Breath by Tim Winton, 2008

I finished this last week and still don’t know what to say beyond Breath is a skillfully written and surprisingly interesting novel which I’d recommend you read. In the interests of elucidation however…
The novel opens with ambo Bruce Pike (aka Pikelet) attending a teenage boy found hanging in his bedroom. From the first page, Pikelet’s [...]

A quick hello

Just letting everyone know I’m still here! I’m working on reviews of two excellent literary novels published this year (Breath and When will there be good news?), which those jaded by the rather ho-hum Booker longlist might like to try.
In the meantime, if you are an admirer of E.M Forster, there is a wonderful review [...]

The Guernsey literary and potato peel pie society by Mary Ann Shaffer, 2008

This enjoyable (and ubiquitous!) epistolatory novel opens in 1946 London with writer Juliet Ashton at a loose end. Her collection of light-hearted wartime journalism written under the pseudonym of Izzy Bickerstaff has been published and she doesn’t know what to write about next. In the absence of inspiration, Juliet goes on a publicity tour [...]

Solzhenitsyn, hail and farewell

I had a huge weekend which as an introvert I’m still recovering from. My review of The Guernsey literary and potato peel pie society is forthcoming but in the meantime, I was saddened to read this morning that Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn has died. You can read his obituary here. 
If you haven’t already, read One Day in [...]