Our Little Cruelties By Liz Nugent

Our Little Cruelties by Liz Nugent. Advance Reader Copy (eARC) from the publisher via Netgalley included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here. 

“All three of the Drumm brothers were at the funeral, although one of us was in the coffin.”

Liz Nugent has a well deserved reputation for giving us brilliant opening lines and Our Little Cruelties* does not disappoint. From the beginning we know that one of the Drumm brothers is dead, but which one and what happened is a mystery. A mystery Nugent delights in unraveling.

Will, Brian and Luke each have a complicated relationship with their mother Melissa, a once famous singer. Their relationships with each other aren’t much better. Told from each of their perspectives we follow their lives throughout childhood and adulthood. This use of multiple points of view and a timeline that switches between the past and present leads to a richly layered narrative that reminds us that people who share an experience do not always have the same memories of that experience. 

Will is a film producer who cares only for himself. Brian seems unsure of his place in the world until he begins working for Luke. Luke is a popstar who is struggling to adapt to his dwindling career. The joy of a Liz Nugent novel is in not knowing what is coming, so I won’t give too much of the plot away other than to say your opinion about which Drumm brother is the worst will constantly change. 

As we’ve come to expect from Nugent, Our Little Cruelties leaves us with as many questions as it does answers, particularly around whether the actions of her characters are as a result of nature or nurture. 

Our Little Cruelties is a compelling read about the consequences of the awful things horrible people do to not only to their family, but everyone around them. 

Our Little Cruelties by Liz Nugent is published by Penguin Ireland and is available in trade paperback format now—in Ireland. Our Little Cruelties is published elsewhere on March 26th and will be available in paperback, ebook and audiobook format. 

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How A Woman Becomes A Lake by Marjorie Celona

How a Woman Becomes a Lake by Marjorie Celona. Advance Reader Copy (eARC) from the publisher via Netgalley included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here. 

It’s 1986 and Vera takes her dog for a walk on New Year’s Day in the local woods, like she always does. This time she never returns home. Before her disappearance she makes a phone call to the police telling them that she has found a young boy wandering in the woods by the lake. By the time the police arrive, both Vera and the boy are gone. Vera’s car, however, and her dog remain. 

Leo takes his two sons—Jesse and Dimitri— out to the woods, so they can write their New Year’s resolutions on paper boats and push them onto the frozen lake. But things don’t quite go to plan. 

Lewis pulls into the parking lot of Squire Point expecting to be greeted by Vera and the boy she found. Instead he finds an abandoned car and a dog left alone. What has happened to Vera and the boy? 

Vera and her husband argued the night before her disappearance, so naturally the police think he is involved. But when they discover that Vera made a phone call to a woman named Evelina from the same pay phone she called the police, focus shifts away from Vera’s husband, Denny.  

Told from multiple points of view, How a Woman Becomes a Lake* is a spellbinding novel about familial bonds, making mistakes, secrets and whether or not new beginnings can undo the damage of the past. 

How a Woman Becomes a Lake by Marjorie Celona is published by Virgao and is available in paperback, ebook and audio format.

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Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 By Cho Nam-Joo

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo. Advance Reader Copy (eARC) from the publisher via Netgalley included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Kim Jiyoung is married and is a stay-at-home parent to her young child. Before becoming a mother Kim Jiyoung was a dedicated employee at a job she enjoyed, but was passed over for promotion. More than once. 

Kim Jiyoung begins to think she is someone else. She needs help. Help her husband seeks from the mental health system in South Korea. From here, we learn about Kim Jiyoung’s life from her childhood to the present day—more accurately 2016, the year the book was published in its native South Korea.

While focused on Kim Jiyoung’s life, the story is told from a distance. A distance that means we are observers of Kim Jiyoung’s life rather than experiencing it alongside her. As the novel progresses the reason for this distance becomes clearer. It is expertly done, but I can understand why this writing style won’t be to everyone’s taste. 

At under 200 pages, Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982* is written with razor sharp clarity and not a single word is wasted. This is one of those books that will have you thinking about it for weeks after reading, which is not surprising given the level of detail involved in writing this narrative of life in South Korea for women who regularly face casual sexism and institutional misogyny.

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Cam-Joo is published by Scribner UK, an imprint of Simon & Schuster UK, and is available in paperback, audiobook and ebook format. 

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do you can show your support by buying me a coffee here. 

How To Survive Death And Other Inconveniences By Sue William Silverman

How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences by Sue William Silverman. Advance Reader Copy (eARC) included. No affiliate links included. You can read my full disclosure policy here. 

This collection of thematically linked essays centres around Sue William Silverman's fear of death. Death is the ultimate unknown and Silverman has had good reason to fear the unknown throughout her life.

How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences* does not shy away from the complexities of dealing with trauma in all its forms, particularly the trauma associated with sexual assault.

Silverman's writing is poetic and full of more humour than you might expect given the subject matter. But if there is one thing you should know about Silverman, apart from the fact that she is a survivor, it is that she isn't afraid of experimental writing. And she is bloody good at it.

How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences by Sue William Silverman is published by University of Nebraska Press and is available in paperback and ebook format. 

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do you can show your support by buying me a coffee here.

Weather By Jenny Offill

Weather by Jenny Offill. Advance Reader Copy (eARC) from the publisher via Netgalley included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Lizzie Benson’s life hasn’t exactly gone to plan, but she is doing the best she can. Having dropped out of university—to help her brother deal with his addiction—she secured a job as a university librarian without the requisite degree. 

