Links, Tips and Suggestions

Reading suggestions, interesting links and important ideas from the literary world. (II)

[A reminder in case you are new here that this is a place where I share tips about books and publishing - and also interesting stories in the literary world. Some of those I will find - but I warmly welcome reader contributions in the comments. (They are open!)]

Hello!

Welcome to the second Links, Tips And Suggestions. I was touched and delighted by all the people who signed up following the (re)launch two weeks ago. Thank you.

But that’s enough about my feelings. We’ve got more important things to talk about. We’ve got books to talk about.

First up, some reader recommendations :

• Liz S is straight in with the powerfully strange stuff:

  A couple of novels that merge reality with otherworldliness and a sense of being unsettled. This Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again by M John Harrison made me think about the state of Britain when I read it back in 2020, and I also enjoyed its variously odd, compelling scenarios and comic moments. And I learned things about the Thames that I hadn't known.

  To the North by Elizabeth Bowen was published nearly ninety years earlier and, unlike This Sunken Land, has upper-class characters trying to deal with the outside world and personal uncertainty. There are references to of the supernatural. There's a 'romantic interest' who exercises very troubling coercive control. There's comedy. Maybe some readers see some of Bowen's novels as, I don't know, uneven? And her sentences can be annoyingly convoluted, but I find To the North one of her most interesting books.

• D LO has been reading A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and:

My heart is bursting.

I have come late to this particular Dicken's classic - I have read most of Dicken's books- some of them two or three times. This one however has to be one of his greatest: human nature at its best and worst.

Coincidentally, I’ve been re-reading that one too. My copy is showing signs of love:

I haven’t finished yet, but The Inimitable Charles Dickens has already given my emotional innards a damn good pummelling. I’ve just reached the famous scene where Monseigneur’s carriage takes out an innocent bystander, and by god. The controlled rage of the writing. It’s something else.

Oh and there has also already been some ominous knitting. Much more to come, I know. More knitting. So yes, who wouldn’t agree with D Lo? It’s wonderful.

• Following on from a mention of the mighty Lawrence Sterne last time, a contributor called f & c suggests Tristram Shandy:

😃 It is hilarious...

And I also highly recommend The Life And Opinions Of Tomcatt Murr by E.T.A. Hoffmann

And If On A Winter’s Night A Traveller by Italo Calvino.

All three very witty and funny and entertaining (and utterly playful - playful enough that it wasn't boring at all to write my Master's thesis in Comparative Literature on them).

• Nigel Warman adds:

Everyone should read Tristram Shandy at least once. I will now promote it to the top of my vast unread pile for when I finish Linna's Unknown Soldiers (no pun intended) which is also very good indeed.

Oh, and if you enjoy Sterne might I recommend Desani's All About H Hatterr.

• Finally, Drew Gummerson recommends Don Quixote on the grounds that it is “bonkers”.

I am happy, in return, to recommend that you read Drew’s own Substack. Also bonkers, also funny. What’s more, it’s a fascinating and often moving account of Drew’s apprenticeship as a writer and, among other things, the impact of homophobic government legislation on him as a young boy and man in 1980s and 1990s Britain.

Nearly perfect

Elsewhere, my much better half just bought me this:

In the introduction advertised on the cover, Bryson explains that this book “is the story of a group of wonderfully endearing incompetents who set out to conquer the world’s highest peak, the celebrated but seldom seen Rum Doodle (elev, 40,000.5 feet) in its snowy Himalwayan fastness beside the mighty Rankling La.”

Bryson goes on: “Everything about it is nearly perfect - the names of the characters, their mannerisms, their sulks and squabbles, their comfortingly predictable haplessness in the face of every challenge.”

Yep. I’m in. Especially because of that “nearly”. I wonder what he means?

I’ve also been reading this:

Or maybe I should say, this:

That’s Catherine Lacey’s intriguing, reversible, split-down-the-middle, half-novel, half-memoir. Lori Feathers and I just interviewed Catherine for Across The Pond, so I won’t say more now, except that it’s going to be a fantastic episode.

I’m also looking forward to tucking into this beauty by Substack favourite Tom Cox:

Looks wonderful. More on that soon too.

More bad news about Goodreads

The Bookseller has been running an enlightening series of articles about the Amazon-owned yellowing cess-pool that is Goodreads.

They’ve done a fascinating report on author’s getting one-star reviews before anyone has read their books:

“I had a one-star rating for a book that hadn’t even been seen by my copy editor. When I raised it with Goodreads they wouldn’t interfere as they said the reviewer had a perfect right to predict if they’d enjoy it or not.”

As well as people who hate books and authors, the site now also seems to have been taken over by people who just hate in general:

“There are homophobic reviewers who give books one star before ARCs [advance review copies] are out. One such reviewer [...] is notorious in the sapphic/queer-author community for giving thousands of sapphic/queer books one star. A number of sapphic authors have complained to Goodreads about him and unfortunately they have never taken action.”

It’s like Jeff Bezos is projecting his sewer-brain onto cyberspace.

Rest in power

The Scottish independent publisher 404 Ink will close down in 2026.

Details here:

404 Ink: Publisher not found

She’s so Highsmith

There is a wonderful article in The Guardian about being Patricia Highsmith’s assistant. Here’s how the job interview went:

“She sat down in a chair across from me and asked: “Do you like Hemingway?”

She looked me in the eyes for the first time. I drank some of my tepid tap water. I knew the question was important. But I did not know anything about Pat or her life history. I did not know her tastes, or her relationship with other 20th-century North American writers. I did not even know she had lived in New York and Paris. I had read only that one book by her, just before on the train. I set my glass on the table, knowing I was running out of time, like in a gameshow, and I decided it was a heads-or-tails choice. I could not guess the right answer, I reasoned, so I might as well tell the truth. “No,” I answered, as if putting my last chip down on the roulette table.

“I HATE Hemingway!” she screamed.”

Yes, that was the entire interview. One previous assistant gave up to become a monk. Because: of course.

Finally, Private Eye magazine remains as sharp as ever:

Okay

That’s enough for now. If you have recommendations of your own, please do share them in the comments below. And I’ll be back with more soon.

Fondly,

Sam

PS Thanks for reading all the way down here! I do have one more thing: Galley Beggar Press is having a summer sale. 35% off backlist titles. That’s a lot of good books for not much money. Enjoy!