Bibliography, May 2026

BOTM: V. Evans, The Correspondent (2025)

A. Citchens, Dominion (2025)
L. Doucet, The finest hotel in Kabul (2025)
D. Fancourt, Art Cure (2026)
E. Guevara, The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)
M. Houlihan, Tripe: a most excellent dish (1987)
M. Hutchinson, The Mercy Step (2026)
R. Kelly, Kingfisher (2025)
L. King, Heart the lover (2025)
J. Mackrell, Artists, Siblings, Visionaries (2025)
A. Roy, The God of small things (1997)
A. Roy, Mother Mary comes to me (2025)
J. Rogoyska, Hotel Exile (2026)
K. Rundell, Explorer (2017)
E. Temelkuran, Nation of Strangers (2026)

Due to the generosity and organisation of a very good friend, I am going to the announcement of the women's prize this year. In preparation for this, I read the shortlists for both the fiction and non-fiction prizes. In honour of this, I am continuing to read only women till then. Somewhat unexpectedly, this seems to have made me very swift in my reading. It may be that the books nominated for the Women's prize are shorter.

Non-fiction shortlist
Disappointingly, I found the non-fiction shortlist weak. There was lots of interest (fascinating on Heinrich Mann, evocative on Afghanistan), but too many of them just weren't tight and clear enough - I have very firm views about this - even the good ones. I was very interested by Art Cure, but it really needed to define art better and distinguish between consuming and creating art. Meanwhile Hotel Exile was all over the place. Is it an history German exiles in France? Is it about the Hotel? Who knows. And I found the conceit around Temelkuran's letter format terrible (see below) as well analytically unsound. My favourite was Roy's memoir, partly because it's spendidly written, partly because it has a fascinating central character, partly because it kept focus. 

Ranking

1. Roy
2. Doucet
3. Fancourt
4. Mackrell
5. Rogoyska
6. Temelkuran

Fiction
This was much better. I loved The correspondent. It was the best of all. It's expertly observed, especially about old people - the protagonist is the same age as my parents. It also uses the format properly. As an epistolary work, it uses the letters to reveal something about writer and receiver as well as advance the plot (unlike Temelkuran). I also, somewhat to my surprise, like Kelly's Kingfisher a lot, though the start was shaky, I thought the end unsettling and moving, and the whole thing done well. Hutchinson I wanted to like more than I did, but I felt it couldn't decide if it wanted to a child's view account, or something weirder (first section is in the womb etc). It fell between two stools for me, though the voice was great. I liked them all though, even Dominion which I felt really failed to show what was driving it all.

Ranking

1. Evans
2. Kelly
3. Hutchinson
4. Choi
5. King
6. Citchens

Other

Amazingly, I managed to squeeze a few others in. I reread The God of small things after the memoir and it's a slightly odd experience when so much is stolen, but so much not. It's 25 years since I read it first and I remember basically nothing, certainly nothing of the plot. But then, it's really an atmosphere book anyway. I liked it a lot, though I didn't think it was outstanding. I am a little annoyed with myself that I failed to finish Guevara in April so do not have a perfect month of women, but I did finish him on May 1st.