Five Favourite Fiction From Forum Books

In the 'About' section, I've mentioned my favourite two bookshops are Forum Books in Corbridge and News From Nowhere in Liverpool. So, I thought I'd introduce you to both via the things they've offered me over the years.

Read Five Favourite Non-Fiction From News From Nowhere

Forum Books is housed in a beautiful old chapel in the North East market town of Corbridge. My in-laws moved further up north a few years ago and as soon as I chanced upon Forum, one Saturday afternoon stroll looking for a pint, I fell in love. I could waste our time telling you what's great about the bookshop... but it just feels right. You know? You will do... the second you walk in and feel the words fall on you from on high. It's that kind of magical place. Anyway, Forum and its owner Helen are my go-to for fiction. I fell out with fiction years ago, but when a couple of my favourite songwriters released novels and they were great, I was back in. Forum had a section dedicated to one of these musicians-cum-authors (read on) and that was me, hooked, and a couple of prescient suggestions later, I trust this bookshop implicitly when I want someone telling me stories...

1. The Free by Willy Vlautin (Harper Perennial, 2014) Willy Vlautin was the singer and songwriter with Americana heroes Richmond Fontaine and now fronts country soul outfit The Delines. A brilliant lyricist who always manages to tell his musical stories with economy and melodic intensity, it's as an author he has found further fame. Willie's stories have a quiet desperation and focus on the still surface of lives in and around the Midwest margins of America. 'The Free' was his fourth novel and told tales of three memorable characters who all face existential crises amidst poverty and hardship. Or they would be facing it, if American lower middle-class life wasn't as relentless as the rain. In the great spirit of Raymond Carver and George Pelecanos, Vlautin's work taps into the ache a Tuesday afternoon with nothing to do brings when you’ve got a hole in your belly and a beer in your hand.

2. Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler (Picador, 2014) A remarkable read that brings four childhood friends back together for a wedding. The rub? One of them is now a rich and famous musician. But don't let that put you off... the book is bigger than any salacious story wrapped up in a world most will never see. Butler brings small town America vividly to life in these pages as he focuses on the spiritual pull childhood and home has on us all. Moving like a quiet Van Morrison waltz, 'Shotgun Lovesongs' begins the healing quietly as our heroes travel the frontiers lifelong friendships bring and the pitfalls hope houses.

3. Leonard And Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession (Bluemoose Books, 2019) "The figure in Munch's painting isn't actually screaming!", Hungry Paul said. "Really, are you sure?", replied Leonard. "Absolutely." Everything happens beneath the surface in this still-life debut from Irishman Hession. A tone poem concerning quiet people living a quiet life, 'Leonard And Hungry Paul' is the ultimate lesson in realising the person standing next to you wherever you are right now is more important than you think. A story about the small things that happen in the shadow of life's big moments, it's not what happens within the pages that sets this wonderful work apart - it's what you need to believe in to see that brings the tale to life.

4. There There by Tommy Orange (Knopf, 2018) An unflinching look at urban Native communities, 'There There' draws straight lines. Walking unafraid into situations busy being born in America today, the dozen characters at the heart of this shattering novel each tell a tale soaked in the push and pull of tradition. There's lots of stories to follow, but the book never loses its thread or your attention. It doesn't speak with one voice, either, and pays strict attention to the myriad of differences that exist within all communities, as startling scenes mix with mundane melancholy. "Follow your name back and you might find your line paved with gold or beset with traps."

5. Big Girl, Small Town by Michelle Gallen (John Murray, 2019) Getting readers to care about the obsessions of characters in a book is the magic trick all authors crave to master. Majella works in a chip shop, in a border town in the north of Ireland, and lives an unremarkable life. But it's a funny life. Tragic, too. And the other big magic trick only the best writers can pull off is to write funny and pathos in the same story. Gallen manages it in the same paragraph many times in 'Big Girl, Small Town' and this story of the lives of those in and around the chippy and town is captivating. Everything occurs in the details, and whether smutty or serious (or seriously smutty), there's a perpetual motion the reader feels compelled to follow as Majella lurches from one problem to the next.

Forum Books, 8, Market Place, Corbridge NE45 5AW forumbooksshop.com