When Lizzie’s former mentor—Sylvia Liller, an academic who hosts a climate change podcast— offers her an additional job answering the emails she receives from listeners of Hell and High Water, Lizzie can’t bring herself to say no. 

Lizzie soon finds herself taking on the worries of everyone who contacts Sylvia, which leads to a whole host of stress she could do without but can’t escape. As her climate anxiety grows, her marriage becomes more strained and Lizzie wonders what will be left of the world for her son to grow up in. 

Told as a series of vignettes, Weather sees Lizzie navigate motherhood, marriage and codependent familial relationships, while also worrying about the climate crisis and life in Trump’s America. Offill is a skilled writer, with an ability to make the seemingly mundane utterly compelling.  

Weather* is the first Jenny Offill novel I have read and what a brilliant introduction it was. I’ve already added Dept. of Speculation and Last Things to my towering to-read pile. 

Weather by Jenny Offill is published by Granta Books and is available in hardback and ebook format. 

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do you can show your support by buying me a coffee here. 

Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams

Our Stop by Laura Jane Willliams. Advance Reader Copy (eARC) from the publisher via Netgalley included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here. 

Nadia Fielding and her friends love reading the ‘Missed Connections’ column in the morning paper. One day a letter reminds her friends of Nadia, but it can’t be her. Can it?

The morning his letter appears in the paper, Daniel Weissman worries he has made a terrible mistake. Of course his plan for getting Nadia to speak to him won’t work. Will it? 

Full of laughter, friendship, and witty takes on modern dating, Our Stop* is a will they won't they story where, like all great rom coms, you know they probably will but the fun is in watching them get there.

Without giving too much away, I do have a little niggle about how one of the subplots was handled. Part of me was all *yay* representation!  Another part of me was disappointed by some of the language people used, or rather didn't use, to describe their sexuality. Like, I get it. Sexuality is a spectrum and people get to decide where they fall on that spectrum and how they identify. *raise your hand if you came out in your 20s as bisexual when you were previously out as a lesbian. Oh, that was me!* But it felt like a missed opportunity to explicitly name the largest group within the LGBTQ+ community. It won't stop me recommending the book, but it stuck out so I couldn't not mention it.

Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams is published by Avon Books and is available in paperback, audiobook and ebook format.

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Filter This by Sophie White

Filter This by Sophie White. Advance Reader Copy (eARC) from the publisher via Netgalley included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here. 

Ali Jones’ life isn’t exactly going to plan; her father is ill and her relationship with her mother can best be described as distant. Instagram provides a much needed creative outlet and a way to regain some control. She wants to be Ireland’s next big influencer, so when a misunderstanding leads her followers to think she is pregnant, she decides to play along. ‘Mummy Influencers’ are a big deal right now.

Shelly Devine has it all; the perfect husband, an adorable daughter, a lust worthy house, and all the important brand sponsorships. But Shelly’s life is far from what she portrays online, for one thing her husband isn’t as keen on their family being used as part of Shelly’s ‘brand’. 

Filter This* is a witty and poignant look at the people behind the perfectly curated Instagram feeds. In the hands of a lesser writer aspects of the storyline may seem far-fetched, but Sophie White’s writing is whip-smart. I can’t wait to read the sequel. 

Filter This by Sophie White is published by Hachette Books Ireland and is available in paperback, audiobook and ebook format. 

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do you can show your support by buying me a coffee here. 

Adults By Emma Jane Unsworth

Adults by Emma Jane Unsworth. Advance Reader Copy (eARC) from the publisher via Netgalley included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here. 

Jenny is 35, writes a weekly column for an online feminist magazine and owns her own home. Sounds like she has her life together, right? Not quite. Jenny and her partner Art have recently broken up, a decision that leaves Jenny wondering whether their relationship meant anything at all to Art.

She may own her house, but she cannot really afford it now that she is living alone. Her job isn't going so great, either. Add to that an obsession with social media, specifically Instagram, and the fact that she doesn't give her friendships the attention they deserve and, well, Jenny's life begins to spiral out of control.

Then her mother comes to stay, which Jenny is convinced will only make matters worse.

Adults* is a witty take on 30-something life, trying to curb your social media usage and figuring out who you really are.

While there are elements of the story that were not for me—the endless drinking and references to alcohol, for one!—Adults is an enjoyable read even though you'll likely want to yell "get a grip" at Jenny on more than one occasion.

Adults by Emma Jane Unsworth is published on January 30th by The Borough Press, an imprint of HarperCollins, and is available in hardback, audiobook and ebook format.

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do you can show your support by buying me a coffee here. 

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold. No Advance Reader Copy included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here. 

How much do we really know about the women who were murdered by Jack the Ripper? For many of us, we know that they were sex workers, but not much else about their lives is mentioned in the true crime coverage of Jack the Ripper. The Five by Hallie Rubenhold sets out to rectify this by telling the stories of Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly with compassion and nuance. 

Rubenhold dismantles the narrative that Jack the Ripper targeted sex workers who clearly deserved it. The truth is, most of these women were not sex workers and, unlike most Ripper coverage, Rubenhold makes clear that where women are sex workers, that does not mean they deserve to be murdered. No one deserves that. 

I've been thinking a lot about how we consume true crime content and The Five deals with an aspect that I continue to struggle with; when we focus on the killer, what are we not learning about the victim(s)? I mentioned in my newsletter last year that reading I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara and The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alexandria Marzano-Lesvenich in quick succession left me questioning whether our consumption of true crime as entertainment can ever be ethical. 

