What a long feeling year but I am so grateful for the books it has delivered. Two of the best novels came early on, in Ali Smith's Companion Piece and Sheila Heti's Pure Colour – two authors making different but equally thrilling work. There was some vital queer non-fiction from Juliet Jacques, her journalism finally collected into one volume (thank you Cipher Press!) and Michelle Tea, whose humour and openness I adore. My favourite cookbook came from the irresistible Jeremy Lee who lit up the room when he came to the shop in September, as did Victoria Adukwei Bulley when she read from her collection Quiet – hands down my favourite poetry collection of the year. And there were two books that got me thinking in new ways in different rooms at home: Sam Johnson-Schlee's Living Rooms is a brilliant and multi-layered essay about our homes, how we make them and what we make of them; and to the kitchen and beyond with my Book of the Year, Small Fires by Rebecca May Johnson, who blows up the kitchen with her extraordinary, genre-defying exploration of cooking as thinking.
From the publisher:
A BRACINGLY ORIGINAL, BOUNDARY BREAKING EXPLORATION OF COOKING AND THE KITCHEN, FROM A RISING STAR IN FOOD WRITING‘A manifesto for reclaiming cooking as an intellectual… a brave, honest book’ SUNDAY TIMES‘An…
From the publisher:
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERThe unmissable new work from Ali Smith, following the dazzling Man Booker-shortlisted Seasonal quartetOne day in post-Brexit, mid-pandemic Britain, artist Sandy Gray receives an unexpected phone call from…
From the publisher:
Victoria Adukwei Bulley’s debut poetry collection, Quiet, circles around ideas of black interiority, intimacy and selfhood, playing at the the tensions between the impulse to guard one’s ‘inner life’ and the…
From the publisher:
** SHORTLISTED FOR THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE 2023**** WINNER OF THE 2022 GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARD IN FICTION**Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vulture, The Times Literary…
From the publisher:
‘It’s impossible to feel the same way about your home and how you furnish it after reading this joyful, revelatory, astounding book.’ Olivia Laing‘I loved this gorgeous and original book.’ Katherine…
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From the publisher:
A seminal collection of journalism on art, politics, and culture, by Juliet Jacques, one of the UK’s most pioneering transgender writers.Juliet Jacques was one of the first trans writers in the UK to contribute broadly to both British…
From the publisher:
From PEN/America Award winner, 2021 Guggenheim fellow, and beloved literary and tarot icon Michelle Tea, the hilarious, powerfully written, taboo-breaking story of her journey to pregnancy and motherhood as a 40 year-old, queer, uninsured…
From the publisher:
‘A beautifully written instant classic that is every bit as exuberant and delicious as the man himself!’ Nigella Lawson‘This is already a classic’ Fergus Henderson‘One of the most beautiful cookery books I have…
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