August 2022 Reading Roundup
My reading in August was dominated by listening to six books by the same author on a long, long road trip across Europe.
Freedom and Death by Nikos Kazantzakis: Book Review
"Captain Wildboar was his apt nickname in Megalokastro. With his sudden rages, his deep, dark, round eyes, his short, stubborn neck and that jutting fang, the heavy, broad-boned man was really like a wild boar, rearing for the spring."
The View From Belmont by Kevyn Alan Arthur
The View From Belmont raises interesting questions of race and gender amid the barbarousness of a slave-owning society. The dual narrative was a promising technique, but it didn't feel fully realised to me. I'd have liked more of 1990s Trinidad…
June 2022 Reading Roundup
A summary of the books I read last month, taking me from Barbados to rural Montana via London and Italy.
Borges Marathon, Part 9: Et Cetera
This section in A Universal History of Iniquity includes several interesting fragments, some of which could provide the basis for interesting stories but are not really developed.
Book Review: Cambridge by Caryl Phillips
This dual narrative set in a 19th-century Caribbean island is an interesting exploration of a critical period, but the narratives feel unbalanced: we spend a lot of time immersed in the prejudices of the plantation owner's daughter, while the account…
May 2022 Reading Roundup
Here's what I read this month, from a novel set in Cyprus and partly narrated by a fig tree to an exploration of the importance of disorder in cities.
Man on Pink Corner: Borges Marathon, Part 8
In this story, Jorge Luis Borges takes us into the colourful world of knife fights and gangsters on the streets of old Buenos Aires. It's a compelling portrait and a beautifully constructed story—with a powerful twist in the final few…
April 2022 Reading Roundup
This month's reading featured Caribbean literary fiction, politics, economics, and the moving tales of a Berlin chiropodist.