Many of us know @PatrickFreyne1’s acclaimed journalism, but this shows his essayist skills. He’s effortlessly funny (the good/bad stories of band life) but there’s much tenderness too, including a stunning piece on not having kids. Out May, pre-order: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/315/315303/ok--let-s-do-your-stupid-idea/9781844884889.html 6/

In her work, Evie Wyld has many skills: historical time jumps, walk-off-the-page characters, and - hugely in The Bass Rock - atmosphere and setting. Here she examines thwarted lives, ghosts, the sea, gender in this eerie feminist novel. Out March 26th. 7/ https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1112836/the-bass-rock/9781911214397.html

Anne Enright has many gifts: superb characterisation, linguistically sharp, archly funny. This mother/daughter story explores private V public selves & the politics and perils of fame for women. A brilliant, ambitious novel - her work just gets better. 8/ https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/1009089/anne-enright

The Harpy by @meganfnhunter is a brilliant, airless account of an affair and its aftermath; of the small, cumulative furies of motherhood, and the fork in the road of life. Funny, and cutting on the scaffolding of long-term relationships. Out June. https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/megan-hunter/the-harpy/9781529010213 9/

Sanatorium by @abipalmer_bot is a fragmented, filmic memoir exploring chronic illness, health spas, autonomy, the culture of wellness, disability and what it is to be alive, in stunning, hallucinatory prose. Out in April with @pennedinthemargins. http://pennedinthemargins.co.uk 
/10

This lyrical deep dive into motherhood, the domestic and making art is expertly spliced with the story of another woman, 18th century poet Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill. A hybrid, heartfelt memoir that echoes across the centuries. Out in April with @TrampPress. /11

“Sure, sex is fun, but have you ever bent down to ask a dog its name?”

There is no subject @wordscience can’t make funny. Essays on food, blackness, DIY, hygiene, music and a brilliant story about Abbi Jacobson making Irby’s book ‘Meaty’ into a TV show. Out April @FaberBooks /12

If I didn’t have an event on the same night in New York, I’d be dashing to hear Harry Dodge talk to @DarceySteinke about his incredible memoir at @booksaremagicbk on March 26th. Published March 17th by @penguinrandom /13 https://twitter.com/sineadgleeson/status/1187769303959035905?s=21are-magic

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/events/12336441/books-are-magic-llc-dba-books-are-magic https://twitter.com/sineadgleeson/status/1187769303959035905

Back to his thread (no events in New York now, sadly). Finding it hard to find the time to read as much with kids at home and avoiding the news, but will keep adding books I've read, ones I want to read, and upcoming books with cancelled launches that could do with your support.

March 26th was meant to be the launch of @RuthGilligan's The Butchers, a mystery of sorts, that starts with a graphic photo and set during the BSE-crisis in 1996. Ruth is interviewed in today's @SunTimesIreland here: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/ireland/ruth-gilligan-beefs-up-true-stories-for-the-butchers-fp57vrnln

Pre-order: https://atlantic-books.co.uk/book/the-butchers/ 14/

Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet tells the story of Shakespeare's only son, who died at 11. She's an extraordinary storyteller and Maggie takes over her husband's @Will_Sutcliffe8 a/c on 31/03, 8pm for a launch /15

Interview: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/22/maggie-ofarrell-novel-hamnet-interview-the-agony-of-burying-your-child

Pre-order: https://www.tinderpress.co.uk/tag/maggie-ofarrell/

The Dominant Animal by @K_Scanlan_, micro short stories about dogs, surgeons, florists often told in 1.5 pages. Occasionally eerie or comic, but brilliant.

Out April 7th @DauntBooksPub: https://dauntbookspublishing.co.uk/book/the-dominant-animal/

This story in @GrantaMag blew me away:
https://granta.com/the-poker/ 
16/

To Be A Machine’s @mrkocnnll returns with a too-real look - as writer and father - at the apocalypse; from billionaires buying New Zealand boltholes, to Chernobyl tourism. Terrifying, but funny and tender too. /17

Extract: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/24/magazine/chernobyl-tourism.html

Order: https://granta.com/products/notes-from-an-apocalypse/

Working my way through this Desmond Elliott Prize pile (Sameer Rahim’s Asghar and Zahra read as a PDF). A gift to have such an eclectic and diverse book pile during lockdown. @soniasodha, @PretiTaneja and I will narrow it down to a shortlist of three. @writerscentre #DEP20
18/28

“Everywhere on earth, with every day that dawns, a woman stands surrounded by men ready to throw stones at her.”

From A Girl’s Story by Annie Ernaux, an autofictional account of the pivotal years of her late teens. Out now with @FitzcarraldoEds. https://fitzcarraldoeditions.com/books/a-girls-story 29/

Ernaux is “haunted by the girl of ‘58”, and how she fears she’ll die before she gets to write about her. A Girl’s Story is about many things - desire, expectation, the people we become - but it’s also very focused on writing, craft and the possibilities of what it can do.

The book explores gendered double-standards of desire and the lifelong impact certain (desired) people can have: in Ernaux’s case, a man called ‘H’ who treats her badly, and the discrepancy of their viewpoints. She concludes:

“I do not envy him: I’m the one who is writing.”

Currently reading (and really liking) Amina Cain’s Indelicacy, a quiet and surreal feminist fable of art and belonging, which was meant to be published this week by @DauntBooksPub, but will be out in September, and in the US in November with @fsgbooks https://dauntbooks.co.uk/shop/books/indelicacy/ 30/

“Withdrawal to the desert is called anachoresis in Greek.”

Jenny Offill’s ‘Weather’ tackles political anxiety, climate change, family and escapism, through Lizzie, a librarian obsessed with apocalypse preppers. Funny, fragmentary and existential.

https://granta.com/products/weather/ 31/

I’ll be in conversion with Jenny Offill about Weather next Friday for a @foeireland event to mark #WorldEnvironmentDay. Starts 8pm, Friday June 5th - just register here:
https://bit.ly/WeatherWebinar?source=twitter& @GrantaBooks