I still don’t have the answer, but The Five is another piece of the complicated puzzle and it is a must read for true crime fans.

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold is published by Doubleday, an imprint of Penguin Random House, and is available in hardback, paperback, audiobook and ebook format.

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do and want to show your support you can buy me a coffee here. 

Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro

Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro. No Advance Reader Copy included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here. 

When Dani Shapiro took a DNA test through a genealogy website in 2016 she wasn't expecting to find out that her dad was not her biological father. Yet that's what happened. As she grapples with the many questions this leaves about her family and her Jewishness, both she and her husband set out to find her biological father. Thanks to the same genealogy website it doesn't take long.

With her biological father found, Shapiro must now try to understand the small pieces of information he shares with her about the circumstances of her birth and his insistence that his privacy and that of his family be respected at all times.

Shapiro’s writing is engaging and situates us in the heart of the story rather than giving us a removed overview of her life-changing experience. 

While Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love is one woman's story, I suspect it won't be the last we read about people discovering family secrets as a result of DNA tests/genealogy websites. 

Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro is published by Daunt Books and is available in hardback, paperback and ebook format. 

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do and want to show your support you can buy me a coffee here. 

If I Never Met You By Mhairi McFarlane

If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane. Advance Reader Copy (eARC) from the publisher via Netgalley included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

I wrote a newsletter a few months ago about the fact that I was wrong about chick lit and how my judgement of the entire genre was misguided and, to be honest, ridiculous. What better way to correct my mistake than by reading and reviewing more contemporary rom-coms, which seems to be what the industry is calling chick lit these days. 

First up we have If I Never Met You* by Mhairi McFarlane.

When Laurie's partner of 18 years breaks up with her, she is left trying to figure out where it all went wrong. How could the man she has been with since university suddenly decide that children, marriage and settling down are not for him?

Within a few months Dan announces that his new girlfriend is pregnant and Laurie's confusion turns to frustration and anger.

Enter Jamie - a work colleague Laurie doesn't particularly like, not least because of his reputation as a womaniser.

When they are stuck in a lift together Jamie proposes they start a fake/for show romantic relationship. His motivation is to impress their bosses in a bid to become the next partner at their law firm. Laurie is hesitant, but agrees because she could do with some fun. That it will likely make her ex jealous doesn't hurt either!

While the faux-romance is central to the story, Mhairi McFarlane brilliantly weaves female friendships, feminism and Laurie's experience of being biracial into the plot giving us realistic characters even if the initial premise seems far-fetched. I really enjoyed it!

If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane is published by Harper Collins and is available in paperback and ebook format.

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do you can show your support by buying me a coffee here.

Burn It Down: Women Writing About Anger Edited By Lilly Dancyger

Burn It Down: Women Writing About Anger edited by Lilly Dancyger. No Advance Reader Copies included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here. 

Burn It Down: Women Writing About Anger edited by Lilly Dancyger is full of anger, yes, but also nuance. The essays in this collection explore what it means to be angry, accepting your anger, how your anger is perceived by society depending on your race, religion or gender identity and so much more. 

In her introduction, Lilly Dancyger mentions that her early edit suggestions for a lot of writers were about getting them to express their anger more rather than simply write around it, as many had been doing, which I think shows why this collection is so necessary. We do not talk about women’s anger enough. 

The stand out essays for me are Lungs Full of Burning by Leslie Jamison, My Body Is A Sickness Called Anger by Lisa Marie Basile, On Transfeminine Anger by Samantha Riedel, My Name and My Voice by Reema Zaman, and The Colour Of Being Muslim by Shaheen Pasha.

Lungs Full of Burning sees Leslie Jamison realise that she is, in fact, angry despite years of insisting she wasn’t. 

My Body Is A Sickness Called Anger is a must read for anyone wanting to better understand the experience of being a woman living with chronic illness and dealing with a medical system intent on disbelieving your pain. 

In On Transfeminine Anger, Samantha Riedel writes brilliantly about how her relationship with anger changed before, during and after her transition. 

My Name and My Voice is a powerful essay about how anger can be liberating.

The Colour of Being Muslim is an insightful look at Shaheen Pasha’s lived experience and the balancing act involved in expressing anger as a Muslim woman; being too confrontational risks being considered a terrorist, but being too quiet means being seen as an oppressed woman in need of saving. 

Burn It Down: Women Writing About Anger edited by Lilly Dancyger is published by Seal Press and is available in hardback and ebook format.

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do you can show your support by buying me a coffee here. 

Best Books Of 2019

Some Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) included. They are marked with an *. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Original Photo by Plush Design Studio on Unsplash

I was going to begin this blog post with a few words about how I read less books this year than I have in previous years, but when I double checked on Goodreads it turns out that’s not true. I actually read more books than I did in 2018. 

I think the fact that so many of them were read during insomnia fuelled nights meant I wasn’t paying close attention to numbers. Which is no bad thing! The numbers thing, that is. I could do without the insomnia. 

In keeping with previous years, this list is a mix of books published this year and backlist titles that have been on my to-read list for a while. 

The Art Of Misdiagnosis:Surviving My Mother’s Suicide by Gayle Brandeis

This book hit me hard, in the best possible way. It’s a reading experience I won’t forget. 

