Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams by Sylvia Plath
I intended to read Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams for a while, but held off doing so forContinue Reading
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Penguin Modern Stories 7
I sourced this 1971 collection of short stories for one simple reason: ‘For Bolocks Please Read Blocks Throughout’, a B.Continue Reading
Lonesome Traveler by Jack Kerouac
Last Summer, whilst twatpacking* around the Mediterranean, Tunisair lost my backpack between Casablanca and Tunis. Though it contained nothing ofContinue Reading
Chess by Stefan Zweig
Chess is an excellent little novella written by Stefan Zweig in the early 1940s. An Austrian who’d run from theContinue Reading
The thing about life is that one day you’ll be dead by David Shields
David Shields’ The thing about life is that one day you’ll be dead manages to be simultaneously heart-breakingly depressing whilstContinue Reading
Father and Son by Edmund Gosse
Hurray! I read a book at an adult speed for the first time in weeks, and this one I thoughtContinue Reading
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is, I must begrudgingly admit, a great Haruki Murakami novel. One ofContinue Reading
How to be both by Ali Smith
Ali Smith’s latest novel – How to be both – has been shortlisted for this year’s Man Booker PrizeContinue Reading
Working the Room by Geoff Dyer
As often happens with essay collections (particularly ones read for the writer’s personality rather than his or her topics), WorkingContinue Reading
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
This is a book I’ve read a lot about. It is referred to repeatedly in both Ben Yagoda’s Memoir: AContinue Reading
Swann’s Way (À la recherche du temps perdu 1) by Marcel Proust
I’m writing this in the beautiful Spanish Pyrenees, having spent a day doing little more than reading Proust and lookingContinue Reading
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas is an engaging and somewhat strange book. It is, actually, the autobiography of GertrudeContinue Reading
Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland
Due to a bereavement, I spent a lot of time with my family over the Summer, and one of theContinue Reading
Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille
Phwoar! Actually, I retract that. Other than the bit where a priest is raped by a woman and two menContinue Reading
Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche
I’ve never read much philosophy. Technically JUST Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Woman. So, for me, reading Friedrich Nietzsche’sContinue Reading
Nadja by André Breton
Urgh. Nadja by André Breton is the worst book I’ve read for fucking ages. Dull, poorly structured, self-important and smug,Continue Reading
Love’s Work by Gillian Rose
A few weeks ago, I was recommended this short memoir by a customer in the bar I work in. Obnoxiously,Continue Reading
A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne
Laurence Sterne is the writer of the (rightly) famous Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. A hilarious and experimentalContinue Reading
Opium: The Diary of his Cure by Jean Cocteau
Opium: The Diary of his Cure is an odd, but engaging, book by the French not-Surrealist modernist Jean Cocteau. FriendContinue Reading
Generation X by Douglas Coupland
Well, err… this was nothing like I expected. I LOVED, when I was younger, the brash 80s decadencia* of writersContinue Reading
Commonplace Book by E. M. Forster
Over the last week I have read a strange text: Commonplace Book by E. M. Forster. Bits of it thrilledContinue Reading
King Jesus by Robert Graves
For the past year, I have been working on a historical novel set in “Biblical times”, and during that timeContinue Reading
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
It’s been a while since my last post, yes, that is true. I’ve been having a busy (and not particularlyContinue Reading
Quesadillas by Juan Pablo Villalobos
This is a very short novel (that, somehow, feels even shorter than it is) published by the commendable independent publishingContinue Reading
Solo by William Boyd
I haven’t read anything by William Boyd before, but have (potentially shamefully) read every single James Bond book written byContinue Reading
Machos, Maricones, and Gays: Cuba and Homosexuality by Ian Lumsden
Many years ago I was given this academic book as a birthday present. My friend said, as he handed itContinue Reading
Habibi by Craig Thompson
This graphic novel is a beautifully drawn attempt at a modern writing of a new Arabic myth. Unfortunately, as it isContinue Reading
S. by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst
Over the last couple of weeks, I have slowly read through S., a weird, postmodern novel by JJ Abrams and DougContinue Reading
The Bible: The Biography by Karen Armstrong
OK, yes, this is the second “history of Christianity” book in a row I’ve read, but it will be theContinue Reading
And Man Created God (Kings, Cults and Conquests at the Time of Jesus) by Selina O’Grady
Selina O’Grady’s And Man Created God is a non-fiction history book about the wider social, political and cultural background ofContinue Reading
Selected Poems of Malcolm Lowry
Malcolm Lowry, that old favourite of mine… That depressed, alcoholic, international man destroyed by his own inability to deal with theContinue Reading
If This Is A Man and The Truce by Primo Levi
Primo Levi was a chemist, young (younger than I am now), when he was rounded up by the anti-Semitic ItalianContinue Reading
A supposedly fun thing I’ll never do again by David Foster Wallace
As I’ve mentioned on here many, many, many, many, many times, Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace* is one of theContinue Reading
Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Woman is an important* text. Written at the end of the eighteenth century byContinue Reading
The Medium Is The Massage by Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore
Look, I’m going to be honest with you. I’m no expert on what The Medium is the Massage is about. AContinue Reading
Goodbye To All That by Robert Graves
I have never read I, Claudius. I have never read The White Goddess, my favourite writer’s* favourite book. I have also neverContinue Reading
Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
I haven’t read a huge amount of Vladimir Nabokov’s novels, only the very obvious one and probably the second mostContinue Reading
Miss Herbert by Adam Thirlwell
Adam Thirwell is known as a writer of short, punchy, narrator-led novels. Of the two I’ve read, one, Kapow!, IContinue Reading
Candide by Voltaire
I’ve somehow gotten into a reading-in-translation rut. I’m going to snap out of, particularly after reading Voltaire’s tiresome and OLD Candide. IContinue Reading
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
A classic, yes, I should probably have read it by now… But nineteenth century, French, more than 300 pages –Continue Reading
A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel García Marquez
Having read and being very disappointed by One Hundred Years of Solitude recently, I thought I should take another quick puntContinue Reading
Pig’s Foot by Carlos Acosta
Carlos Acosta is, apparently, a very successful and world-renowned Cuban ballet dancer. As in a ballet dancer who is Cuban,Continue Reading
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
The following was written, but sadly not uploaded, late last night: The last book I read before this was (forContinue Reading
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Marquez
Over the last week I have slowly and laboriously read One Hundred Years of Solitude, the book broadly touted as GabrielContinue Reading
Three Tragedies by Federico García Lorca
three gorgeous Spanish plays
Another Great Day At Sea by Geoff Dyer
Geoff Dyer is one of my favourite writers, despite two of the books of his I’ve read being pretty mediocre. TheContinue Reading
Boyhood Island: My Struggle Book Three by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Karl Ove Knausgaard is one of my favourite writers. It would probably be fair to say that he is one of (inContinue Reading
From Aberystwyth With Love by Malcolm Pryce
Even committed literary snobs like myself need a break from time to time, so in order to cleanse my paletteContinue Reading
The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade by Thomas Lynch
Thomas Lynch is an acclaimed American poet. He is also an undertaker. This book is a collection of essays aboutContinue Reading
The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman
Philip Pullman’s The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ tells the story of Jesus and of Christ, twin sons ofContinue Reading
Triumph Of The Now 