Meatspace
Nikesh Shukla (HarperCollins)
***
Book buff
I wanted to hate Meatspace, an at-times clunky second novel by a social media-obsessed British-Asian writer, about a social media-obsessed British-Asian writer trying to write his second novel. You play a few rounds of 21st Century Trope Bingo with the concerns of his protagonist: Facebook ennui, Twitter ennui, timeline obsession, identity theft, leaked nudes, loneliness in an over-connected age. It all tends to cloud over a what is, in the end, a compelling and often hilarious plot. Meatspace captures a cultural moment with immediate and intimate relish.
- Nick Mulgrew @NichMulgrew
Black Dog Summer
Miranda Sherry (Head of Zeus)
****
Book thrill
A story about murder but not crime, with black magic but no horror, and narrated by a dead woman who is not a ghost, this debut novel is a delightful mix of paradox and melancholy. Sally is the victim of a farm murder. Her wandering spirit follows her daughter Gigi to Johannesburg, where the teen is taken in by her aunt. Gigi shares a room with her cousin, who is fascinated by the sangoma next door. Something bad is coming: a mysterious black dog appears and Gigi’s post-traumatic stress has frightening consequences. Sherry has sympathetic characters and a delicate touch.
- Aubrey Paton
Clinton Inc: The Audacious Rebuilding of a Political Machine
Daniel Halper (HarperCollins)
****
Book buff
So many books on the Clintons, but this is the one people in Washington are talking about. It has all the skinner. Harper wrote it as a warning about the lengths the Clintons will go, using the Clinton Global Initiative, to remain in the good books of the American people. It reads like an episode of House of Cards: the open secret of Bill’s affairs (including one with Barbra Streisand!); Hillary’s weed-filled days in college, her drinking days now; and the cover up of the disaster that was Benghazi. Of course, it’s written by a conservative hack, so best read it with that in mind. But it dishes and dishes.
- Jennifer Platt @Jenniferdplatt
Book details
- Meatspace by Nikesh Shukla
EAN: 9780007565061
Find this book with BOOK Finder!
- Black Dog Summer by Miranda Sherry
Book homepage
EAN: 9781781859582
Find this book with BOOK Finder!
- Clinton Inc: The Audacious Rebuilding of a Political Machine by Daniel Halper
EAN: 9780062311238
Find this book with BOOK Finder!
- Clinton Inc: The Audacious Rebuilding of a Political Machine by Daniel Halper
EAN: 9780062311238
Find this book with BOOK Finder!