Book Review – Nutshell by Ian McEwan After panting and wheezing my way though a couple of doorstop books (not all of which did their weight justice), I was relieved…
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Book Review – Midwinter by Fiona Melrose It is the onslaught of the literary festival season here, and as a result, I have a unusually large pile of books to…
Book Review – Days Without End by Sebastian Barry Steven Boykey Sidley I have always had a irrational distaste for books written entirely in a deep vernacular, not…
Book Review – The Nix by Nathan Hill Steven Boykey Sidley Every year I try to read at least one door stop. 500 pages or more. The last few years…
One of the genres I generally avoid is the childhood memoir of trauma and pain. Not because it doesn’t interest me, but because of the grinding repetitiveness of abusive, neglectful,…
If I had to list my 10 best books of the last year or so, the following would emphatically be on it, probably near the front – Ben Fountain (Billy…
Book Review – Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill This is a startling book. It is startling in almost every interpretation of the word. It is startling because it is…
Book Review – Traveling Sprinkler by Nicolson Baker The only other book of Nicolson Baker I have read was in 1993. It was Vox, and it made him briefly famous,…
A number of people have asked why I always write good reviews, never bad ones. The reason is simple – I only review books that I like. I stay silent…
Review – F by Daniel Kehlmann I have been trawling lists again. Last year it was the Booker Longlist, which I attacked with unseemly optimism and basically fizzled after about…