Book news, reviews and recommendations
A new Anne Enright is always worth looking out for although it has to be said I still have a copy of Actress, her last novel, sitting unread on my shelves. Of course, that didn’t stop me putting up my hand for The Wren, The Wren when I spotted it. Enright’s new novel follows a […]
The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright: Mothers and daughters 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. The pleasures of reading fiction are many and varied but broadly speaking they tend to fall into two
Blasts from the Past: Eucalyptus by Murray Bail (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 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 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. Lost in Translation is my first non-fiction blast from the past. It was published in the UK shortly
Blasts from the Past: Lost in Translation by Eva Hoffman (1989) Read More »
Regular visitors to this blog will know that I tend not to review historical novels. There are exceptions, of course – Jake Arnott’s The Fatal Tree and Andrew Miller’s Now We Shall be Entirely Free spring to mind – but generally my feet are planted firmly in the twenty-first century. You might be surprised then
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 have the BBC to thank for introducing me to Haruki Murakami’s work. Someone picked A Wild Sheep
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. David Malouf is one of those writers who seems to be able to turn his hand to anything:
Blasts from the Past: Remembering Babylon by David Malouf (1993) Read More »
I’d been looking forward to Jonathan Galassi’s novel, smacking my lips over the idea of a treat not to mention an escape from the ‘hell in a hand cart’ news we seemed to be drowning in. It’s all about the book world and what could be more comforting than that? Paul Dukach, the misfit in
Muse by Jonathan Galassi: Adventures in the publishing world Read More »