#31 After Disasters by Viet Dinh
Apart from having one of the best covers I have seen in recent years, Viet Dinh’s debut novel was a thoroughly enjoyable read, to me, for three reasons: It explores gay male life without explanations, without apology and without titillation The topic – aid workers and disaster recovery – is one that I know a […]
A digression on digressions …
As far as I can tell, the only people reading this blog are other writers, which is okay, I’m reasonably fond of my own kind. But on the other hand, I’m not entirely sure how much writers care about reviews of the books of other writers. I have a pretty clear idea how they feel […]
#30 About My Mother by Tahar Ben Jelloun
First and foremost, I am ashamed … only my thirtieth review and I claimed I wasn’t going to take forever about these 100 reviews! However … I have been revising a complex novel which my agent is about to start sending out, and I have also written four short stories that I […]
#29 The Children’s Home by Charles Lambert
This eerie combination of inverted folk tale and psychological thriller is a difficult book to categories but for that very reason, exactly the kind of book that compels the reader to continue. Briefly put, a disfigured recluse spends his days cataloguing books on his remote estate, whilst his sister runs some kind of family […]
#28 Harraga by Boualem Sansal
Any reviewer takes on a task that they must first define for themselves – known (I think) as a harsh critic I’m also an avid reader. I like ‘failed’ novels as much as ‘successful’ ones and often define the two very differently to the mainstream. So in approaching Harraga by Boualem Sansal I will begin […]
SODA …
A wise man once taught me that Structure, Order, Discipline and Accountability (SODA) would help me in every area of life. He was right. I am a terminal procrastinator (although the past 3 months have been given over to a substantial reworking of a novel in line with my agent’s comments so I’m terminal, not […]
#27 Confessions of a Gentleman Arachnid
Michael’s Coolwood’s PR person got in touch with me to ask if I’d like to review his book. I said (to myself) I really wouldn’t. Then I went and took a little look at Mr Coolwood on YouTube and changed my mind. I’m still not quite sure why, except he seems like a nice chap […]
#26 Between the Assassinations by Aravind Adiga
In Kittur, a fictional small town very much like many South Indian coastal towns, the usual hive of Indian life takes place. Aravind Adiga takes the reader on a dual tour – of the town itself in sententious guidebook excerpts which are supposed to introduce us to the highlights of the place but actually […]
#25 Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon
I have always understood Pynchon to be inaccessible, so in choosing Inherent Vice as my first Pynchon I was deliberately opting for the most accessible of his novels. Perhaps it’s not at all representative – Gravity’s Rainbow is described as ‘sweeping’, ‘complex’, and even ‘mysterious’ – but Inherent Vice is more of a romp […]
#24 The Sacrifice by Joyce Carol Oates
One of the most powerful books I ever read was Blonde – a searing account of the imagined interior life of Marilyn Monroe. Whilst Oates insists that this work, like The Sacrifice, must be seen as a product of the imagination, not an account of history, it’s sometimes difficult to remember that in both cases. […]
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