When Gayle Brandeis’s mother dies by suicide, she naturally wants to understand why. Weaving together the details of the weeks surrounding her mother’s death, transcripts from the documentary about rare illnesses her mother was working on, and Brandeis’s own experience with illness and misdiagnosis, The Art of Misdiagnosis is a compelling look at the devastating effects of a complicated family history. 

How To Write An Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee

Y’know that feeling you get when you read the first few pages of something and immediately know it’s a book you’ll hold close to your heart and reread multiple times? That’s how I feel about How to Write an Autobiographical Novel. 

The essays in this collection explore Chee’s experiences of being Korean American, a gay man, an activist and a writer. How to Write an Autobiographical Novel is poignant, nuanced and full of empathy. 

It’s OK That You’re Not OK by Megan Devine

Following the sudden death of her partner, Matt, Megan Devine, who is a trained psychotherapist, realised that how we talk about grief isn’t always in the best interest of people who are grieving. Rather than seeing grief as a problem to be solved, It’s OK That You’re Not OK views grief as an emotion people learn to live with not move on from. 

A friend recommended It’s OK That You’re Not OK because they thought Megan Devine’s approach to grief would resonate with me. They were right. 

The Year Of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

In December 2003, Joan Didion’s husband John Gregory Dunne died suddenly. A few days previously their daughter Quintana was admitted to hospital and placed in an induced coma due to septic shock. In the weeks following Dunne’s death, Quintana made a recovery only to fall seriously ill again a few months later. 

The Year of Magical Thinking is Didion’s experience of this heartbreaking period of her life. Didion writes about early grief with honesty and clarity many do not have when processing their grief. 

All The Bad Apples by Moïra Fowley-Doyle

All The Bad Apples by Moïra Fowley-Doyle is a beautifully written magical realism novel - full of witches, ghosts and banshees - about familial bonds, queerness, rage, generational trauma and the impact of the shame, stigma and silence surrounding it.

Deena's older sister Mandy is missing, presumed dead. Mandy's life has always been complicated, to put it mildly, so many view her death as the natural conclusion to her troubled ways. But Deena knows Mandy isn't dead.

Then letters from Mandy start arriving, explaining that their family is cursed and has been for generations. Deena sets off in search of Mandy and to put an end to the curse.

Is she prepared for the revelations that await her?

Constellations by Sinéad Gleeson*

Constellations* is the latest in a long line of books by Irish women writers that I struggle to review because I can’t get past screaming “you need to read this immediately” at people. Seriously, go read it. NOW!

Dealing with themes of illness, pain, motherhood, and bodies, Gleeson’s essays are personal, political and cultural. Gleeson writes about her own experiences in the wider context of a changing society, with an eye both on the past and the future.

Other Words For Smoke by Sarah Maria Griffin

When their house burns down, Rita Frost and her teenage ward, Bevan, are never seen again. The only people who know what happened are Mae and her twin brother Rossa. 

Having spent two summers at their aunt’s house, Mae and Rossa learn that nothing is ever quite what it seems. For starters, Rita and Bevan are witches and there appears to be something or someone living in the walls. 

Other Words for Smoke is a gloriously odd story about love (particularly queer love), obsession, fear, the occult, and power.

Make It Scream, Make It Burn by Leslie Jamison

Make It Scream, Make It Burn by Leslie Jamison is not only one of my favourite books of the year, but also one of the best essay collections I have read in a while.

Jamison's subjects include a whale deemed "the loneliest whale in the world", children who claim to remember their past lives, people who use the online community Second Life and the impact it has on their real life, and a museum dedicated to relationship breakups.

These essays are about connection, longing and obsession. Jamison writes with a caring yet critical eye and explores her motivations for covering the stories she does and how she chooses to shape the narrative of people's lives.

Anseo by Úna-Minh Kavanagh

I read Anseo in one sitting. That's how compelling it is.

From Úna-Minh's adoption in Vietnam and her childhood in Kerry to her experience of racism in Ireland—particularly an incident in Dublin where she was not only verbally abused, but spat on—and her desire to make the Irish language accessible to as many people as possible; Anseo packs a lot into less than 200 pages.

Yet it doesn't feel rushed. Its conversational tone makes it feel like you're having a long chat over coffee—or something stronger—with Úna-Minh Kavanagh. Úna-Minh's love of her mother, Noreen and grandfather, Paddy leaps off the page.

Minor Monuments by Ian Maleney 

I read Minor Monuments after I saw Ian Maleney speak at an event during Listowel Writers’ Week. This collection of essays, stemming from Maleney’s grandfather having Alzheimer’s disease, explores memory, family and what we mean when we talk about home. 

These essays are so devastatingly beautiful I took a break between reading each one. I wanted time to sit with them before moving on to the next. I didn’t want them to end and I'm already planning a reread. 

Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss

Ghost Wall* by Sarah Moss is a beautifully written strange and twisted tale of Silvie who is spending the summer with her parents in the Northumberland countryside. Thanks to her father’s obsession with the Iron Age, they are taking part in an experimental archaeology exercise to see what life was like then. Just how far will he go in pursuit of an authentic experience?

Follow Me To Ground by Sue Rainsford

I read Follow Me To Ground without knowing much about the plot beforehand. I gathered there were some supernatural or magical realism elements, but that was about it. I won’t give too much away here because I think the not knowing enhances the reading experience.

Ada and her father aren’t like everyone else. People generally avoid them, unless they are in need of healing when necessity outways fear. Soon Ada finds yourself forced to make a decision that will not only change her life, but drastically alter the world around her.

