sexual abuse / rape. It was a lot of them, and I *really* wasn't seeking it out.
Most were bought on recommendation without knowing anything about them, but they included Kate Elizabeth Russell's My Dark Vanessa (sexual abuse by a teacher), Edna O'Brien's Girl (Nigerian schoolgirl kidnapped by Boko Haram), Elif Shafak’s 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds in this Strange World (murdered prostitute looks back at her life), and two books about abandoned children living feral lives in America, both involving rape (the Crawdads one, and My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent).
All of them were enjoyable or compelling enough to keep reading, a couple even quite uplifting, but still I'm picking books a bit more carefully now!
I am still completely baffled by A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. So many people I know and respect absolutely loved it and urged me to read it. To me it was just torture porn masquerading as literary fiction. If Jude is really such a genius why can’t he escape from all the pedophiles and abusive men he encounters? I see that black and white photo of the wincing man on the newer edition of almost every book shop I go to and it annoys me so much as well as the fact it was torturously long and I wasted so much time reading it.
I agree completely. What bothered me most was the sheer detachment in the writing. It took me a while to realise that the writer lacked empathy for her characters so the whole book was just as you say, torture porn. I found a copy where I was staying in Greece of ‘my year of rest and relaxation.’ Loathed it. Well written undoubtedly but the main character was so hideously depressed that it left me cold!
yes I'm pretty much with you. the oddest thing is that I have two friends in common with the author and they both say what a marvellous hoot she is, what a jolly presence... how could anyone like that have spent so much time dreaming up such dreadful things to happen to a blameless soul? I am, like you, BAFFLED. and also - same - mystified by the people who loved it. It was horrifying!! a truly divisive text...
It was truly the most awful book ever . The premise that despite experiencing such horrendous and relentless abuse throughout early life and without years and years of therapy , Jude becomes this charming, incredibly clever , successful, loved by all man who once again suffers shocking abuse is completely unbelievable . I hated it and still 5 yrs later resent wasting my time reading it hoping for a redemptive ending, dreadful.
My former colleague wrote the Whalebone Theatre. I feel oddly proud every time I see it mentioned - I know her! I loved it, especially astonished it is a first novel. The rest of my summer reading has been terrible crime novels and the Bridgerton series, so perhaps I should dive into one of these darker ones to prove I am serious after all...
It is a very good first novel, it doesn't read like a first novel at all and she has managed to dodge the commercial fiction predictable plot line I so despair about, while also constructing a good story
I read the Jackie Pullinger about 25 years ago when I first met my husband (then a missionary). Astonishing book. Personally not a fan of misery fiction/ memoir at all. I skipped your comments on the Whalebone Theatre (after the line about it NOT being miserable!) in case there were spoilers. I bought it earlier this month in St Ives as a holiday souvenir but I’m waiting until autumn to read it because like you I’m getting solid chest of drawer vibes and to me that says autumn/winter reading! If anyone is still looking for summer reads I can recommend Emily Henry’s Book Lovers. Haven’t read anything by her before but it was like a Nora Ephron film in book form. V nicely plotted. Also, The Feast by Margaret Kennedy which was absolutely superb. Set late 1940s in Cornwall. Modern morality tale meets Agatha Christie (but Who will survive? rather than Whodunnit?)
I’ve just discovered Emily Henry this summer also. Very good holiday books. Not quite Marion Keyes, but close. Very sexy tho (I’m clearly a prude!). I read a lot of Non fiction and general ‘end of times’ social analysis/ commentary. I don’t want to read that level of despair in my fiction!
I read my first Marian Keys earlier this year (Rachel’s Holiday) and was completely taken by surprise. Alcoholism/ dysfunctional families NOT signalled by the girly pink fluffiness of MK marketing campaigns...
I know! Marian Keyes has always been packaged as light and fluffy - not at all. I also only recently read Rachel's Holiday and was similary surprised by the content. And it was so good
Rachel’s Holiday was really powerful. The recent sequel is also very good about pain and self deception. The Break was excellent about long term relationships (with a few caveats about OTT plot lines). This charming man about manipulative abusive men.. etc.
