Andrew Blackman, literary fiction writer, traveller, book reviewer and essayist

Reading

Books I read in June 2026

From a Booker winner to a nineteenth-century vision of a future socialist utopia, here's a roundup of the books I read this month.

Reading

A Biography of Tadeo Isidoro Cruz: Borges Marathon, Part 31

Are our lives really defined by a single moment? And what happens when that moment involves seeing yourself in someone else? Borges answers these questions while telling the story of…

Reading

Natives of My Person by George Lamming

My review of Barbadian novelist George Lamming's complex allegory of colonial psychology.

Reading

Books I read in May 2026

From contemporary fiction to a classic search for human meaning, here are the books I read and enjoyed in May.

Reading

Story of the Warrior and the Captive Maiden: Borges Marathon, Part 30

Like most Borges stories, this one isn't quite what you might expect. Here's what it means to me.

Thinking

Why I Don’t Know What My Favourite Book Is

"What's your favourite book?" It should be a simple question for someone like me, but it really isn't.

Reading

The Theologians: Borges Marathon, Part 29

Jorge Luis Borges uses a debate between two medieval theologians to explore themes of infinity, orthodoxy, and personal identity.

Reading

The Dead Man: Borges Marathon, Part 28

Borges takes us to the vast plains of the Brazilian frontier for an epic battle of wills between a grizzled gang leader and an ambitious pretender.

Reading

Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim

What would life be like if you left a version of yourself behind when you migrated? This thoughtful sci-fi novel introduces "instancing" as a powerful metaphor for the rupture of…