BBC Music Magazine review: The Chimes

The Chimes

Congratulations to Anna Smaill, whose debut novel The Chimes has been longlisted for the Man Booker prize this year. It's one of the most unusual books I've read in a while, and although I must admit I wasn't quite convinced by the ending, or at least the pacing of the ending, the hypnotic strangeness of the opening and the wonderful use of the musical lexicon to create a distinctive, evocative style has stayed with me. It also means that it's been a good couple of years for literature drawing on classical music: Richard Powers's hugely impressive Orfeo was nominated last year, and now we have Anna Smaill's haunting The Chimes.

Good answer

'No guilt when it comes to music. There are days when Led Zeppelin is the only right thing to listen to.'
Conductor Susanna Mälkki when asked by The Guardian 'What’s your musical guilty pleasure?'  

BBC Cardiff Singer of the World

And I also had a lot of fun going to the final of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World for The Times. If you pay some fine British pounds, you can read my piece on their website: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/music/classical/article4476923.ece

'This was a tough contest. The judges didn’t give away the secrets of their deliberations, although David Pountney, who chaired the jury, did say everyone would have been happier if they could have awarded five prizes.'

We Love This Book

Over the past couple of months I've started doing some book reviewing for We Love This Book, a vibrant website for enthusiastic readers run by the publishing industry's go-to news magazine The Bookseller. So far I've had a lot of fun reading these books:

Flood of Fire by Amitav Ghosh
'A heady 19th century world of opportunity, oppression and opium greets readers of Flood of Fire, the third and final volume of Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis Trilogy.'

http://www.welovethisbook.com/reviews/flood-of-fire

The Truth and Other Lies by Sascha Arango
 'It’s not hard to imagine The Truth and Other Lies on screen as a slick, wryly amusing film noir, such is the tight, action-packed and visual storytelling style of Sascha Arango'

http://www.welovethisbook.com/reviews/the-truth-and-other-lies

The Underwriting by Michelle Miller
'"Get rich. Get laid. Get even" shouts the tag-line on the cover of Michelle Miller’s The Underwriting, summing up neatly the desires in play in her novel.'

http://www.welovethisbook.com/reviews/the-underwriting

Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase
'As in Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca, an old Cornish country house is at the centre of Eve Chase’s enjoyable debut novel, this time it's the Black Rabbit Hall of the title.'

http://www.welovethisbook.com/reviews/black-rabbit-hall

And I've got two more coming up shortly: Generation by Paula McGrath and A Game for All the Family by Sophie Hannah. Hope you enjoy them!