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g ess Louise Fairbairn Louise n es In Th In c y Ima y ark la ife tt Chris Brookmyre Chris £18.99) (Orbit, D Penelope Lively Penelope £14.99) Tree, (Fig P L Ge So it’s an absorbing novel, of make-believe and denial. If you you If denial. and make-believe of is this Ziggy, in believe quite can’t as him presents Flanagan because given ofworld a face thefaceless fantasy. and self-invention to over intermittently very enjoyable too. too. enjoyable very intermittently that thought the avoid can’t I Yet it would have been betterFlanagan had taken morein. less outstuffed and Now in her mid-eighties, mid-eighties, her in Now with ways parts Lively Penelope matter subject perennial her to life middle-class English of an of authority the with write This plantswoman. enthusiastic memoir, nor book, how-to a not is though fantasia, coffee-table nor these all of elements contains it survey gentle a it’s Rather, things. (mostly) in place garden’s the of morphs which culture, Western on meditation personal a into lived. well life a and memory time, Though set in space, Chris Chris space, in set Though is novel latest Brookmyre’s locked-room a essentially de Ciudad in set It’s mystery. where orbit, of edge the on Cielo, that ship a building are scientists humanity take eventually will lives novel The stars. the to out of description author’s the to up patience our as noir”, “space as it rewarded is set-up sci-fi the with on heavy plot crime a with misdirection. and misinformation - - series series Seasons Seasons Sam Priddy Sam , we find find we , ter n My Struggle My i Winter Karl Ove Knausgaard Ove Karl £16.99) Secker, (Harvill W , he again tackles issues issues tackles again he , Yet Yet the strength of the novel In his new series, the the series, new his In Sometimes Knausgaard is is Knausgaard Sometimes of their lives, in their youth. There There youth. their in lives, their of writ descriptive fine very some is go that passages narrative and ing sadness the There’s swing. a with apart, torn or wrong gone lives of the desolation that is the conse break-up. family of quence rests in its mordant intelligence, in its recognition that the world today is essentially Ziggy’s, one Norwegian writer Karl Ove Ove Karl writer Norwegian Knausgaard’s won books autobiographical of literary the of adulation the him of wrath the and establishment members. family certain Quartet time this life, own his to relating descriptions brief of guise the in his for written world the of pretentious, It’s daughter. unborn isn’t it mean doesn’t that but yes, In enjoyable. weather, the on ruminating him his and fatherhood of trials the Each 1970s. the in childhood five to two from ranges entry into. dip to easy it making pages, about bragging off, showing the about knows he much how quantum or owls of physiology veers he times other physics; the imagining surreal, the to from separated brain human moments best the But body. its small detailing simply him find is he when life; his in incidents island an on alone and depressed thrill-seeking the observes and time the or otter; an of behaviour turns take dad fellow a and he Christmas Father as up dressing children. other’s each wow to - - -

t , Alasdair Lees Alasdair American American ouse) H The Ice Storm Ice The The Independen The Flanagan harks back to his narrator’s risk-taking youth, kayaking in Tasmania Tasmania in kayaking youth, risk-taking narrator’s his to back harks Flanagan and and Ziggy is an emblematic figure. There’s some wonderful writ The images themselves echo echo themselves images The from quote a is epigraph The filmic dreamily a Conjuring In a world in which governments governments which in world a In and banks invent money be out difference the of what’s nothing, who man con the and them tween Was the fleeces money he them? real? even ever stole ing about Tasmania and the wildtheand aboutingTasmania exploitskayaking which the nar risk the at enjoyed, Ray and rator this is a work that can be be can that work a is this rediscovered) (and approached equally all ways, of number a coffee ideal an It’s rewarding. companion, bedside or table of flashes for into dipped be to pleasure. meditative captions and playful playful and captions meditative entries other to cross-references pattern Maturity erratic (“An Crisis: Midlife the characterises size manageable a remain may it stature its reach to only years, for days”). turbulent few a in such photographers of work the Alec or Eggleston William as aspects mundane which in Soth, with resonate life American of power. narrative who writer the Agee, James documented mid-1930s the in dustbowl Depression-era photographer with families to “how the In Evans. Walker challenges Hallberg section, use” with dispense to readers “bold” to and approach reading linear a random”. at book the “traverse of shades with spell, Beauty Wild boys boys Wild ichael Joseph) ichael enguin) M P - -

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Top 5 Top Books The Narrow Road to the Deep First Person First Theoutline ofthestory issim More astonishing, the novel novel the astonishing, More North the to Guide Field A irst , has been called Australia’s Australia’s called been has , North greatest living novelist,in. putter a obviously andvery is work on a big canvas; the latter value economy, of words and efof winner Flanagan, Richard fects. ago Prizeyears three theBooker for a which story a telling novel, lous Rash, Ron writer, of sort different at written have might example, for re he this, In length. the of third a sembles Jonathan Franzen, and, big and praise lavish Franzen, like reward. his been have sales writeryoung A living Tas inple. mania is struggling to write his novel. He is haspoor, a wife and young daughter, and there are twins on the way. He supportshimself with odd jobs. Suddenly a publisher makes him a propo the ghost-write to sition:$10,000 most Australia’s of autobiography of the of originally fiction, of work first now is ago, decade a published was an overnight best-seller that that best-seller overnight an was most- the into Hallberg turned year. the of writer hyped over just at in clocking itself, genuine of work a is pages, 900 relentless Hallberg’s brilliance, page. every off gleaming gifts characters of cast a Following New of echelons various from out spins story the society, York Park Central in death a from aria transcendent a into Family American Garth Risk Hallberg pulled off off pulled Hallberg Risk Garth film The 2015. in coup major a Yorker’s New young the to rights novel Hollywood Oscar-winning the by he’d before Rudin Scott producer which – deal book the signed even and in Set $2m. nearly at in came scene punk Manhattan’s around mid-1970s, the in ALSO RELEASED ALSO S Review by Review Allan Massie F

Richard FlanaganRichard £18.99) Windus, & (Chatto The ghostwriter and the man con The ghostwriter

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