• Cover image of On the Holloway Road by Andrew Blackman
  • A Virtual Love Cover
  • Boy, Dog, Accordion, by Andrew Blackman

Andrew Blackman
Literary fiction writer

Welcome to my blog. You'll find 15+ years of posts about books, reading, politics and travel. You can also find out more about my two published novels and hundreds of published articles, essays, book reviews and short stories.
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Latest posts - Page 4

Danny Boy by Barry Walsh

My review of Danny Boy by Barry Walsh, a novel of beautifully drawn relationships and the sometimes funny, sometimes painful experience of growing up on a council estate in 1960s London.
fire rush

Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks

My review of Fire Rush by Jacqueline Crooks, a fast-paced piece of literary fiction set among the Caribbean diaspora in 1970s London.

Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos

When I moved to New York City as a 22-year-old, I immediately loved the chaotic, frenetic energy of the place. I’d grown up in London, another big city, but this…
driving in finland

November 2022 Reading Roundup

It was an all-fiction month for me in November, involving a 17-year-old sex worker in the US, a novelist seeing her stolen manuscript come to life, a young woman fleeing…

It’s Just a Few Bad Apples

Welcome to another of my occasional rants about the use and misuse of the English language. Previous entries have included people who talk about their bandwidth and the irritating habit…
kotor

Reading Roundup for October 2022

This month, I read a dense Serbian novel, an analysis of capitalism as a snake eating its own tail, and a couple of Elizabeth Strout's latest novels.
snow by john banville

Snow by John Banville: Review

I was surprised by Snow: it's very different from John Banville's usual style. There's some beautiful prose as usual, but in the end it's quite a formulaic detective novel.
books by elizabeth strout

August 2022 Reading Roundup

My reading in August was dominated by listening to six books by the same author on a long, long road trip across Europe.

The View From Belmont by Kevyn Alan Arthur

The View From Belmont raises interesting questions of race and gender amid the barbarousness of a slave-owning society. The dual narrative was a promising technique, but it didn't feel fully…