Reading

Wislawa Szymborska

Just discovered the work of Wislawa Szymborska through a poem reprinted in an old edition of New Internationalist from last year. It was called Psalm and I thought it was a beautiful and humorous poem, perfectly illustrating the absurdity of…
Read more

“Mr Palomar” by Italo Calvino

Mr. Palomar sets out to examine every possible aspect of his life and the world around him, trying to name everything and categorise everything scientifically. Of course he fails, and it’s in the episodes of life squirming away from his…
Read more

“An Elegy for Easterly” by Petina Gappah

This debut short-story collection by Zimbabwean writer Petina Gappah is a wonderful read. The tone of each one is perfect: the language is consistently beautiful but also completely natural. You get to know the characters very quickly, through small details…
Read more

“A Time to Tell” by Maria Savva

This is a novel about secrets. It begins with Cara as a young woman attempting suicide, and most of the novel takes place in Cara’s old age, as many of the secrets within her family begin to unravel. From the…
Read more

Read more often than you write

Came across some good back-to-basics writing advice over on How Publishing Really Works. The bottom line: Just write every day, and read more often than you write, and your writing will improve. I am a keen reader, but sometimes when…
Read more

“Anarchy” by Errico Malatesta

With the G20 protests engulfing London this week, and anarchy briefly replacing terror as the bogeyman du jour, I thought it would be a good time to take a look at what anarchism is really all about, according to Errico…
Read more

“The Savage Detectives” by Roberto Bolano

If I describe the plot of this book, it will sound incredibly boring. Even a brief summary is boring, unless of course you happen to be interested in the visceral realist poetry movement in Mexico City in the 1970s, apparently…
Read more

“The Unconsoled” by Kazuo Ishiguro

Have you ever had one of those dreams where you are trying to get somewhere but things keep going wrong? You get on the wrong train, get off and go back in the other direction but it takes you somewhere…
Read more