A potential novel: In the Wolf’s Mouth by Adam Foulds
Reading Adam Foulds’s new novel In the Wolf’s Mouth, I was reminded of literary movements like Oulipo, which explored the concept of ‘potential literature’.…
The Reckoning by Jacob Soll
From Dante’s Inferno to Monty Python’s Flying Circus, accounting has often had a bad name. The Reckoning by Jacob Soll goes a long…
What I’m Doing When I’m Not Here
I always promised myself I’d never write a “Sorry I haven’t posted in a while…” post. So this isn’t one of those…
The Blue Room by Hanne Ørstavik
I cannot get out. Something must have happened to the lock. That’s the first line of Hanne Ørstavik’s novel The Blue Room. Are…
Calling all unpublished novelists: here’s your break!
In February 2008, I was in despair. I’d given up a good job as a reporter at The Wall Street Journal in…
The Dead Lake by Hamid Ismailov
How do you tell the story of a remote injustice to a jaded world? You could make a documentary, or interview the survivors and…
The Future of Books: Reactive?
How would you like to read a book that reacted to your emotions, and changed its storyline to give you exactly what…
What Sport Tells Us About Life by Ed Smith
As well as The Chinese Garden of Serenity, Vishy also sent me What Sport Tells Us About Life. Again, it was a thoughtful…
A Chinese Garden of Serenity by Hung Tzu-ch’eng
My friend Vishy gave me A Chinese Garden of Serenity for Christmas. It was such a nice surprise to open the package from…