Tag: book review

“Invisible Cities” by Italo Calvino

I thought I would have liked this more than I did. I like most of Calvino’s books, and in this one the writing is absolutely beautiful, the observations on cities are clever and insightful, and the structure is innovative. But…
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“t zero” by Italo Calvino

This is a bit of a strange mix of stories. Some are narrated by Qfwfq, who tells in first person stories of his experiences as various entities such as a unicellular organism at the creation of the universe. Others read…
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“Out of Office” by Mark Piggott

When I lived in America, I went driving along the coast of Maine once. My girlfriend at the time was experimenting with a new photographic technique, some way of punching up the colours so that when I look at our…
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“Beside the Sea” by Véronique Olmi

A mother takes her two young sons on a trip to the seaside.  Sounds nice, doesn’t it? There’s even a bucket and spade on the cover. You can almost feel the warmth of the sun on your skin, hear the…
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“Southcrop Forest” by Lorne Rothman

I’ve always been interested in stories with non-human characters. I have an idea to write a story one day about a city – not the people in it, but the city itself, as a living character with its own actions…
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“Lean on Pete” by Willy Vlautin

The writing style is incredibly simple, probably the most simple of any book I’ve read since childhood. It perfectly captures the realistic voice of the narrator, a sporadically-educated 15-year-old boy called Charley. Yet despite or perhaps because of the simplicity,…
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