I often come away with some useful reflection about myself/ relationship/ family etc
I’m not sure why these books are marketed as fluff, rather than epic Family sagas along side eg Ann Tyler? Is it the jokes ? Maybe the sexy bits?
I think you’re onto something with the jokes - Anne Tyler is also a really funny writer and I did not realise this about her for years because of her family saga marketing. I think comic writing, especially by women, doesn’t often really get its due.
there's a bit in a spool of blue thread where a woman is describing how she can't stop laughing at how her grandson plays the clarinet because it randomly makes terrible squeaking sounds that makes *me* laugh every time I think about it. And the bit in the Accidental Tourist where someone takes an internal flight and the pilots are nattering on and an empty can of drink is rolling around under their chairs and for some reason it made me cry with laughter at the time. she really is very funny
Having been ill the last 3 and a half weeks with a horrible respiratory virus (not Covid - almost wish it was, because at least that would be an explanation for quite how grim it’s been), misery porn sounds right up my street! But maybe it would be more productive to cheer myself up with The Whalebone Theatre - thank you, it sounds a worthwhile read. I have just finished re-reading O Caledonia, by Elspeth Barker. I was unaware that it had been re-published recently (I hadn’t read it since my late teenage years in the early 90s) so immediately downloaded it. What a joy! Again, not exactly uplifting (chronically misunderstood, socially inept, isolated young protagonist) but what writing! Sublime. Heartily recommend.
Ditto re O Caledonia - read it for the first time recently and it's a little gem. Sadly Elspeth Barker only wrote the one novel! I'll just have to keep re-reading this one I guess......
Just finished 'Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk' by American author Kathleen Rooney. It's a novel but is inspired by the life and work of Margaret Fishback, the highest-paid female advertising copywriter in the world, in 1930s New York. Interesting woman and a true feminist.
Thanks for this recommendation! I’m Scottish but have been living ‘down south’ for 25+ years and I yearn for good Scottish fiction, and I haven’t read this. And I’m on holiday and have time to read, wahoo…!! Hope you are feeling better.
I’m very late to this party (although of course it’s not one), but have just finished Shuggie Bain and thought it was incredible. I guess it may count as misery porn, but the writing is so transportive and heartbreaking. And it’s Scottish. I’m planning to read his latest next.
100% agree Shuggie Bain is phenomenal. It transcends misery porn because it’s so beautifully written and isn’t in any way gratuitous. I grew up about 10 miles from where it’s set in fairly opposite economic circumstances, and I’m about the same age as the author, and the feelings that stirred in me when I read it last year have stayed with me. Haven’t read Young Mungo yet either but it’s on the list.
Ah you will love this! Proudly half-Scottish through my mother (also married to a Scotsman!) - the landscape and weather descriptions will sing to you. Go get it right now! And thank you for the get well wishes.
I read Chasing the Dragon years and years ago, and some of the grimmest things have stayed with me, as well as the miracles.
I am obsessed with books about people escaping from cults - Jehovah’s Witnesses, strict Hasidic Jewish communities, and unnamed peculiar set ups. Also escapes from North Korea, and Cambodia under Pol Pot - truly gruesome. Then I turn to Judy Astley for west London Mum problems, or Nancy Mitford and Jilly Cooper, everyone’s favourite comfort, surely? Throw in the occasional Enid Blyton and Agatha Christie. Read what you like, there are no rules as long as you are reading something x
I visited Agatha Christie's summer home, Greenaway, this summer and resolved to try again with her. Do you have a favourite?
Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? My first Agatha, read when I was 10 on holiday in France with my parents, bored stiff. No Poirot or Marple but always my favourite
Thank you, need some new recommendations. Always think I like something frothy, especially this time of year, but actually prefer a bit of grit. Did you ever read A Little Life? I did about 5 years ago and am still floored by its relentless misery but it remains one of my favourite books!
I was a shell after that book. Not a fan :(