The majority of my reading time this year has been devoted to the books which have been living for years, though neglected, on my own bookshelves. In May and June, I had a planned rebellion, and I enjoyed a great number of new books. But now I have returned to
Romola sang soprano, but perhaps an opera singer's life after she has retired is, by definition, incidental music. Or, perhaps the fragments of memory that swell and break for a 70-something woman living with dementia are incidental music. Or, the lost love she half-recalls? Maybe that is incidental. Inanna
Ann Patchett's works have long had the attention of the Orange Prize juries. The Magician's Assistant was shortlisted for the 1998 Orange Prize, and Bel Canto won in 2002; it wasn't surprising to see State of Wonder make the jury's shortlist in 2012. The most striking element of the novel is its
