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John Self

John Self writes about books on the blog Asylum. He lives in Belfast.

August 2024

  • A farmhouse in Spain

    Translated fiction roundup
    The best translated fiction – review roundup

    Mammoth by Eva Baltasar; Dear Dickhead by Virginie Despentes; The Book of Disappearance by Ibtisam Azem; Dead-End Memories by Banana Yoshimoto
  • Aharon Appelfeld in London in 2005

    Book of the day
    Badenheim 1939; Katerina; The Story of a Life by Aharon Appelfeld review – survivors’ tales full of beauty and pain

    Memory and trauma go hand in hand in these two novels and a memoir by the late Israeli writer, who shows that hope can be worse than despair
  • Novelist Ursula Parrott

    Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott review – Bridget Jones in the jazz age

    Reissued after a century, this lively, funny and harrowing debut follows a divorcee torn between sexual liberation and the compromised ‘safety’ of marriage in the 1920s

July 2024

  • Austin Duffy standing with the shoreline and sea in the background.

    Cross by Austin Duffy review – an IRA ceasefire with bloody strings attached

    The Dublin-based author’s fourth novel, set in a fictional border town during the 1994 ceasefire, feels as uncertain and jittery as the fragile peace

June 2024

  • A house on Long Island, with a large US flag hanging in the front porch.

    Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner review – an old-fashioned maximalist rush of storytelling

    Inspired by the real-life abduction of a wealthy businessman, the second novel from the Fleishman Is in Trouble author is a lip-smacking tale of family, wealth and self-destruction told with relish
  • Young men at La Caverne, a Soho bar and club, July 1955.

    Book of the day
    Some Men in London: Queer Life, 1945-1959 review – when being gay meant going underground

    These beautifully written letters, diary entries and extracts from novels, skilfully edited by Peter Parker, add up to an essential study of postwar gay life

    • Translated fiction roundup
      The best translated fiction – review roundup

    • Going Home by Tom Lamont review – a debut with charm to burn

    • Book of the day
      The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry review – fast and loose on the frontiers of America

May 2024

  • Enniscorthy County Wexford Eire Republic of Ireland<br>ABHFW1 Enniscorthy County Wexford Eire Republic of Ireland

    Observer book of the week
    Long Island by Colm Tóibín review – the sequel to Brooklyn is a masterclass in subtlety and intelligence

    This follow-up, set 20 years on, kicks off with a marriage in crisis and skilfully conveys how blind we are to our own motivations
  • July Miranda c Elizabeth Weinberg high res

    Book of the day
    All Fours by Miranda July review – a miraculous midlife road trip

    The US film-maker and artist’s wide-ranging second novel is a funny, sad and revealing journey of maternal self-discovery

  • Sufferance by Charles Palliser review – a well-crafted, slow-burning novel

    The Quincunx author’s sixth book, the story of a family in crisis under an tyrannical regime, is exquisitely plotted and satisfying

April 2024

  • Eliza Barry Callahan

    The Hearing Test by Eliza Barry Callahan review – a delightful debut about deafness

  • People collect drinking water from pipes fed by an underground spring, in St. James, about 25km from the city centre, on January 19, 2018, in Cape Town. Cape Town will next month slash its individual daily water consumption limit by 40 percent to 50 litres, the mayor said on January 18, as the city battles its worst drought in a century. / AFP PHOTO / RODGER BOSCHRODGER BOSCH/AFP/Getty Images

    Book of the day
    Crooked Seeds by Karen Jennings review – a perfectly realised fictional creation

March 2024

  • Mikhail Gorbachev campaigning for reforms in Ukraine, 1989

    Translated fiction roundup
    The best translated fiction – review roundup

    Glorious People by Sasha Salzmann, Your Utopia by Bora Chung, The Time of Cherries by Montserrat Roig and Her Side of the Story by Alba de Céspedes
  • Rita Bullwinkel.

    Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel review – tale of teenage girl boxers scores a knockout

    The US author’s impressive first novel, a forceful and involving tale of eight young female fighters, punches above its weight
  • Alba Arikha

    Two Hours by Alba Arikha review – an impassioned tale of how life pummels and reshapes us

    Navigating the extreme gap between a woman’s life and the one she imagined for herself, the writer’s third novel is concise, rigorous and heartbreaking

February 2024

  • jack chadwick (c) Kemka Ajoku. IMG 9332-Enhanced-NR

    Caliban Shrieks by Jack Hilton review – lost voice of the north

    This rediscovered mix of autobiography and ‘artful rant’ – about working-class conditions in the 1930s – is full of energy and comedy
  • Bridget O’Connor.

    Book of the day
    After a Dance: Selected Stories by Bridget O’Connor review – hilariously inappropriate slices of life and death

    The Bafta-winning author’s posthumous collection finds laughter in appalling subjects and buzzes with hectic energy
  • Sebastian Barry sitting at his desk in his study at home in County Wicklow.

    Books interview
    Sebastian Barry: ‘When you get past 60, you do feel a licence to write fearlessly’

    The Irish novelist and playwright on the positives of ageing, his struggles with depression and a golden age of Irish writing
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