books I read in may

a reading roundup of a mixed bookbag and an exciting author LIVE tonight!

I’m speaking to Traumaland author Josh Silver on Substack LIVE tonight at 6pm London time! Come and join us in the Substack App.

It feels like I’ve hit a bit of form and have been reading a lot recently. It’s well-timed given I’m off to Hay Festival in the near future!

Of course, volume is no guarantee of quality and I’m not interested in quantifying my reading. I’m more interested in discovering new books, authors and ideas, learning things and having fun.

If my reading fulfils those criteria then I’m happy.

These books are a bit of a mix, from random pickups to gifted copies, but in their way, they’ve all been worthwhile. Here’s a roundup.

Universality by Natasha Brown

On a Yorkshire farm, a man is brutally bludgeoned with a solid gold bar. A plucky young journalist sets out to uncover the truth surrounding the attack, connecting the dots between an amoral banker landlord, an iconoclastic columnist, and a radical anarchist movement. She solves the mystery, but her viral longread exposé raises more questions than it answers.

I loved Brown’s debut novel Assembly, which I’ve included in my short book syllabus for the boys’ literacy program, so have been looking forward to her second novel since I finished her first.

Following up a debut is potentially daunting but I think Brown has done it in the best way by moving on formally and stylistically. It’s less the more of the same approach of The Strokes Room On Fire and more let’s expand outwards like Kanye’s Late Registration.

The first half of Universality is essentially a long, journalistic piece, like you’d read in the Times Magazine on a weekend, pulling together a series of events from which the writer draws larger conclusions about society and its direction of travel. Then Brown spends the second half of the book undermining much of what’s been written by the journalist, introducing a range of perspectives from the people featured in the piece. We see how language is wielded in service of the various narratives pushed by the different characters, with the opinion ecosystem of British media taking a pasting from Brown’s prose.

I liked this book but it’s hard to love. The characters lack a little nuance, not given much space to breathe by the short running time and while it’s funny and sharp, its conclusions are not exactly revelatory.

Credit to Brown for stretching herself and moving on from her brilliant first book – I’d call Universality a successful followup but I’m sure there’s more to come from her.

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Earth by John Boyne

Evan Keogh, a gifted footballer from a small Irish island, aspires to be an artist but finds himself entangled in the professional football world he disdains. His journey leads him through exploitation, fame, and a trial for sexual assault, prompting introspection about identity, guilt, and the consequences of his choices.

I’ve not read any John Boyne before – The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas and The Heart’s Invisible Furies are his best known books – but I randomly picked up a signed copy of this at the beautiful Richard Booth’s Bookshop in Hay-on-Wye. It’s a very unusual book.

Earth reminds me a little of The List by Yomi Adegoke, which took a serious issue in #MeToo and explored in a very accessible way. Earth is better written and its big topic is the kind of grubby sex story that makes it to the papers and the law courts and it touches on something I don’t think is spoken about often; how people behave sexually around famous people. Here, two famous footballers are accused of rape, and the story centres around their trial, fleshing out the details of the main character Evan’s life around it.

The book is full of transactional relationships, with Evan forced to navigate his way through a thicket of bad actors (and doing his own share of bad acting), and it’s a pretty bleak and sordid story all told. Perhaps due to its short running time and the pace of its narrative, it leaves a lot of interesting themes slightly underexplored and while it’s a brave and exciting book in some ways, there is a bit of a what might have been feeling about it.

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Dead Lions by Mick Herron

In this espionage thriller, the death of a former spy on a bus prompts Jackson Lamb and his team of sidelined MI5 agents to investigate. Their inquiry uncovers a web of Cold War secrets and sleeper agents, challenging their skills and loyalty as they confront a looming threat.

This one was pure fun.

I’m (somehow) new to the Slow Horses series on Apple TV and I’ve enjoyed it so much I’ve been reading the books afterwards. Dead Lions is the second in the series, and it continues the mix of dark humour, zinger-filled and grimy but thrilling spyycraft capers.

Station chief of the unwanted Slough House spies Jackson Lamb is as funny in the book as he is on screen and while the ensemble is brilliant in the show, they get more space to shine in the books as we’re privy to their inner monologues. It’s a great two hander – you can get the twists and turns the first time on screen and come to the book for more depth and detail after.

This is exactly the kind of book to bring to the park and amuse yourself through an afternoon. Really well-crafted fun.

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Traumaland by Josh Silver

Seventeen-year-old Eli, emotionally numb after a near-fatal accident, discovers TraumaLand, an underground club offering virtual reality experiences of others' traumas. Immersing himself in these simulations, Eli uncovers unsettling truths about the club and embarks on a journey to confront his own suppressed memories and emotions.

I was sent this YA book and between the co ver and the intriguing premise, there was no way I wasn’t going to look at this one.

Traumaland is an underground VR nightclub where people pay to relive the worst moments of others peoples’ lives. It draws in the young and struggling Eli and what he finds there sets off a thrilling adventure you can’t stop reading.

This was on the slow side to get going but once it kicks in, the speculative story is so pacey, with revelations over every page, asking interesting questions about voyeurism, mental health and trauma along the way.

It’s inventive and ambitious and worth checking out if you want something easy to read but weighty and thought-provoking at the same time.

come and listen to Josh LIVE with me at 6pm tonight on the Substack App

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Husk by Nathaniel Eliason

Husk is the first installment in The Meru Initiative, a science fiction series by Nathaniel Eliason. The novel follows Isaac, who, after a tragic event, uncovers unsettling truths about the seemingly utopian world of Meru. As powerful forces conspire against him and those he trusts turn away, Isaac must navigate a perilous journey to reveal the reality of Meru and confront a fate he believed was obsolete: death.

Husk is my current read and it’s an interesting concept, blending themes and ideas from a range of classic sci-fi stories but with a modern voice. Isaac begins as a keen participant in the Matrix-like alternate reality Meru, where citizens upload themselves to live a utopian life of idle pleasure, but he begins to discover not all is as it seems.

Nat Eliason is known as an online and nonfiction writer so I’m following his fiction journey with great (self)interest. He’s got a podcast all about his endeavours which is informative if you’re interested in books and publishing in general.

So far, Husk is building the layers of its world slowly and there’s so much world there that you can tell it’s the first book in a larger story, one that’s part thriller, part thought experiment. It’s an interesting what if premise and I’m definitely keen to find out what happens next.

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Let me know if any of these take your fancy in the comments!