The Coast of Everything by Guillermo Stitch: commendably brave but frustrating
Rather than being transported by this 750-pager, one has the sense of being trapped within an elaborate in-joke
Prestige Drama by Séamas O’Reilly: Warm satire on TV melodrama about the Troubles
Author’s debut novel navigates sombre and emotionally complex terrain with impressively light touch
Transcription by Ben Lerner: Poignant exploration of midlife anxieties
A story of crossed wires, disconnection and anxious attachments – to fathers, father figures and digital comfort blankets
Saltwash by Andrew Michael Hurley: You won’t like to be beside this seaside
Low-stakes entertainment populated by broken-spirited creatures evokes eerie hollowness in desolate seaside town
The Wardrobe Department by Elaine Garvey: Evocation of youthful self-discovery is well wrought and truthful
Jumping between London and Ireland, it can feel like two distinct works, about two distinct women
States of Play: How Sportswashing took over Football by Miguel Delaney - Admirably thorough, depressingly persuasive
Author argues convincingly that soccer’s Faustian bargain with big moneyed interests is undermining its sporting competitiveness and moral integrity
Shattered by Hanif Kureishi: Darkly funny insights into the indignities and anguish caused by sudden incapacitation
Along the way, the author, who became paralysed after a fall in late 2022, laments the ‘North Korea of the mind’ he believes young writers impose upon themselves
Knife by Salman Rushdie review: living to tell the tale of being saved by love
Knife is surprisingly upbeat for a book about being stabbed in the head
A People’s History of Football by Mickaël Correia: Making the case for the sport as a progressive social force
This an enjoyable highlights reel of stores from From Barcelona to Brazil that show why football has a special legitimacy as the people’s game
Tough Crowd by Graham Linehan: comic writer to culture warrior
This book of two distinct parts is a discomfitting read because the author clearly hasn’t worked through his issues
The New York Times went to see Andrew Scott’s one-man Chekhov play. This is its verdict
Theatre: What artistic benefit is derived from having a single actor play all the parts?
The Hour After Happy Hour by Mary O’Donoghue: stories about Irish emigrant lives and those left behind
A playful enjoyment in words and language permeates this collection
The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt: A compelling storyteller but an uncompelling protagonist
The wife of the unassuming, forgettable Bob leaves him for his best friend. And who could blame her?
Falling Animals by Sheila Armstrong: admirably ambitious for a debut novel
Author’s first work of long-form fiction follows her 2022 short story collection, How to Gut a Fish
Nothing Special by Nicole Flattery: coming-of-age tale of Warhol Factory girl
There is little of the freewheeling playfulness that animated the author’s impressive 2019 short story collection, Show Them a Good Time