Perfectly Preventable Deaths by Deirdre Sullivan

Perfectly Preventable Deaths by Deirdre Sullivan is an engrossing witchy tale about connection, familial bonds, secrets, queerness, and what it’s like to be a teenage girl in a small town dealing (or not dealing) with the shadow of bodies found in the nearby mountains. 

When 15 year-old Madeline and Catlin move to Ballyfran, with their mother and step-father, they are unsure what to expect. It soon becomes apparent that the town is full of secrets. As Catlin quickly falls in love with a local boy, Madeline has more than a few misgivings. 

Can their sisterly bond withstand the strange forces at play in Ballyfran? 

Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino*

I’ve been a fan of Jia Tolentino’s work for a while, so I was excited to get my hands on an advance copy of her debut essay collection Trick Mirror* earlier in the year. The nine essays did not disappoint.

Trick Mirror*is a perfect blend of personal, cultural and political writing, which looks at everything from the rise of the internet, social media and Tolentino’s experience as a reality TV contest to what makes a successful American scammer and sexual harassment.

The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang

The Collected Schizophrenias is a collection of essays about Esmé Weijun Wang’s experience of living with schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type and a commentary on the continued stigmatisation of the “collected schizophrenias”.

Wang writes about her diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder (bipolar type), involuntary hospitalisation, differing opinions among the medical community as to whether schizophrenia is a single diagnosis or a collection of similar mental illnesses, how schizophrenia is portrayed in pop culture, and dealing with PTSD and Lyme disease honestly and sensitively.

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do you can show your support by buying me a coffee here.

Black Wood By Derek Flynn

Black Wood by Derek Flynn. Advance Reader Copy (ARC) from the author included. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

How far would you go to get out? And once you get out, how far would you go to protect the secrets from your past?

When our unnamed narrator receives an unexpected phone call from Samantha, someone he went to school with it, he knows something must be wrong. He is right and they need to find a way of their past remaining as just that, in the past.

Split between their school days in Concord and 25 years later, Black Wood is a tale of conspiracy, obsession and what happens when life in a small town gets complicated. But can our narrator’s version of events be trusted? Has his need, as a writer, for the perfect story clouded his judgement so much that we never get a clear picture of what happened in the Black Wood all those years ago?

In a break from his popular John Ryan series, Black Wood is a standalone thriller where the action takes place without much input from cops. That is actually where its beauty lies, in the spaces between law and order. The spaces between things that happen to us and the things we choose to do. The spaces between our past actions and their impact on our future lives.

Black Wood is unsettling and compelling, a must read!

Black Wood is available in paperback and as an ebook from Amazon here and here.

About the author

Derek Flynn is an Irish writer and musician with a Masters in Creative Writing from Trinity College, Dublin. BLACK WOOD is his third novel. His previous books BROKEN FALLS and THE DEAD GIRLS have been a big hit with readers – THE DEAD GIRLS featured on a number of book blogger’s “Best of 2018” lists and came in at number 11 in the Rick O’Shea Book Club poll of the “Best Irish Books of 2018”.

He is also a regular contributor to Writing.ie, where he writes his “Songbook” column.

Like most writers, he is fuelled solely by caffeine and self-doubt.

You’ll find him on Twitter as @DerekFlynn03

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do you can show your support by buying me a coffee here.

Best Books of 2018

Some Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) included. They are marked with an *. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Original Photo by Mahendra Kumar on Unsplash

A more accurate title for this post would be My Favourite Books of 2018 because not all of them were published in 2018, but I called my first yearly book round-up the ‘Best Books of’ back in 2015 and feel the need to be consistent so we’re just going to go with it.

2018 was the year I stopped rating books by stars on Goodreads. I still list the books I’ve read (you can find me here), but I realised that star ratings are not something I judge books on and, to be honest, there can be so little difference between four and five stars that they feel pointless.

It was also the year of reading to my own schedule instead of feeling that I needed to read the latest releases all the time. That said, by being more selective with the advance reader copies I accepted six of my top ten were books I was sent for review purposes (they’re marked with an * throughout the post). Turns out I quite enjoy reading new releases, even when it is at my own pace!

This Really Isn’t About You by Jean Hannah Edelstein*

This Really Isn’t About You* is my sleeper hit of the year. I enjoyed it when I read it, but I wasn’t the expecting to still have a book hangover months later. After years abroad Jean Hannah Edelstein moves back to the US because her father has terminal cancer. Shortly after her return, he dies. Edelstein is faced with the possibility that she has inherited a gene that makes her more susceptible to cancer and the decision of whether or not to find out for sure.

Pain Woman Takes Your Keys, and Other Essays from a Nervous System by Sonya Huber

A collection of essays about living with chronic pain, particularly the pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis, sounds right up my street. So much so, that I am surprised I haven’t come across Sonya Huber’s work before. No matter, I’m glad I finally have! Pain Woman Takes Your Keys struck so many chords with me that I basically highlighted the entire the book. Hearing someone else express the same frustrations I regularly experience, like struggling to rate my pain on the ridiculous scale doctors insist on using or not really knowing how to navigate talking about your chronic pain on social media, was genuinely life changing. Objectively I knew I wasn’t the only one to feel these things, but Huber writes in a way that feels like she is inside my head. I’ll be recommending this one to people with chronic pain, as well as people who want to learn more about what living with an invisible illness is like, for years to come.

