Borges Marathon, Part 25: The Cult of the Phoenix
What is the mysterious ritual at the centre of this Jorge Luis Borges story? Let's go through the hints and solve the riddle.
Vigil by George Saunders
How do we comfort and forgive a dying oil CEO whose climate change denial has ruined our futures? George Saunders explores the question in his new novel Vigil.
Borges Marathon, Part 24: The End
On the difficulty of reading and interpreting a story when you don't get the central references.
Borderline Fiction by Derek Owusu
I wanted to like this novel, but I couldn't. Here's why.
Borges Marathon, Part 23: Three Versions of Judas
Did Judas really betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver? In a piece of fiction masquerading as a scholarly article, Jorge Luis Borges explores more virtuous motivations.
Dusk by Robbie Arnott
My review of a beautiful literary novel featuring twins hunting a puma in the Australian highlands.
Borges Marathon, Part 22: The Secret Miracle
My thoughts on "The Secret Miracle", a short story in which Jorge Luis Borges plays with time and causality.
Milkman by Anna Burns: Review
My thoughts on a Booker Prize winning novel about a teenage girl living in 1970s Belfast and struggling to survive in a claustrophobic community of rumour and suspicion.
Borges Marathon, Part 21: Death and the Compass
In this short story by Jorge Luis Borges, a detective tale becomes a labyrinth in which the usual crime fiction tropes are subverted.