Chef Gabriel Lightfoot is not the most likeable of protagonists. When a kitchen porter is found dead in the bowels of the hotel where he works, Gabriel’s life plummets steadily. He’s cheating on his partner, resenting his dying father and struggling to tolerate his kitchen staff. I absolutely loved Ali’s debut Brick Lane as the characters and world she’d created were so plausible – the imagery and use of language fitted so convincingly with the main character struggling to find her way in London. Although In the kitchen didn’t grab me in quite the same way, it was a good read with some humourous moments. Things turn out ok for Gabe in the end but, because I found him hard to connect with, I could easily have left him wallowing in his own messy circumstances.

This classic novel is given new life in graphic form. Although Nick, Daisy, Tom and Gatsby become inhuman creatures, Fitzgerald’s characters are true to form in all their tragic grandeur. I love the original and was delighted by this version. The graphics are quirky and poignant. Set out like an old photo album, Nick Carraway narrates with an almost nostalgic tone, at times destroying and then restoring the snapshots that make up the tale. The Great Gatsby is so often defined as a “jazz age classic”  and this has been captured through the beauty and flow of Fitzgerald’s words and the movement and use of space across each page.

Kate Atkinson is brilliant. This book of short stories reveals itself to be more like a series of vignettes, tied together by shared moments and recurring characters. Some of whom include the sandal-wearing English teacher (particularly cringe-making), the evil twin of a television reviewer and a giant cat called Gordon.
These stories all have a twist of fantasy and surreality, but the characters are convincing and the situations are often painfully and hilariously believable. The connections between stories are subtle enough to feel clever and surprising, yet strong enough to build each character into a real person.