The Hoarder by Jess Kidd*

The Hoarder* is a wonderfully strange tale full of secrets, betrayal and humour. Maud Drennan is a carer with a difference; she spends her days surrounded by the ghosts of saints and being far more psychic than she would like. When she meets her newest client, Cathal Flood, she finds herself drawn to the secrets his house full of junk might hold. But Cathal’s temperament mean it’s best not too ask him too many questions. So, it’s up to Maud and her agoraphobic landlady, Renata, to get to the bottom of why Cathal is living the way he is.

The Water Cure by Sophie Macintosh*

Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Sophie Mackintosh’s debut The Water Cure* is a coming-of-age story with power, survival and sisterhood at its heart. Grace, Lia and Sky are sisters who are kept away from the outside world. This is for their own protection according to their mother and father, King. The world makes women physically sick and men are not to be trusted, but as long as the sisters do things their parent’s way everything will be alright. However, the arrival of a group of men will change their lives forever.

Skin Deep by Liz Nugent*

Liz Nugent’s appearance on my best of list is something of a tradition, but she has yet to have a misstep as far as I’m concerned. Cordelia Russell is a woman who drinks too much, perhaps because her life is, to put it mildly, complicated. Throw in the dead body in her apartment and the word ‘complicated’ no longer even begins to cover it. Skin Deep* is a devilishly good read about a woman who appears not to have a caring, or a likeable, bone in her body!

Promising Young Women by Caroline O’Donoghue

There was a time when I would have described Promising Young Women as chick-lit with a difference or chick-lit but better. That is until Caroline O’Donoghue and her Sentimental Garbage podcast made me rethink why I saw chick-lit as something less than. Chick-lit is now a badge I intend to use with the pride it is intended! Promising Young Women is brilliant chick-lit. What starts as a, seemingly, familiar story about a young woman starting an ill-advised relationship with an older man from work soon takes a Gothic turn. You may not make the same choices Jane does (or, hey, maybe you would!), but there is a lot we can learn about ourselves from her mistakes.

Almost Love by Louise O’Neill*

I never did complete that review of Almost Love* that I promised back in March. I’m still gathering my thoughts about Sarah’s relationship with Matthew and the impact it has not only on her relationship with her boyfriend, Oisin, but with herself. That’s what makes it a must-read. It messes with your head and, if you’re anything like me, makes you question the narratives we are fed about obsessive love and self-worth.

Notes to Self by Emilie Pine

Essays made up a not insignificant amount of the reading I did this year. I’m a huge fan of Narratively’s Memoir Monday newsletter, which makes finding the best of the best personal essays a whole lot easier. When it comes to essay collections Notes to Self left a lot for others to live up to. Ranging from her father’s alcoholism, infertility, mental ill-health, to feminism and rape culture these essays are deeply personal. Yet they strike the right tone and never feel like oversharing. Emilie Pine’s writing is honest, confronting, reflective and absorbing.

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Another one from the Man Booker Prize longlist, Normal People follows Marianne and Connell from their childhood in rural Ireland to their college days in Dublin. Their relationship has always been complicated and adulthood doesn’t make it any less so. Sally Rooney has a way of writing characters that get under your skin and refuse to leave. It seems simple, but takes a great deal of skill.

People Like Me by Lynn Ruane

Senator Lynn Ruane is not what most people expect a politician to be like. That is not to do Ruane a disservice, she makes no secret of the fact that she never expected people like her to become politicians much less become a politician herself. From her experience with addiction, to becoming a mother at the age of 15, to returning to education and finding her voice through student politics People Like Me may be a personal story, but it explores issues that affect wider society. Issues around class and whose stories get to be told.

The Books That Made Me Who I Am

We are all shaped by the world around us. In positive ways, negative ways and complicated ways. When you read a lot, words on pages help shape your thinking and experiences. Sometimes you understand why. Sometimes books affect you in ways you cannot fully explain or understand.

The Hours by Michael Cunningham

How, Laura wonders, could someone who was able to write a sentence like that—who was able to feel everything contained in a sentence like that—come to kill herself?

This definitely falls into the “I do not completely understand why this book gets under my skin the way it does” category, but if books lived in blood streams The Hours would be found in mine. If I’ve ever bought you a book, loaned you a book, or gushed about a book over coffee/drinks with you there is a good chance this was it. It reduced me to tears the first time I read and continues to do so with every re-read.

Zlata’s Diary by Zlata Filipović

War is no joke, it seems. It destroys, kills, burns, separates, brings unhappiness.

I read Zlata’s Diary in primary school. A group of Bosnian refugees were staying in a nearby hospital so my teacher added this to our reading list in an effort to help us understand what they had gone through. It was my first realisation that war wasn’t always confined to the pages of history books.

365 Bedtime Stories by Nan Gilbert

This collection of short stories and poetry turned me into a reader. My Dad used to read them to and with me, as the title suggests, at bedtime. Reading has played a large part in my life ever since.

Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights by Katha Pollitt

They can’t push women all the way back, but they can use women’s bodies to keep them under surveillance and control.

I haven’t always been pro-choice, so it would be impossible to write this list without including a book about abortion rights. I chose Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Right because it completely changed my thinking on the phrase “abortion on demand” and informed me of its pro-choice roots.

The Book of Brave by Laura Jane Williams

There is no “good” and “bad”. It all just is. You just are. We all just are.

