New Zealand
I haven't posted for a while as I have been on holiday to New Zealand. See obligatory pictures of Milford Sound and a kaka bird below. The purpose of the…
Kindle not for the colour blind
I have resisted getting an ebook reader so far, not least because many of the books are not available (or, at least , not available to me - see below)…
The Sufferings of the Kurds
I have just posted to my website the first Kurdish novel I have read. Its title, which translates as Sufferings of the People explains the title of this post. Sadly,…
End of the year lists
I frankly find end of the year lists of best books a little tiresome. Firstly, all too often, authors plug the books of their friends, other authors with the same…
Christa Wolf
Christa Wolf died yesterday. You can find links to obituaries in both English and German on the Christa Wolf page on my website. She came in for a lot of…
Speaking in tongues
I was reading my favourite Italian literary review, L'Indice, the other day. L'Indice contains reviews of new and recent books and articles, a bit like the Times Literary Supplement or…
The Canon – Part Deux
Following on from my previous comments on the canon, I would like to say a few words in favour of the canon. 1) The stunningly obvious reason is that it…
The Canon
The Canon is one of the most controversial aspects of literary criticism. I think that goes without saying. Most of us were first introduced to it at school when we…
The Modern Novel or Why I Am Here
When I decided to do this blog, I vowed to myself that it would not be about literary prizes. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, I am not particularly…
More on the Man Booker/Literary Prize
When I set up this blog, I vowed that I would only touch peripherally on the literary prize bandwagon/farce and here I am writing my fourth post and my fourth…