Review of Glow by Ned Beauman
Glow is a wonderfully inventive book, with some beautiful writing. Unlike Beauman’s previous two books, this one has a contemporary setting, and it’s very contemporary,…
London Fiction: a Reading List
A couple of years ago I was involved in a panel event on London fiction. As part of my preparation I decided to…
Under the Tripoli Sky by Kamal Ben Hameda
Peirene Press is known for publishing contemporary European literature in translation, but its latest offering takes us a little further afield, to…
Latest UK book stats
Came across some interesting stats on UK book sales in the latest issue of The Author magazine from the Society of Authors, and…
Clara’s Daughter by Meike Ziervogel
Authors and publishers generally live in different camps. They have their own associations, their own awards, their own complaints about the people…
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…