The Book of Brave is an ebook which is no longer available, but I need to include it because these essays genuinely changed my life. Laura Jane Williams’ emphasis on the importance of not beating yourself up for things you’ve done in past may sound simple, but it was exactly what I needed to hear when I first read it. You cannot change things after they have happened. You can only learn from them, but you can’t erase them.

Mercury By Margot Livesey

Mercury by Margot Livesey. Advance Reader Copy (ARC) from the publisher, Sceptre, via bookbridgr. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Donald thought he had it all; a thriving marriage, happy children and a job as an optometrist he loves. Sight is his thing, yet he failed to see his wife Viv’s obsession with a horse named Mercury until it was too late. He couldn’t have predicted that he would end up drawn to Bonnie, who is one of his patients. How did things end up this way?

Yes, the arrival of Mercury marked the biggest change but when did Donald and Viv stop communicating with each other. When did they stop listening to each other? Told in three parts, Mercury is a novel full of questions. Perhaps the most important of which is how far will Donald go to save his marriage and protect his children?

Margot Livesey’s writing is full of quiet moments and observations on life. The result being that Mercury is a slow moving, yet enthralling, exploration of love, marriage, obsession and deceit. With a side of crime.

Mercury by Margot Livesey is published by Sceptre, an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton, and is available in trade paperback and ebook format.

I don’t use affiliate links, but if you like what I do you can show your support by buying me a coffee here.

Best Books Of 2017

Some Advance Reader Copies (ARCs), via Bookbridgr, Netgalley, authors and publishers, included. They will be marked with an *. No affiliate links used. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Original photo: Viktor Hanacek from picjumbo

Now that we’re in 2018, it’s safe to talk about my best books of 2017. I made the mistake of sharing my favourite reads of 2016 before Christmas and then read All We Shall Know by Donal Ryan, so lesson learned; do not write end of year favourites when there is still time in the year.

In keeping with my previous yearly round-ups, most of the books I read were written by women. What started as a conscious effort has become second nature. I rated more books five stars on Goodreads (you can find me here) this year, than the previous two combined. I’ve been more selective with my choices, especially when it comes to advance reader copies, which explains it. I read less crime fiction than I have in a long time, which is something I’ll be writing about soon.

A Line Made by Walking by Sara Baume

Some of these books made me laugh. Some made me cry. Some managed to do both. They all made me think. They all made me want to seek out people who had read them, so we could discuss the stories at length.

When I reviewed this back in September I struggled to get past “this book, oh this book” and that’s still true. A Line Made by Walking is a haunting story about one woman’s love of art and her experience of mental illness. Sara Baume has a way of getting under your skin and never leaving. Go read it.

Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay

I’ve mentioned my love of Roxane Gay numerous times; her writing is thought-provoking, raw, confronting and necessary. The subtitle A Memoir of (My) Body sets the tone of Hunger – this is Gay at her most vulnerable and also most powerful.

Hunger is an exploration of the trauma following rape and sexual assault, food as comfort and crutch, sexuality, and the reality of being a fat woman, particularly a fat black woman, in today’s society.

Spare and Found Parts by Sarah Maria Griffin

In the aftermath of the Turn, a world changing event where our reliance on computers comes back to bite us, Nell is trying desperately to live up to the achievements of her father and deceased mother. But post-apocalyptic Dublin is a lonely place when you’re scrambling to figure out who you are and what you can contribute to the good of society. When she finds a mannequin hand, Nell has a moment of inspiration – what if she builds herself a companion?

Spare and Found Parts is strange, wonderful and beautifully written. Nell Crane will forever have a special place in my heart.

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman*

This is story of Frances, Jet and their brother Vincent. Frances and Jet will be familiar to fans of Practical Magic, they’re the Aunts. Here we see them grow up, discover their powers and grapple with the curse that has haunted the women of the Owens family since 1620.

The Rules of Magic is the perfect blend darkness and light; full of humour, while being heart-wrenching. Vincent, in particular, is someone I won’t forget about in a hurry.

I’ve struggled with Hoffman in recent years, but this is a return to form. It lived up to all my expectations and then some.

An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison

As a world renowned clinic psychologist, Kay Redfield Jamison literally wrote the book on manic depression, Manic-Depressive Illness which she co-authored with Fredrick K. Goodwin. A few years later Jamison spoke about her own illness in An Unquiet Mind, changing how many view manic depression.

It’s easy to see why. As someone who has experience of manic depression (she makes a strong case for her dislike of the switch to the term bipolar disorder) from both and clinical and patient perspective, Jamison’s memoir is a unique look at psychiatry, the first-hand experience and how the two do or don’t meet.

Himself by Jess Kidd*

Mulderrig isn’t a particularly welcoming village to outsiders, something Mahony discovers early on. Mahony is determined to find out what happened to his mother, an event the residents of Mulderrig want left untouched at all costs. But someone knows the truth and Mahony isn’t leaving until he finds it. Aided by the flamboyant Mrs. Cauley, Mahony sets about questioning everyone about their whereabouts on that fateful night. But, much like Mulderrig itself, there is more to Mahony than meets the eye…namely the dead. But will they help or hinder him?

A must read that is as breathtakingly creepy as it is full of humour. Kidd weaves a web of magical realism around a mystery with its roots firmly planted in Ireland’s dark past.

My Lovely Wife: A Memoir of Madness and Hope by Mark Lukach

When I read Mark’s initial article , I would have liked to hear more from Giulia about her experience. While that’s still true, I’ve a new found appreciation for Mark’s perspective.

