Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction 2016 shortlist reviews

The Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction 2016 is awarded this week. Here's my take on the shortlist.

The People v OJ Simpson: American Crime Story - further reading

The People v OJ Simpson. Picture: BBC/Fox

I'm a little bit obsessed with The People v OJ Simpson, and as well as tuning in every week to the TV programme I've been reading a lot around the subject, from pieces of journalism from the time of the trial to think pieces.

If you're as fascinated by me as the case (and you've read the book by Jeffrey Toobin that the show is based on), here is some recommended further reading...

Book review: Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a brilliant story told once needs to be retold for a modern audience, and so it is with Jane Austen's classic Pride and Prejudice, which has been retold by Curtis Sittenfeld as part of The Borough Press' Austen Project.

Moving the action to modern day Cincinnatta, we join the Bennet family as the two oldest daughters, Lizzy and Jane, return home to help their father recover from heart surgery. The Bennet household, with all five daughters under one roof, is chaos, and the house itself is falling apart, although Mrs Bennet is more concerned about seeing her daughters married off, and Chip Bingley is more than perfect for at least one of the girls.

This is the Pride and Prejudice we all know and love, brought bang up to date. Bingley is as shy and naive as in Austen's original, but now he is a doctor - one of the ultimate status symbols in the modern world - and a reality TV star after a stint on Eligible where he searched for (and failed to find) his soulmate. His friend Fitzwilliam Darcy, a neurosurgeon, is as haughty as Darcy in the original, while lovely Jane is a yoga teacher and smart Lizzy is a journalist.

Book review: Rush Oh! by Shirley Barrett

How entertaining can a novel about a whaling family in a tiny community in Australia be? The answer, I was pleasantly surprised to learn while reading Shirley Barrett's debut Rush Oh! is very.

Mary Davidson, the oldest daughter in a whaling family in New South Wales, chronicles the difficult whaling season of 1908. Drama, misadventure and first love all feature in Mary's telling, as do a pod of whales who align themselves with Mary's father and his crew of whale hunters.

First off, I didn't expect this novel to be funny, but it really is. It's full of little laughs, and that's all down to the wonderful protagonist. Mary's retelling of the season of 1908 is charming, her voice a little like a grown up Anne of Green Gables. Mary is slightly naive, and wonderfully forthright in most things. Her honesty about her family, about the people in her community, and about her feelings for John Beck, the newest recruit in her father's crew, is by turns poignant and hilarious, and always straightforward even when nothing else in her life is. Mary is an optimistic, lively, independent female, who very rarely lets life bring her down.

Book review: Not Working by Lisa Owens

Many people spend the majority of their waking time working, so you want a job where you're happy, and challenged, and where you feel like you're making a difference.

But what if your work just isn't living up to expectations? (If my boss is reading this, I love my job, we're not talking about me here.) If your work isn't working for you, if you don't have an answer to the question 'what do you do?', what, well, do you do?

In Lisa Owens' Not Working Claire Flannery quits her unsatisfying job, determined to grow as a person and ultimately find her calling. But instead of getting ever closer to finding out what it is she wants to do, Claire finds herself distracted with all the little and big things in life, from how to deal with an infestation of buddleia to a death in the family that leads to a breakdown of the relationship between Claire and her mother, to accepting her best friend's (seemingly personality free) new partner.

Everyone knows a Claire, or is a Claire, making Not Working a relatable read when it comes to the issue of work, and what we do (or don't do). Claire has free time, and freedom to pursue what she wants, which seems fine in theory. But when she is faced with friends who all seem to be happy and fulfilled with work, it's difficult for her to see the joy in her situation. It's a classic case of the grass being greener on the other side.

Book review: The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan

On the day he retires two things happen to Inspector Chopra. The first is that a young man is found dead, his death dismissed as an accident by Chopra's colleague. The second is a little more unusual - Chopra gets home to find he has inherited a baby elephant from his uncle. And so begins The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan.

A lively, dark novel, The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra is hugely fun to read and full of charm. At its centre is a murder mystery, with Chopra finding himself in more and more danger as he gets closer and closer to the truth. But it's not the crime element, as brilliantly executed as it is, that makes this novel such a joy. It's the way Khan explores what a man does with his life after the thing that takes up most of his time - work - is no longer taking up that time. Khan shows the fear Chopra has of going from respected police inspector to irrelevant old man, and he does it with humour as well as sympathy.

Part of the humour comes, of course, from Chopra's relationship with the baby elephant - Ganesha. But Ganesha is no comic sidekick. Instead, the relationship between Chopra and Ganesha is touching, and the two teach each other things - the elephant teaches Chopra he is still needed and valuable, and Chopra shows Ganesha how to trust and love. It sounds strange to be talking about a man and an elephant, but the relationship is as strong as any detective and their human sidekick.