On the face of it, this is a novel about a diver and a sunken jet - but it doesn't really matter what it's about: once again, McCarthy has delivered an utterly stupendous piece of writing.
Matar's photographs at sites of lethal police violence in the US and her fastidious research make for a quietly devastating critique. The formality of her images and the directness of her g... read more
Bridges was an American painter(1834-1923). Her oddly static pictures of birds and flowers were celebrated during her lifetime and display a startling intensity.
Madison quietly set about creating a revolution in vegetarian cooking at Greens restaurant in San Francisco; she'd also done time at Chez Panisse. First published in 1987, this excellent boo... read more
Although not well known in the UK, Lewis is one of the best conteporary US novelists. This, set on the coast of Maine, is a sort of parable of contemporary American society.
Cars, guns, computers etc have stopped working. Safe in rural Maine, the protagonists are visited by an old acquaintance in a retro-fitted tunnel-digger powered by a nuclear reactor. It can'... read more
A wickedly funny portrait of a group of liberal New Yorkers. Appalled by the political catastrophe of 2016, they think they are safe in their nice homes...
Published last year in the US, this account of the rich in mid-C20th New York, and Capote's multiple betrayals of friendships, is both fascinating and shocking.