As an exploration of the changing power dynamics within a relationship and marriage when one person has a mental illness, I know I’ll be re-reading My Lovely Wife, probably multiple times.

I’ll have a full length review of The Argonauts once I figure out how to do more than gush about it, endlessly. Gorgeous, glorious and thought-provoking come to mind, but they don’t truly do it justice. My copy is covered in tabs and I know I’ll re-read it multiple times and gain something new with each reading.

Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights by Katha Pollitt

Roe v. Wade may have been over forty years ago, but access to abortion in the US is constantly under threat from Republican politicians. Pollitt makes the moral case for abortion. She takes on the personhood arguments and places lived experiences of women front and centre.

This book completely changed my thinking on the phrase “abortion on demand” and reminded me of its pro-choice roots.

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

Frances and her best friend Bobbi regularly perform spoken-word poetry together at literary events around Dublin. When they attract the attention of Melissa, a photographer and journalist, Bobbi is drawn to Melissa and Frances finds herself falling for Nick, Melissa’s husband.

Conversation with Friends is an intimate look at relationships, life and figuring out who you are. I read it in September and it’s still on my mind. It’s that good.

5 Books About Abortion Rights

My current reading list is a deep dive into abortion rights and pro-choice movements both here and abroad.

The Moral Case for Abortion by Ann Furedi

Ann Furedi is the CEO of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), a not-for-profit provider of abortion in the UK. In The Moral Case for Abortion she discusses the importance of bodily autonomy when it comes to making personal decisions about reproductive intentions. Supporting women who choose to have abortions is the right thing to do.

Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights by Katha Pollitt

Roe v. Wade may have been over forty years ago, but access to abortion in the US is constantly under threat from Republican politicians. Like Furedi, Pollitt makes the moral case for abortion. She takes on the personhood arguments and places lived experiences of women front and centre.

Ireland’s Hidden Diaspora: the ‘abortion trail’ and the making of the London-Irish underground, 1980-2000 by Ann Rossiter

An oral history of the Irish Women’s Abortion Support Group (IWASG) and the Irish Abortion Solidarity Campaign (Iasc) and the women who, for over 20 years, supported thousands of women a year who travelled from Ireland and Northern Ireland to have abortions in the UK.

The Abortion Papers Ireland: Volume 1 edited by Ailbhe Smyth

Written in the aftermath of the X-Case, this collection of essays combines activism and scholarship to give an overview of the Eighth Amendment and the fight for reproductive rights in Ireland.

The Abortion Papers Ireland: Volume 2 edited by Aideen Quilty, Sinead Kennedy and Catherine Conlon

The Abortion Papers Ireland: Volume 2 looks at the Eighth Amendment, its affects on pregnancy and abortion and the ongoing efforts by pro-choice activists to have it repealed. It also delves into the expansion of the modern pro-choice movement in Ireland.

5 Books About Bipolar Disorder

When I first wrote about being diagnosed with bipolar disorder my inboxes were flooded with recommendations for books I just had to read.

I can understand why, reading about something we are experiencing is almost instinctual for some people. I am one of those people. Many of the books people recommended were already on my radar. Some were already on my Kindle. Some had a bigger impact on me than others. All taught me something about bipolar disorder or myself. The really good ones did both.

Tristimania: A Diary of Manic Depression by Jay Griffiths

Tristimania is Jay Griffiths preferred term for her mixed-state bipolar episode; the 18th-century word was used to describe a specific combination of melancholia and mania.

Griffiths sets out specifically to capture the experience of mania while still in the midst of it. Tristimania is an unflinching account of manic depression as well as an exploration of the perceived link(s) between mental illness and creativity.

Madness: A Bipolar Life by Marya Hornbacher

By her early 20s Marya Hornbacher had written and published a memoir about living with and beginning to recover from anorexia and bulimia. That book, Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia became an international bestseller. Hornbacher was subsequently diagnosed with bipolar I disorder, something which had likely gone undetected since childhood. Undetected in the sense that it was undiagnosed, but as Madness shows Hornbacher has been living with mental illness from a young age.

Hornbacher doesn’t shy away from the realities of manic depression, particularly when it is rapid cycling and features psychosis.

An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison

As a world renowned clinic psychologist, Kay Redfield Jamison literally wrote the book on manic depression, Manic-Depressive Illness which she co-authored with Fredrick K. Goodwin. A few years later Jamison spoke about her own illness in An Unquiet Mind, changing how many view manic depression.

It’s easy to see why. As someone who has experience of manic depression (she makes a strong case for her dislike of the switch to the term bipolar disorder) from both a clinical and a patient perspective, Jamison’s memoir is a unique look at psychiatry, the first-hand experience and how the two do or don’t meet.

My Lovely Wife: A Memoir of Madness and Hope by Mark Lukach

When I read Mark’s initial article , I would have liked to hear more from Giulia about her experience. While that’s still true, I’ve a new found appreciation for Mark’s perspective.

As an exploration of the changing power dynamics within a relationship and marriage when one person has a mental illness, I know I’ll be re-reading My Lovely Wife, probably multiple times.

A Beginner’s Guide to Losing Your Mind: My road to staying sane, and how to navigate yours by Emily Reynolds

A Beginner’s Guide to Losing Your Mind is one of the best books I’ve read about mental illness. It’s thoughtful and insightful, while understanding that there is no one size fits all answer. Emily Reynolds balances the personal, the private and the practical in a sensitive way.