Matt Haig

 

At the age of twenty-four, suffering from depression, novelist Matt Haig stood at the edge of a cliff and almost threw himself over. Although he pulled back from suicide the episode heralded years of mental illness. Depression is, he wrote in Reasons to Stay Alive, ‘total exposure. A red-raw naked mind. A skinned personality.’

Haig has written perceptively about mental illness, and both Reasons to Stay Alive and his new book, Notes on a Nervous Planet, have been bestsellers. I reviewed Reasons to Stay Alive when it came out in 2015 (you can read that review here) and I recently reviewed Notes on a Nervous Planet for the Sunday Times – you can read the review here.

Louis de Bernières’ new book

So Much Life Left Over

Back in the 90s, when I was just starting out as a reviewer, the Sunday Times sent me a book called Captain Correlli’s Mandolin, which had just come out in paperback. At that time, Louis de Bernières was known for three magic realist novels set in South America, and Captain Correlli’s Mandolin had yet to become a bestseller. I no longer have my review of it, but I remember being bowled over. I like to think my enthusiastic review contributed in some small way to its massive success (spoiler: it probably didn’t).

This is a rather roundabout way of getting to his new novel, So Much Life Left Over. Having enjoyed his other books, I was very much looking forward to reading his new one, the second in a planned trilogy. You can read my review in the Literary Review here

A Couple of Reviews

Rock and Roll is Life

D. J. Taylor’s new novel follows the fortunes and misfortunes of fictional band the Helium Kids, who in the 60s were ‘only marginally less successful than the Beatles and the Rolling Stones’. It’s a funny, vibrant novel and you can read my review in the Literary Review here.

 

Ten Arguments

Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now: Jaron Lanier was one of the pioneers of virtual reality technology, but now he spends much of his time railing against the dangers of the internet and, in this book, social media. I have a lot of sympathy for his viewpoint, as I have always been ambivalent about social media: I have no Facebook or Instagram account and came to Twitter very late. However, his book has not quite convinced me to delete my Twitter account. You can read my Sunday Times review here.

The Hole

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(Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash)

I try not to read my emails as soon as I wake up, but today I was glad I did because a story acceptance was waiting in my inbox. I’m exceedingly chuffed that my short story ‘The Hole’ has been selected for the next Mechanics’ Institute Review anthology. This is an annual print and ebook anthology, which should be published late September. Over the years it has published stories by such great writers as Ali Smith, Peter Ho Davies and Rose Tremain. You may even get the chance to see me read from it at various events after publication. You can find out more about this prestigious anthology here

Gym Bunnies

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Photo by Victor Freitas on Unsplash

My play Gym Bunnies has been selected by the good people at The Script Readers for a workshop in March. This will be a whole morning session at a London theatre, including a reading and discussion with professional actors. I’m excited and daunted in equal measure.

Gym Bunnies follows the fortunes of gym manager Doug and his old acquaintance Les, the ‘king of the gym’. Over the course of a few days their relationship deteriorates until violence threatens to erupt. The play explores issues of body image (both for men and women), ego and machismo, as well male-female relations and the way the past impacts on the present.

I’ll report back after the event!

Books of the Year

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(Photo by Eugenio Mazzone on Unsplash)

I never keep track of how many books I read in a year, but one thing is for sure: it’s never enough. I spend most of the year thinking how great it would be to finally read that novel by so-and-so, or re-read such-and-such, or even tackle Proust, but time is short and seems to get ever shorter, while my to-be-read pile gets ever higher.

I have, however, read some excellent books this year. One of the great things about reviewing is that I often discover authors and books I would never have otherwise read. Highlights this year include Andrew O’Hagan’s book of essays The Secret Life, which contains a gripping account of his abortive collaboration on Julian Assange’s autobiography; Philip Hoare’s wonderful RISINGTIDEFALLINGSTAR (though I never did work out why the title is all in caps and run on like that); and Richard Ford’s moving memoir about his parents, Between Them.

Fiction-wise, the novel I loved most this year was actually published last year: Deborah Levy’s Hot Milk. I had never read any of her books before, so this was a real revelation: a hypnotic read, drenched in Spanish sunshine, and quite unlike anything else I have come across. I also very much enjoyed Amanda Craig’s The Lie of the Land and Paul Theroux’s Mother Land.

But my overall book of the year was one of the first I read back in January: Xiaolu Guo’s terrific Once Upon a Time in the East, her memoir of growing up in an impoverished Chinese village. I mentioned earlier in the year in this blog that it would definitely be a contender for book of the year, and as it turns out nothing since has quite matched it. It very much deserves its shortlisting in the biography category of this year’s Costa Awards, and I hope it wins.