Tips, links and suggestions: what are you reading this week?

The story fluctuates between extremes with stylish elegance. It is melancholic and yet ebullient, one minute laughter another despair; its unpredictable turns emerge from characters who are either eccentric or dead; calamities result in opportunities. But at its heart this is a mystery novel. For once at least, media reviews stop short of any summary that could act as a spoiler; but if you intend reading this, skip them anyway. What may on the surface of it appear gloomy and morose, in Perrin’s hands is an appealing indulgence in nature, food and drink, and above all, friendships.

I think Adichie might very well be the best writer today of the immigrant experience, The Landless Exile, The Housed Homeless. Her vagabondity gives her a unique slant to see so many battlegrounds from a different perspective. But she is brilliant at showing both the benefits and detriments that come with the outsider’s panorama.

I enjoyed the imaginative depiction of the Underground Railroad as a real railway, but I think actually the fact Nickel Academy is so rooted in the history of a real ‘reform school’ and lacks metaphor/fantasy makes it even more powerful than Whitehead’s previous work. Whitehead’s said Trump’s election meant he needed to write another ‘heavy’ work, and while the subject matter is grim - and undeniably heavy in that regard; the reading experience isn’t. It’s absorbing and fast-paced, and so human … Definitely one I’ll read again before long.

I got a whiff of Maria Semple very early in the book (and before I noticed the Semple blurb on the cover). Funny, breezy, nothing that is likely to last long but a pleasant way to spend a few days.

What a graphic novel this is. It’s absolutely brilliant. From the dour colour palette to the deceptively simple illustrations to the dry, deadpan and very British humour. It reminded me of great sitcoms like Detectorists, This Country, The Office. I had tears in my eyes several times I laughed so hard. Genuinely, quietly amazing.

This is set in the Australian outback, where there is a mysterious death near a cattle station … A very well written mystery, where the setting - near the desert, where the temperature can attain 45C - is an important and clearly drawn background to the story. We gradually get to know the individuals involved, and certain dirty family secrets come to light. This is the third book I’ve read by Harper, following the excellent The Dry and the slightly weaker (but still decent) Force of Nature. This one finds the author right back on top form, and is strongly recommended. Don’t expect piles of bodies, though - it isn’t that sort of story.

The book lifts the scab off of the side of America we don’t often hear about, the small towns abandoned but for the Meth labs and addicts that lurk in the shadows, the lawlessness and people so bad that the some are scared to talk about them and their secrets even after they’re dead. Miller admits to being scared, often terrified, at some of the people she comes across. She receives death threats, ominous silent phone calls and is strongly advised to keep well away from the whole thing but persists in her crusade… This is up there with In Cold Blood as a true crime book and I really hope it doesn’t slip under the radar and gets the success it deserves.

It is a beautifully written, often moving but never depressing account of her childhood, adolescence and early adulthood, an account of how instead of following the path to becoming a professional painter she took to writing. Along the way she makes some astute observations about life, particularly for people with a physical disability.

Her Vorkisigan Saga is joyfully old-fashioned, character based space opera. The covers of the books are so hideous and naff that I have been put off reading her for a long time despite good reviews. But the first novel, Shards of Honor was a really fun read. I’ve heard it described as Georgette Heyer in space, which is such an odd but apt description of this interstellar romance, a book that is quite serious about issues such as democracy and valour but also features airborne vampire jellyfish.

I expected, and initially seemed to be getting, a fairly standard, untaxing, upper middle class family saga set in the 1930s. But as the story developed and the characters rounded out hints of darkness are added – incest, infidelity, bullying, the looming war. So a decent story driven by a wide cast of believable characters, leaving me with the anticipatory pleasure of knowing I have four more books in the Chronicle to read.

If you have ever been unhappy in or out of a relationship: Read this book.
If you feel attracted to a colleague: Read this book. (Before, during or after “a pause”...)
If you have been a struggling teenager, or have seen teenagers struggling: Read this book.
If you are interested in very old ladies with secret amusements: Read this book.
If you are thinking about writing a sex diary: Read this book.
If you like beautiful language, with the occasional snippet of poetry: Read this book.
If you are interested in inner depths with a light touch: Read this book.

After 10 weeks of posting (and being a regular reader) here, I wrote a thank you note to TLS and many of its participants. After nine more weeks, I feel even more indebted.