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
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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
Venus In Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch
Given my love of sex novels, German novels, short novels and the Velvet Underground, it seems CRAZY that I’d neverContinue Reading
Girl With Curious Hair by David Foster Wallace
Having managed to twist two of the last three reviews I posted on here into David Foster Wallace hagiographies, IContinue Reading
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
Someone told me about eighteen months ago that I should be careful. That when people pass the mid-point of theirContinue Reading
From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
I’d like to point out, before I begin this review, that I didn’t like graphic novels before they were cool.Continue Reading
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch is huge. It is a massive, time-consuming tome that, though it is fun and exciting and gripping,Continue Reading
Memoir: A History by Ben Yagoda
This will probably be my last blog for a while, as I have a couple of essays to write over theContinue Reading
Distracted Holiday Book Review: The Fields by Kevin Maher and Season One of Game of Thrones
Kevin Maher’s The Fields is a hilarious, moving and impressively broad coming of age novel set (mostly in Dublin) inContinue Reading
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
I really like Virginia Woolf, and more than that I like the IDEA of liking Virginia Woolf. Pro-writing, pro-women, literaryContinue Reading
23 Jokes About The Phrase “The Best Things In Life Are Free”
A hot new piece of anti-comedy.
Green Hills of Africa by Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway was one of the first writers I ever truly loved. When I was an undergraduate, many years ago,Continue Reading
Vauxhall by Gabriel Gbadamosi
Just before Christmas an email was circulated round the students of my university pointing us in the direction of aContinue Reading
The Collected Stories of Katherine Mansfield
I am now in the second half of my seventeen day run working the equivalent of every day (that’s workingContinue Reading
A Dead Man In Deptford by Anthony Burgess
I’ve been busy the last couple of weeks and will continue to be horrendously so for the next few. I’ve beenContinue Reading
Violet by Selima Hill
More poetry. Shit! I’m getting versification. Selima Hill’s Violet is a poetry collection containing two sets of poems, both of which hadContinue Reading
Poems Two by B. S. Johnson
I love B. S. Johnson. He is one of my favourite writers. The Unfortunates I have read more than once andContinue Reading
Cycle of Violence by Grayson Perry
PHWOAR! Grayson Perry’s highly sexualised, highly violent, highly fucking weird graphic novella from 1992 was my breakfast read this morning.Continue Reading
Bullet Point Book Review: The Odyssey by Homer, Translated by Stephen Mitchell
Need to leave for work in five minutes It’s a classic, v. famous book and for a reason exciting andContinue Reading
Confessions by Saint Augustine of Hippo
I have to leave the house in under ten minutes, so this’ll be a quick one. As another addition inContinue Reading
Triumph Of The Now 