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Clare Simpson

@claresreading

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Love reading, mostly fiction
https://medium.com/@claresimpsoneh3/my-best-books-of-2025-e8c5bfe86d62
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4 months ago

Wonderful place to wile away the time while waiting for a train in Newcastle. Spent a lovely half hour reading in the Lady’s Room #litandphilnewcastle @litandphil by @claresreading

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4 months ago

The Things We Never Say, Elizabeth Strout
34/2026
What is it about Elizabeth Strout? How does she create characters that stay in your heart and live alongside you?

Moving away from her usual cast of characters, Strout introduces us to Artie Damm, a high school teacher in Maine, whose life initially seems to be in an uncomfortable stasis. Gradually the secrets and traumas that are never discussed come to the foreground against a background of the everyday effects of rising tensions in US politics. Increasingly there are things that people never say, subjects that are avoided between friends, and outbursts that are enabled by division.

From his initial despair, Archie moves to counteract this with small acts of kindness and gentle intervention that are small acts of resistance to the prevailing national narrative affecting everyone’s daily lives. Against an upcoming election, his students are as divided in their opinions as the country; Archie’s thoughtful interactions with them provide them with different ways of looking at the world.
It’s personal, it’s political, it’s full of kindness and compassion. It’s a wonderful book.
Archie Damm asks if free will exists; Elizabeth Strout doesn’t answer this question but leaves us with a lot to think about.
#books #bookstagram #elizabethstrout #thethingsweneversay by @claresreading

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5 months ago

My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein, Deborah Levy
33/2026
Loved, loved, love this.
What is it? Is it a novel? Is it a memoir? Something else. As befits a book about Gertrude Stein, it defies categorisation.
It’s smart, it’s playful, it’s thoughtful.
It’s a young woman’s perambulations and mind wandering through Paris as she considers her essay on Gertrude Stein.
Deborah Levy is one of the best writers writing about women and their place in a male dominated world.
A definite reread.
#books #bookstagram #deborahlevy #myyearinpariswithgertrudestein by @claresreading

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5 months ago

The Correspondent, Virginia Evans
32/2026
Sybil Van Antwerp’s life is revealed to us in a series of letters which she writes to all and sundry, near and far. It’s a pleasant novel, sweet but not too saccharine. It’s on the Women’s Prize shortlist but surely not a winner.
#bookstagram #books #thecorrespondent by @claresreading

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5 months ago

The Palm House, Gwendoline Riley
30/2026
Does anyone write about dysfunctional families better than Gwendoline Riley?
Here, the story is ostensibly about the friendship between Laura and Putnam, but as the novel unfolds Riley takes us back to Laura’s family and upbringing: an absent and domineering father and a self obsessed and incompetent mother, an upbringing devoid of physical and emotional emotion, and to her first faltering relationships in which she’s prepared to settle for any physical contact which substitutes for love and affection.
Her account of how Laura’s teenage crush on a stand up comic ends up in exploitative abuse is a superb piece of writing - layered with the effect of time and memory.
Riley’s writing is so pared back and sparse; she leaves space for the writer to do the work.

31/2026 First Love, Gwendoline Riley
So, of course, I had to get hold of another Riley to read. This is an earlier novel about an abusive marriage and how easily it becomes normalised when the person’s upbringing has established those patterns of behaviour.

Great writing - precision, such an ear for dialogue and that dark observational humour.

#books #bookstagram #thepalmhouse by @claresreading

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5 months ago

It’s Not What You Think, Claire Mackintosh
29/2026
I needed a quick read to lose myself in and Claire Mackintosh delivered. Full of twists and turns - the first twist was a real shocker. Good thriller.
#books #bookstagram #clairemackintosh #itsnotwhatyouthink by @claresreading

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5 months ago

The Calculation of Volume, Solvej Balle
28/2026

And just like that it’s 18th November again. (And why 18th November in particular? Because it’s the day Proust died or something else entirely?)

I love this series of books for how removing the construct of time reveals so much about how we live our lives. This time as the cast of time stationaries expand, the focus is on how we connect, on language and how its meanings differ between people, on memory, and as always on our over consumption of our world.

It’s so gripping, so thought provoking and at times laugh aloud funny.

Balle manages to sustain and develop the series so well, and to leave us on a cliff hanger every time.

Volume 5 is out in November (18th?). I can’t wait.
#thecalculationofvolume #solvejballe #books #bookstagram by @claresreading

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5 months ago

The Benefactors, Wendy Erskine
27/2026
Why this isn’t on the Women’s Prize shortlist I’ll never know.
Misty is a young woman living in Belfast, working in a hotel, topping up her income with money from a dubious camgirl website, dreaming of another life. She’s got a crush on Chris, one of the uptown posh boys. When she goes to a party at an AirBnB, Chris and two of his friends sexually assault her.
The story is told in a polyphony of voices, people from the town who, in one way or another, in large ways or in small, are affected by the assault and its repercussions.
It’s a remarkable achievement with a cast of very distinct characters and voices that ripple out around Misty, providing a provocation about class, gender and judgment. Top class writing
#thebenefactors #books #bookstagram #bookstagramreadsthewomensprize by @claresreading

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5 months ago

If you enjoyed Departures or indeed any other Julian Barnes novels, this is well worth a listen #radiobooks #julianbarnes by @claresreading

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6 months ago

She Who Remains, Rene Karabash
26/2026
A powerful almost mythical book about Bekija, a young girl living in the Accursed Mountains of Bulgaria, who renounces her identity as a woman to become a “sworn virgin” living as a man in order to to escape an unwanted marriage. Part of the ancient Kanun laws of Albania based on honour and its violation, Bekija’s decision leads to blood feuds and a string of unintended consequences.
Beautifully told in a poetic stream of consciousness style with intertwined voices, Rene Karabash’s novel is intense and immersive. The translation must have been really challenging given the language, gender delineations and style, Izidora Angel’s translation is beautiful.
The novel is about gender, identity and resilience. The first part with Bekija living as her male counterpart, Matija in the mountains has a dark fairy tale like quality. The second part as Bekija/Matija moves into the modern world jars more but perhaps this is inevitable and indeed accurate given her move from a male role in a traditional society to a female role in a modern society.
It’s a fabulous read and deserving of being on the International Booker short list.
I found this interview about translating She Who Remains fascinating
https://readingintranslation.com/2025/09/22/interview-with-izidora-angel/
#bookstagram #books #renekarabash #internationalbookerprize #shewhoremains by @claresreading

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6 months ago

Departure(s), Julian Barnes
25/2026
Julian Barnes says that this is his last book; I’d like to think that this is part of his tricksy fiction because I love his writing and this book, in particular, but I sense he means it.
As in so many of his books, this is a book where the boundaries between fiction and life blur, a mixture of stories, memoir and essays. This is Barnes at his most ruminative, examining a life lived, constructing and reconstructing memories, looking at the thoughts of others (Proust and Eliot, for example) who have trodden this path. As well as looking back, it’s reflecting on this particular stage of life where there’s more behind you than in front of you, where friends are falling away. I’m a fair bit behind him in years but nonetheless felt a sense of recognition (curious to hear how younger readers respond). In spite of the territory, it’s oddly life affirming and at times laugh aloud funny.
A wonderful book. I’m glad that there’s still a few if his I’ve missed out on.
#books #bookstagrammer #bookstagram #julianbarnes #departure(s) by @claresreading

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6 months ago