Buster by Alan Burns
a bildungsroman from alan burns (this is alan burns week)
Tag: coming of age
Martha Quest by Doris Lessing (Children of Violence #1)
“the classic coming of age novel… for women”
Thriftwood: A Personal History of Scouting by Alice Wickenden
great memoir about youth and scouting
The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante
yes it is good and i got to read it slightly early and for free
Cygnet by Season Butler
a solid contemporary novel
People I’ve Met From The Internet by Stephen van Dyck
an essential contemporary memoir
Mariana by Monica Dickens
a serviceable though chaste 1940s bildungsroman
Closely Observed Trains by Bohumil Hrabel
Good Czech book, but do I need to try harder to czech my privilege?
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
this is not a test, it’s a memoir
The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante
When I read the first volume of Elena Ferrante’s lauded Neapolitan Novels series, many of the conversations being had about itContinue Reading
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Iran. Who knows much about it? We’ve all seen Argo, we’ve all heard of nuclear weapons, we’re all aware thatContinue Reading
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Well, it is good. It’s good. It’s possibly great, but it’s definitely good. Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend is basicallyContinue Reading
Dancing in the Dark: My Struggle Book Four by Karl Ove Knausgaard
For the past four years, the big literary release (for me) has been the continuing publication of Karl Ove Knausgaard’sContinue 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
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
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
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
I really really liked this. That’s what I’m going to open with, because everything of any wit or interest IContinue Reading
Black Hole by Charles Burns
Black Hole is a graphic novel, all about the socio-psychological repercussions of a sexually transmitted disease afflicting a bunch ofContinue Reading
Triumph Of The Now 