Each month we’re now getting excited to read Tom Ryan’s book review, not only to find out what we should be reading but to enjoy Tom’s utter joy of reading penetrate through his review of each book.

We really hope you enjoy this month’s review and don’t forget that if you’re keen to turn the pages of one of Tom’s four recommended reads, pop into Bell Bookshop in Bell Street. If they don’t have it in stock they will source it for you. That’s proper independent bookshop service for you. Curl up with cuppa and enjoy.

By Tom Ryan

Exciting Times might not be how most of us would describe this current period but it is the title of one of the most brilliant debut novels of the last 12 months, recently published in paperback. We follow our narrator Ava, having swapped Dublin for Hong Kong aged 22. Her life is expanded beyond her poorly paid job teaching English after she meets first Oxford graduate turned banker Julian (‘Julian had gone to Eton and was an only child. These were the two least surprising facts anyone had ever told me about themselves’) and then local lawyer Edith (‘Edith disliked waiting but liked the order of queues. I saw from her tactfully impatient expression that she was doing her best to reconcile these stances’). The three main characters are handled tenderly and honestly by author Naoise Dolan (who is offering the chance to name a character in her next book in the Writers’ Solidarity Fundraiser alongside signed books by Max Porter, Sally Rooney, Monica Ali and many more). Almost every sentence in this wonderful book is a mini-masterpiece so it is no surprise it was nominated for the Women’s Prize for Fiction.

Image: Evening Standard

Men, masculinity and mental health are at the heart of the timely Time To Talk by Alex Holmes, a book inspired by his podcast of the same name which has seen him speak to the likes of Emma Gannon, Paul Mendez and Dane Baptiste over the last few years. An accessible, engaging and open-minded exploration of why so many men find it hard to talk frankly, seek help and connect, he looks at subjects including self-doubt, compassion, body image, loneliness and love. Alex asks himself questions about each topic and after citing the experiences of himself and others he returns to them at the end of each chapter, either to answer them or to reflect on what he should really have been asking.  

For younger readers (and their grown-ups) A Song of Gladness is a real treat. Inspired by an encounter with a blackbird back as Coronavirus took hold, master storyteller Michael Morpurgo takes subjects such as sadness, lockdown and the way we treat the world around us and takes us somewhere surprisingly joyful, brilliantly illustrated by Emily Gravett. Together they give each of the dozens of creatures featured a unique personality (‘Even camel, who rarely joined in anything, thought this was the best and most beautiful idea he had ever heard’), no mean feat in the concise format of a picture book.

Finally, it’s hard not to admire a novel that begins, as Mrs Death Misses Death does, with a disclaimer featuring such lines as ‘Caution: This work contains traces of eulogy’ and ‘Spoiler alert: We will all die in the end’. Fortunately, not admiring this first novel from poet Salena Godden is not something you need prepare for. Seamlessly mixing prose, poetry, letters and diary entries, we discover Death is not in fact the scythe-wielding, male Grim Reaper of lore (‘Only she who is invisible can do the work of Death. And there is no human more invisible, more readily talked over, ignored, betrayed and easy to walk past than a woman; than a poor old black woman’.) She connects with young writer Wolf who becomes her scribe and the book pulses along. 

If you are interested in reading any of these books, please do ask at a local bookshop if they stock it before purchasing online – Support Local

In between reading books and being an uncle to six, Tom Ryan works in events and communications with – amongst others – Henley Literary Festival, Jewish Book Week, Reading Fringe Festival and Henley Santa’s Grotto. He is on Instagram as @henleyonthomas and Twitter as @atomryan.