The Sense of an Ending, explained
A quick explanation of the ending of Julian Barnes's novel The Sense of an Ending—followed by a long discussion in the comments for those who want to go deeper.
Where are the Women?
Palestinian Women by Fatma Kassem This book is a series of accounts by Palestinian women who lived through the ‘Nakba’ of 1948, in which they lost their homes and were either forced to leave the newly-formed state of Israel or…
Today I’m at Read.Learn.Write
Yes, I’m back! Fresh from my guest posting debut yesterday on The Undercover Soundtrack, I’m over at Read.Learn.Write today, talking about Why Reading and Writing are Inseparable. In the post, I talk about how I used to read widely but passively,…
“The Brothers” by Asko Sahlberg
The Brothers, by Finnish writer Asko Sahlberg, is the first in Peirene Press’s series of the “Small Epic”. The publisher also draws comparisons with Shakespeare and William Faulkner. No pressure, then. Surprisingly the book did not disappoint. It’s only 122 pages…
“Tail of the Blue Bird” by Nii Ayikwei Parkes
This is a VERY belated post for Ghanaian Literature Week, organised by the wonderful Kinna. I signed up for it back in October, but since then a few things have sucked up a lot of my time and energy. Anyway…
German Literature Month readalong, Effi Briest – part 3
So it’s week 3 of German Literature Month, organised by Lizzie and Caroline. We’re reading Effi Briest by Theodor Fontane. Why do you think Effi kept Crampas’s letters? I found it a little implausible at the time, because it was…
German literature month readalong – part 2
It’s the second week of the Effi Briest readalong, hosted by Lizzy and Caroline as part of German Literature Month. Here are Caroline’s questions and my answers. What strikes you most in this novel, what do like or dislike the…
German Literature Month readalong – part 1
I am participating in the readalong of Theodore Fontaine’s Effi Briest as part of German Literature Month. Here are my reactions to the first 15 chapters. Questions posed by Lizzy. Q1: Welcome to the 1st German Literature Month Readalong! Had…
“The Problems of Philosophy” by Bertrand Russell
This book is pitched just at the right level for me. I am interested in philosophy, but don’t have enough knowledge of it to be able to understand some of the more complex works. I tried Wittgenstein recently, for instance,…