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…
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…
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…
Borges Marathon, Part 11: The Approach to Al-Mu’tasim
Only Borges could get away with writing a book review of a book that doesn't exist.
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…
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…
Borges Marathon, Part 10: Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius
What would a world with no objective reality look like? How about a language with no nouns? Jorge Luis Borges explores these…
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…