Book Review: Day
February 9, 2024
The characters worked their way right under my skin, and I happily moved through the quiet moments of their days, noticing small changes
Bel likes to read widely around the shelves, but her particular interest lies in literary fiction and non-fiction. Always keen to read and champion writers from Aotearoa and Australia, she keeps a close eye on local publishing as well as international, including a peppering of fiction in translation here and there. She loves reading about messy families, artistic ambition, complex friendships and connection to nature. Favourite authors change weekly, but if pressed, she’d include Kate de Goldi, Elizabeth Strout, Zadie Smith, Eleanor Catton, Helen Garner, Deborah Levy, Robert Macfarlane and Rebecca Solnit.
The characters worked their way right under my skin, and I happily moved through the quiet moments of their days, noticing small changes
This book is bonkers, devastating and completely spellbinding! I couldn’t look away. An entirely unique portrayal of the outsider.
It will make you laugh and cry because it’s zany, delightful, heartfelt and full of truth. One of my favourites that I return to.
You won’t regret reading the original Sally Rooney. A modern classic that’s still completely relevant!
It’s an easy read but full of pathos and memorable moments. This is a book to be passed from woman to woman.
She is courageous in a way I have no desire to be, but deeply admire all the same. I loved spending time with her unusual experiences
Read this delightful debut if you need a good chuckle! It’s a fast but deceptively clever, well-crafted read.
The prose is incredibly understated. It’s stripped back, slowed-down and focused on small moments surrounded by empty space.
I inhaled this warm, funny and occasionally heart-breaking novel about found family set between worn-torn England and sumptuous Italy.
There’s no traditional story arc here, she paints impressionistic moments join together to create a picture of our anxious and absurd times.
McCracken delights in human absurdity and the slippery art of writing about your family – be it fiction or memoir, or both at once.
Not only does it have important questions to ask about history, about art, about land, and the blundering colonial project generally – it’s also a gripping story bursting with a vivid array of characters, vibrant scenery and a good peppering of humour.
It gave me so much to think about as a parent, as a woman, as a potential jury member. Nothing is black and white.
The writing is so immediate and Agnes is an unforgettable character. Puts Shakespeare in a totally different light.
This novel is a window into the life of a tertiary-educated, multi-cultural, queer twenty-something in urban New Zealand.
Tom Kettle is a highly unreliable but utterly loveable narrator, who I desperately wish I could hug and keep safe.
Else’s descriptions of the writing process are particularly fascinating – not to mention the juicy titbits about NZ publishing!
Lucy and William have a gorgeously complex relationship as they continue to delight, infuriate, console and disappoint each other.
Porter’s unique style is perfect for this story. His experimental, rhythmic prose is unbridled, vulgar and wild.
Lucy Barton is one of my favourite characters of all time. From the first page she chats to you like an old friend…