Andrew O\u2019Hagan, writer<\/p>\n
I am really excited by Namanlagh<\/strong>, the first poetry collection in 10 years from the great Tom Paulin. A tone-perfect meditation on illness and recovery, partnership and writing, violence and historical neglect, it is an absolute cracker. There are subtle nods to Derek Mahon and Seamus Heaney, and many of the poems are filled with a sense of late style and unfinished business.<\/p>\n Political memoirs are usually terrible, often screeds of self-justification and revenge, but Nicola Sturgeon\u2019s Frankly<\/strong> rewrites the rules. She\u2019s a proper writer, for a start, and knows how to consort with self-doubt, ambivalence, regret, love and kindness, openness to change, and many of the things that actually make people. I look forward to what she writes next.<\/p>\n I found a new writer \u2013 new to me, though beloved of Norwegians for years. He is the late Dag Solstad and I devoured his novel Shyness and Dignity<\/strong> in two sittings. It tells the story of a literature teacher of 25 years\u2019 standing who suddenly loses his head while trying to deal with a broken umbrella. He is having a crisis and the novel charts it in an illuminating, unfussy way, creating something beautiful.<\/p>\n I want to offer more freshly baked goods to my friends. Soon, I\u2019m going to run a coffee morning from a kitchen table covered with homemade croissants, tattie scones, sourdough bread and mad cakes. I\u2019m hoping to be helped in this quest by Helen Goh\u2019s Baking and the Meaning of Life<\/strong>.<\/p>\n On Friendship by Andrew O\u2019Hagan will be published by Faber on 9 October. To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com<\/a>. Delivery charges may apply.<\/p>\n Penny, Guardian reader<\/p>\n Climate Capitalism: Winning the Global Race to Zero Emissions <\/strong>by Akshat Rathi was published in 2023. Each chapter details a success story in the capitalist transition from the fossil fuel economy to renewable energy and climate solutions, focusing on individuals who have made a huge difference. There is plenty of detail and information I hadn\u2019t come across before, despite my intensive reading around the subject.<\/p>\n Although some issues are contentious, such as carbon capture and storage \u2013 and Bill Gates has proved to be less of a climate solutions man than is claimed in the book, with his fossil fuel investments \u2013 on the whole, the developments described give a tremendous amount of hope. They show that certain governments have worked in tandem with private enterprise and are already heading in the right direction, while the new technology is developing apace. The scientific explanations are excellent, too. I had no idea how solar panels worked, for example.<\/p>\n Patricia Lockwood, writer<\/p>\n Elaine Kraf\u2019s Find Him! is being reissued in November, so it\u2019s the perfect time to read it, or reread her shimmery, paisley-printed The Princess of 72nd Street<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Down Below<\/strong> by Leonora Carrington<\/a> is a classic. It\u2019s not the direct model for my latest novel, Will There Ever Be Another You, but I remember reading it on a park bench in summer of 2020 and thinking: this is what is happening to me. Also, it contains the closest approximation you can get to a diagram of God\u2019s perineum.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Discover new books and learn more about your favourite authors with our expert reviews, interviews and news stories. Literary delights delivered direct to you<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Another major event \u2013 Airless Spaces<\/strong> by Shulamith Firestone was originally published in 1998, a decade after the author\u2019s schizophrenia diagnosis and retreat from public life. She was a towering figure, already somewhat remote to feminists of my generation, but these vignettes, which deal with her hospitalisations, feel immediate, close, defiant.<\/p>\n