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Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · 21d

Han Kang – The Vegetarian (2007). First published in South Korea and translated to English in 2015, this is a dark and upsetting tale of obsession. Yeong-he decides to give up meat and then not to eat food at all, with profound implications for herself and her family. Disturbing. #HanKang

Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · 29d

Charlotte Rogan – The Lifeboat (2012). Book club novel. 1914. A luxury liner sinks, leaving 39 people in a tiny lifeboat. Hungry and desperate, they face moral choices about who should survive. Gripping and multi-layered, it makes wider points about gender roles and human nature. #CharlotteRogan

Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · Sep 13

Nicola Barker – TonyInterruptor (2025). A heckler at an improvised music event sparks a discussion about honesty and artifice played out across a set of extreme characters in witty, vivid prose. Barker’s fiction isn’t for everyone, and may infuriate, but the energy is undeniable. #NicolaBarker

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Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · Sep 6

Percival Everett – The Trees (2022). Three detectives investigate a series of brutal, race-related murders in Money, Mississippi that appear to be tied to the history of lynching. Highly readable and often very funny, the novel has too many characters but still works beautifully. #PercivalEverett

Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · Aug 24

Rose Tremain – Absolutely & Forever (2023). Brilliant novel set in England in the 1960s and 1970s. Marianne is torn between exotic Simon, who she loves, and dull, reliable Hugo, who loves her. A sophisticated study of relationships and family, written with empathy and subtle wit. #RoseTremain

Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · Aug 20

Victoria Hislop – The Thread (2011). Book club read. A laboured romance/family saga based on events in Thessaloniki, Greece, from 1917–2007. Clichéd and unsubtle, it races along with some silly plot twists, one-dimensional characters and awkward attempts to weave in real history. #VictoriaHislop

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Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · Aug 12

I didn’t absolutely love it, but it’s certainly thought-provoking.

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Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · Aug 10

Yoko Ogawa – The Memory Police (1994). Dystopian fable translated from Japanese. A young woman observes the Memory Police removing objects, one at a time, to leave a barren island without any culture or hope. A condemnation of authoritarianism, more relevant than ever. #YokoOgawa

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Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · Aug 4

Charlotte Wood – Stone Yard Devotional (2023). A woman retreats from society to live at a New South Wales convent. Surprisingly addictive Booker-shortlisted novel blends recollections of the past with day-to-day observations of a mouse plague and the return of a dead nun’s bones. #CharlotteWood

Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · Jul 29

Vladimir Nabokov – Laughter in the Dark (1932). A brilliant and disturbing novel with touches of the darkest comedy imaginable. A wealthy German is manipulated by a young woman and her previous lover who scheme to take his money. Nabokov’s perfectly controlled prose is a delight. #VladimirNabokov

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Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · Jul 23

Percival Everett – James (2024). Booker-shortlisted. A brilliant reworking of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, from the perspective of the escaped slave Jim – a literate man who has to pretend to be uneducated around white people. A harrowing, compassionate and gripping novel. #PercivalEverett

Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · Jul 17

Luke Haines – Freaks Out! Weirdos, Misfits and Deviants: The Rise and Fall of Righteous Rock ’n’ Roll (2024). Part memoir, part history of out-there pioneers. Haines has no time for Prince or Bowie. He’s lucid on The Shadows, Bucks Fizz and the horror of musicians wearing shorts. #LukeHaines

Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · Jul 12

Harper Lee – To Kill a Mockingbird (1960). Second reading. Set in 1933–1935, this is a brilliant novel written from a child’s perspective. There’s warmth, wit and great human empathy in Scout’s story, which details her family’s experience of racism in the Alabama town of Maycomb. #BookSky #HarperLee

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Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · Jul 5

Rachel Kushner – The Mars Room (2018). Brilliant Booker-shortlisted novel. Romy Hall is serving two consecutive life sentences at Stanville Women’s Correctional Facility, California. Prison life is explored via a multi-perspective narrative that is insightful, witty and poignant. #BookSky

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Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · Jun 26

Yael van der Wouden – The Safekeep (2024). Debut novel set in the Netherlands in 1961. Isabel lives reclusively, observing rigid routines in her family home. Then her brother’s girlfriend Eva comes to stay and changes everything. Brilliant character portrait in mesmerising prose. #YaelVanDerWouden

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Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · Jun 21

Rachel Kushner – Creation Lake (2024). Remarkable novel. Sadie Smith (not her real name) is a US spy who infiltrates a French eco-commune. Its members are guided by the enigmatic Bruno, who lives in a cave and preaches via e-mail about Neanderthal life. Engaging and darkly comic. #RachelKushner

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Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · Jun 8

Paul Maunder – The Wind at My Back: A Cycling Life (2018). An engrossing and illuminating meditation on what it is to ride a bike. Maunder explores his relationship with the landscape and creativity, articulating his impressions of cycling through urban, suburban and wild spaces. #PaulMaunder

Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · Jun 4

Chetna Maroo – Western Lane (2023). Booker-shortlisted novel with a quiet intensity. An 11-year-old girl becomes obsessed with playing squash to help cope with the death of her mother and as a way to feel closer to her father. Some illuminating observations about life and family. #ChetnaMaroo

Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · May 27

Haruki Murakami – Norwegian Wood (1987). Book club read. A Tokyo student flits between two women he loves. It’s set in 1969–1970, but there’s little sense of the period. The focus on mental health issues is arguably ahead of its time. A bit clumsy overall and not really my thing. #HarukiMurakami

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Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · May 12

Sally Carson – Crooked Cross (1934). Book club read. In a German town in 1932–1933, a family and a community are ripped apart by the rise of the Nazi party. The novel starts slowly but steadily builds in power, and the doomed young couple – Lexa and Moritz – are memorably evoked. #SallyCarson

Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · Apr 23

Patricia Highsmith – The Two Faces of January (1964). Superb thriller: a love triangle between a con artist, Chester, his pretty wife and an obsessive young man who helps Chester conceal a crime. Tension is ramped up across the streets, bars and hotels of Athens, Crete and Paris. #PatriciaHighsmith

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Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · Apr 18

Laurie Lee – Cider with Rosie (1959). Beautifully written account of traditional Cotswolds village life circa World War I. Lyrical and witty, Lee captures a lost world. I’d have preferred an overarching narrative, as some episodes seem disjointed, but other passages are riveting. #LaurieLee

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Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · Apr 3

Andrew McMillan – Pity (2024). Book club read. A powerful novel set in a Barnsley mining community. The impact of history and sexuality on three generations of men is examined via a multi-viewpoint narrative (including academic “fieldnotes”) that gains in gravitas as it unfolds. #AndrewMcMillan

Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · Mar 30

Evelyn Waugh – Vile Bodies (1930). Uneven satire on the “bright young things” boozing and partying in London between the wars, and also the news media that reported on them. There are witty moments (mainly with the eccentric colonel), but it’s disjoined, with too many characters. #EvelynWaugh

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Radiant Volumes @radiantvolumes.bsky.social · Mar 17

Marilynne Robinson – Jack (2020). Book club read. Drama about a mixed-race couple, Jack and Della, and their forbidden romance in post-war St. Louis, USA. It’s insightful and nicely written but can seem longwinded, too – even though some of the most interesting scenes flash past. #BookReviews