Summer reads
Nice list of summer reads posted by largeheartedboy, linking to all the “books you must read this summer” lists. I like lists, so a list of lists is even better. It’s a US-centred list – wonder if someone has done…
“Irma Voth” by Miriam Toews
I enjoyed this tale of a young Mennonite girl marooned on a claustrophobic family compound in rural Mexico. At 19 she has already been through a lot, marrying a non-Mennonite Mexican guy called Jorge and getting ostracised by her family…
“Tomorrow Pamplona” by Jan van Mersbergen
A road trip taken by two men across Europe to the bull-running at Pamplona. The set-up appealed to me: it’s quite similar to my own novel, with two men on a road trip, exploring the strange relationship between them and…
Best reading/writing sites
Kinga at the Book Snob has a great post listing the 21 best sites about reading and writing. Along with well-known ones like Goodreads and London Review of Books, there are some that were new to me and look very…
“Letter to D” by André Gorz
D is André Gorz’s 82-year-old, terminally ill wife, and this short book is a letter written to her about a year before they both committed suicide at the same time, unable to bear the thought of being parted. Letter to…
“Death At Intervals” by Jose Saramago
I love the premise of this book. One day, in a particular country, people stop dying. They still get old, get sick, get mangled in car accidents, etc., but they can’t die. At first this news is greeted with elation.…
Admitting defeat
I don’t often admit defeat when I’m reading. I tend to slog away to the end of a book, even if I’m not enjoying it much. Partly this is stubbornness, partly pride, but partly also a belief that most books…
“Saturday” by Ian McEwan
Not my favourite McEwan – that is Atonement by a long way. This was OK, a more meditative book, full of long meandering passages from the head of Henry Perowne, a successful neurosurgeon living in Marylebone with his successful wife…
“Evening is the Whole Day” by Preeta Samarasan
Update: I interviewed Preeta Samarasan about this book and her writing in general – to listen to the interview, click here. This book grew on me. At first I found the amount of detail overwhelming, and thought the pace was…