Some books are so brilliant, they’re difficult to put down. Sometimes the opposite is true, too. A novel can be so powerful that it can’t be rushed, so important that I need to… Continue reading
My son is a cadet in the merchant navy and he has just set sail on his next voyage – sob! I took him to the airport to see him off, and on… Continue reading
My experience of Zadie Smith’s writing has been extreme. When the world went crazy for her debut, White Teeth (2000), I just didn’t feel the love, but I was persuaded to give Smith another… Continue reading
Having spent some time lolling about in a reading torpor, I had begun to suspect that I had either totally lost my ability to concentrate or, worse, fallen out of love with fiction.… Continue reading
I’ve been meaning to break my Graham Greene duck for a long time so I was delighted when The Quiet American was picked as my bookgroup’s book choice for last month. Also, it gives… Continue reading
It’s been a while since I read the first novel by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, Roseanna, and as I’ve abandoned myself to my current craving for crime, I thought I’d dig out the… Continue reading
Feeling in need of some escapism in the wake of recent political events, I thought I’d swan off to the tropical heat and swaying palms of the South Sea Islands – in my… Continue reading
It’s not often that I’m lost for words, but I’ve been struggling with how to begin writing about Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being. My mind has been completely blown by it. In… Continue reading
Pétronille by Amélie Nothomb (2014, translation by Alison Anderson) was this month’s reading choice for my book group. While her parents are Belgian, Nothomb was born in Japan but currently lives in Paris.… Continue reading
As my reading concentration is still decidedly lacy after recent current events, I thought I would try food as a lure, to lull me into a state of engaged calm, enabling me to… Continue reading
