Stomach-turning: A Ballet of Lepers, by Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen, the famous musician, poet and lyricist, wrote the stories collected in A Ballet of Lepers in his youngContinue Reading
Category: Review of literary fiction
I just could not get into it – The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
There is such a thing as an intended audience: when a writer produces a book outline for a publisher, itContinue Reading
It’s only ten days but it feels like forever – The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles
Amor Towles wrote the excellent novel, A Gentleman in Moscow (2019), which I thoroughly enjoyed. It received a lot ofContinue Reading
Award-winning novel Creative Process Discussion of writing style Literary analysis New Non-Fiction Readers and reading Review of historical fiction Review of literary fiction
A man on the roof of a 70-storey building – Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel
Wolf Hall is 672 pages long. It is 672 pages in which every single line and every single word haveContinue Reading
Bitter days, sweet days – The Philistine, by Leila Marshy
When I first had this novel in my hands, I looked at the decidedly odd cover design (thinking “What’s thisContinue Reading
Backstories Discussion of film/TV series Published books Readers and reading Review of literary fiction
The origins of “Waiting for the Barbarians”
Uncomfortable truths aplenty come to mind when you read and absorb J.M. Coetzee’s famous dystopian narrative, Waiting for the Barbarians.Continue Reading
Creative Process Discussion of writing style Review of literary fiction Review of modern fiction Review of new book Reviews of short stories
Finally – Then what happened? in First Person Singular, by Haruki Murakami
While looking at First Person Singular, by acclaimed Japanese author Haruki Murakami, I asked myself three questions in order toContinue Reading
Creative Process Discussion of writing style Review of literary fiction Review of modern fiction Review of new book Reviews of short stories
The most important thing in First Person Singular, by Haruki Murakami
Trying to make sense of the new collection of stories by Japanese author Haruki Murakami, I asked the question: WhatContinue Reading
Creative Process Discussion of writing style Review of literary fiction Review of modern fiction Review of new book Review of translated novel Reviews of short stories
What is it about? – First Person Singular, by Haruki Murakami
Acclaimed Fantasy author Neil Gaiman teaches in his Masterclass course on The Art of Storytelling, that a writer and aContinue Reading
Art-themed Fiction Arts-themed novels Authors to watch Creative Process Discussion of writing style Künstlerroman Review of historical fiction Review of literary fiction Review of new book
Wonderful! – Hamnet and Judith, by Maggie O’Farrell
For the first time in a very long while, I could feel tears coming to my eyes while I wasContinue Reading
Art-themed Fiction Arts-themed novels Discussion of writing style Künstlerromane Modern fiction music musicians Review of literary fiction Review of modern fiction Review of new book Review of new novel rock opera The Who
Listening to Someone Else’s Dreams – The Age of Anxiety, by Pete Townshend
All the Aging Groovies like me out there would know the name Pete Townshend, the Pete Townshend – a.k.a. Peter DennisContinue Reading
Art-themed Fiction Arts-themed novels CanLit Discussion of writing style kunstlerromane Review of Biographical Fiction Review of historical fiction Review of literary fiction Review of new book Review of new novel
Falling for the Leopard – Lampedusa, by Steven Price
Do you where Lampedusa is? Or what it is? Steven Price’s historical novel, Lampedusa, is not actually about the islandContinue Reading
Discussion of genre Discussion of writing style Review of literary fiction Review of new book Review of new novel Review of science fiction
Challenging the limits of physicality – Frankissstein – A Love Story, by Jeanette Winterson
Frankissstein (with 3 s’es) is a collection of interwoven love stories that takes place from the mid 1800s to theContinue Reading
Afrikaans Art Art-themed Fiction Authors to watch Award-winning novel Current events Discussion of current events Discussion of film/TV series Discussion of writing style Review of literary fiction Review of modern fiction Trending
Amazing Interconnectedness – The Garden of Evening Mists, by Tan Twan Eng (now a major film)
Some books have exotic contexts – there is a story about the story, and it helps the promotion of theContinue Reading
Picking up whispers of a murder – The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington
Forget for a moment that Leonora Carrington, who died in 2011 at the age of 94, was one of theContinue Reading
Best of 2018 Cold Climate Novels for Summer Discussion of writing style Fairytales Review of literary fiction Review of previously published novel Review of translated novel
Luminous, mysterious and bothersome – The Taiga Syndrome, by Cristina Rivera Garza
What is the Taiga? And what is the “Taiga Syndrome”? The Taiga is a snowy, fir-forested region in the highContinue Reading
