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. Lesley Glaister was one of those writers I kept expecting to break through from relative obscurity and land …
Blasts from the Past: Sheer Blue Bliss by Lesley Glaister (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 don’t remember seeing much coverage of Christodora when it was published here in the UK. A shame. …
Blasts from the Past: Christodora by Tim Murphy (2016) 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 remember being pitched Helen Oyeyemi’s The Icarus Girl back in 2005 when I was the reviews editor …
Blasts from the Past: The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi (2005) 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. Amongst Women is the first John McGahern novel I managed to get through and only because I’d been …
Blasts from the Past: Amongst Women by John McGahern (1990) 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. Wise Children is my favourite Angela Carter novel. Stuffed full of Shakespearean references and written in language which …
Blasts from the Past: Wise Children by Angela Carter (1991) 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. I’m not sure if all editors make fine writers but William Maxwell’s prose exemplifies the elegant, clean, quietly …
Blasts from the Past: So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell (1979) 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. It’s not that I don’t read any non-fiction but I review very little of it. This is only …
Blasts from the Past: Skating to Antarctica by Jenny Diski (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. I read U.S.A. not just years but decades ago. Both huge and experimental, it took me months to …
Blasts from the Past: U. S. A. by John Dos Passos (1930-36) 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. I can’t remember how I came across Julia Blackburn’s gorgeously poetic novel. I’d left bookselling and wasn’t yet …
Blasts from the Past: The Leper’s Companions by Julia Blackburn (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 into as many hands as I could. I remember someone looking over my shoulder when I was reading Being Dead on my way home from …
Blasts from the Past: Being Dead by Jim Crace (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 into as many hands as I could. There was a time when it was hard to get away from Kathryn Harrison’s name in the books …
Blasts from the Past: The Seal Wife by Kathryn Harrison (2002) Read More »