New arrivals - 3

     Today, two new books from Bloomsbury:

     William Boyd really needs no introduction, and Mr. C. is a great fan of his, but I have yet to read him. Here, to start me off, is his latest novel, Ordinary Thunderstorms, a gripping thriller set in contemporary London. After a series of malign accidents, a young man loses everything and finds that both the police and a ruthless hit man are after him. He goes underground and embarks on an extraordinary, revelatory journey through the city.

New territory for me, but a writer whose reputation makes me willing to venture into it with him.

    As I have a dodgy back I shan't be trying to copy the pose on the cover of this book (click to make it bigger and just feel your spine seizing up!) but Colum McCann's  Let the Great World Spin comes very highly recommended so I shall just content myself with reading it. This has New York in 1974 as its setting, and with its themes of love, loss, belonging, duty and human striving, it "celebrates the effervescent spirit of an age and the small beauties of everyday life." I read it is "intimate and magnificent, elegant and astonishing", so that's enough to make me take it off the shelf, even if I don't attempt the contortions.

Comments

[Georgina]

On the subject of William Boyd, 'Restless' is also a very good read.