The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart

Time for another feature on one of my favourite books! This debut novel from M Glenn Taylor introduces us to Trenchmouth Taggart, a man born in West Virginia in 1903 with a lifelong oral affliction and raised on moonshine, snakes, women and the Appalacian foothills. An unforgettable and totally original novel spanning the twentienth century and touching with great energy and sensitivity on issues of race, class, history, exile and the erosion of people, places and traditions by modernity. I guarantee this is a book you'll want to recommend to everyone you know if you read it!

The Shipping News

All this talk of cold climates in my previous article has got me thinking about one of my favourite novels - The Shipping News, by Annie Proulx. The Shipping News follows Quoyle, a journalist who moves with his daughters Bunny and Sunshine to remote Newfoundland, after the death of his wife. This novel is one of my favourites as it is so many things - sad, funny, profound, uplifting, and above all beautifully written.