CanLit Discussion of genre Discussion of writing style List of similar books Review of Biographical Fiction Review of literary fiction Review of new book
A howl from the guts – White Out by Martine Delvaux
Before you read White Out it is best that you know that this book is written somewhat in the styleContinue Reading
How to squish Sjón’s 528-page “CoDex 1962” into 2.5 minutes
It took four posts to finish saying what I wanted to say about CoDex 1962, the strange but marvellous novelContinue Reading
Art Crimes and War Crimes – Butterfly, by John Delacourt
John Delacourt’s novel Butterfly is hard to read, not because of his writing style, but because of the subject matterContinue Reading
Backstories Discussion of writing style literary romance Review of literary fiction Review of new book
A codex of an Icelandic writer and his roots – CoDex, by Sjón (Part 4 – The nuclear fallout)
Part 4/4 of The Long Read review of Codex 1962, by Sjón (Back to part 3/4 of the review) TheContinue Reading
Backstories Discussion of writing style Literary analysis Review of literary fiction Review of new book
A codex of an Icelandic writer and his roots – CoDex 1962, by Sjón (Part 3 – The clay child)
Back to part 2 of the review of Codex 1962, by Sjón The parts of the Trilogy The three partsContinue Reading
Backstories Discussion of writing style Literary analysis Review of literary fiction Review of new book
A codex of an Icelandic writer and his roots – CoDex 1962, by Sjón (Part 2 – Turning people into zebras)
Part 2 of the review of CoDex 1962, by Sjón (Back to part 1) Antagonist/Protagonist Sjón comes close to directlyContinue Reading
Backstories Best of 2018 Discussion of writing style Literary analysis Review of literary fiction Review of new book
A codex of an Icelandic author and his roots – CoDex 1962 by Sjón (Part 1 – Roll-call of the dead)
CoDex 1962 is Icelandic author Sjón’s first new novel since Moonstone – The Boy Who Never Was, published in translation inContinue Reading
Discussion of writing style Literary analysis Review of historical fiction Review of literary fiction Review of new book
Moonstone – The Boy Who Never Was, by Sjón
Sjón: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Reader of Sjón. Her current mission: to explore strange new worlds,Continue Reading
Discussion of writing style Review of literary fiction Review of modern fiction Review of new book Review of new novel romance Romances and Love Stories
It’s not about mixed doubles at all – The Only Story, by Julian Barnes
Julian Barnes’ latest novel is called The Only Story and, despite the subject (the “scandalous” love affair between a manContinue Reading
Angela Merkel’s take on Julian Barnes’s novel about Shostakovich, The Noise of Time
Julian Barnes October 8 at 7:03pm · Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, on Julian Barnes’s novel The Noise of TimeContinue Reading
Backstories Discussion of writing style Literary analysis Review of literary fiction Review of memoir
It’s no use getting mad – The pact between reader and writer
On principle, I never respond when authors write to me to either complain about or say thank you for myContinue Reading
Award-winning novel Discussion of writing style Review of literary fiction Review of novel Review of previously published novel
A masterful depiction of boredom – The Evenings by Gerard Reve
This is the first English translation, published in January 2017, of the famous Dutch novel. It is a novel about boredomContinue Reading
Award-winning novel Backstories Discussion of writing style Published books Review of literary fiction Review of previously published novel Review of science fiction Romances and Love Stories Video
Finnish Weird at its best – Troll, by Johanna Sinisalo
ABOUT TROLLS –There is a whole body of memes about trolls. There are cute troll dolls, like in the 2016Continue Reading
Discussion of genre Discussion of writing style Modern fiction Review of literary fiction Review of new book Review of new novel
From the inside looking out – A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
This is a stylized, studied novel, about a stylish gentleman, written in elegant style. It has a fin-de-siècle feel to it,Continue Reading
Award-winning novel Discussion of writing style Modern fiction Review of literary fiction Review of new book Review of new novel
“Kǔ lé”, a state of both joy and sorrow in Do Not Say We Have Nothing, by Madeleine Thien
This important novel about two families of brilliant musicians in China during the “Great Leap Forward” (1958 – 1961), the “Cultural Revolution” (1966 –Continue Reading
Books for Summer Current events Discussion of writing style Published books Review of literary fiction
Suffering and sublime beauty – The Famished Road, by Ben Okri
This novel, first published 1991, won Ben Okri the Man Booker Prize for Fiction. You might wonder what relevance aContinue Reading
A Year in Books – From Rich Asians To Snow Maidens
Goodreads, bless their little algorithmic socks, let me know this week that I’ve read 14 books this year. Yep, allContinue Reading
SEVEN CIRCUMSTANCES 