Book news, reviews and recommendations
This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy in as many hands as I could. I was a bookseller when Annie Proulx’s Shipping News became one of those runaway bestsellers every second customer […]
Blasts from the Past: Close Range by Annie Proulx (1999) Read More »
This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy in as many hands as I could. I’ve had a patchy reading history with Richard Russo but Straight Man is a standout for me, perhaps
Blasts from the Past: Straight Man by Richard Russo (1997) Read More »
This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy into as many hands as I could. Water Music is the first T. C. Boyle novel I read back when he was T Coraghessan Boyle.
Blasts from the Past: Water Music by T. C. Boyle (1981) Read More »
This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy in as many hands as I could. This is an unusual one for me. As regular readers know, I rarely read thrillers but there was
Blasts from the Past: Los Alamos by Joseph Kanon (1997) Read More »
This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy in as many hands as I could. This is the second novel by Tim Murphy I’ve featured in this series. I’m not sure I’ve done
Blasts from the Past: Correspondents by Tim Murphy (2019) Read More »
This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy in as many hands as I could. Victoria Glendinning is best known for her literary biographies of such luminaries as Rebecca West, Vita Sackville-West and
Blasts from the Past: Electricity by Victoria Glendinning (1995) Read More »
This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy in as many hands as I could. I might well not have read Michel Faber’s The Crimson Petal and the White which weighs in at
Blasts from the Past: The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber (2002) Read More »
This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy in as many hands as I could. Canadian poet Marilyn Bowering’s Visible Worlds didn’t get much in the way of UK review coverage as I
Blasts from the Past: Visible Worlds by Marilyn Bowering (1998) Read More »
This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy in as many hands as I could. Regular readers of this blog will have noticed that I tend to shy away from fluffy novels, often heading
Blasts from the Past: The Republic of Love by Carol Shields (1992) Read More »
This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy in as many hands as I could. Eating is one of life’s joys for me which is perhaps why I’m drawn to novels about cooking,
Blasts from the Past: The Book of Salt by Monique Truong (2003) Read More »
This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy in as many hands as I could. The son of a forensic psychiatrist, Patrick McGrath grew up near Broadmoor, the high security mental hospital for
Blasts from the Past: Port Mungo by Patrick McGrath (2004) Read More »