Middle Passage by Charles Johnson
middling swashbuckling adventure
Tag: historical fiction
Clotel or, the President’s Daughter by William Wells Brown
excellent, significant, 19th century anti-slavery novel
WAR #1: Pat Barker’s Regeneration Trilogy
read some great fiction for the first time in a while; still bored bored bored tho boohoo
Roman Around: Three Imperial Paperbacks
there were emperors; i am emperbored
In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje
i read a great Toronto novel and recall summer 2019 when I worked at lux events
Washington Square by Henry James
a mediocre short novel
the mirror and the light by hilary mantel
Written June 15th and actually it was this one, not Things Fall Apart that caused me to pause blogging, forContinue Reading
Jazz by Toni Morrison
redressing a gap in my reading
Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan
still working too much; brief notes on celibacy as sexual practice
Berlin: City of Stones by Jason Lutes
the first part of a lauded comic about the weimar republic
Fludd by Hilary Mantell
an early novel from a writer who’d get more exciting with age
Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
acclaimed canadian steampunky slavery novel
The North Water by Ian McGuire
some proper bloody man’s fiction: great, if that’s your thingaling
The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
impressive, emotive, historical
The Bridge Over The Drina by Ivo Andrić
One of the most important and engaging novels I’ve ever read, a sprawling fictional exploration not of a specific person,Continue Reading
Tell Them Of Battles, Kings and Elephants by Mathias Enard
high grade historical fiction and the blogger hits some snags
His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet
some contemporary literary fiction about scotland
“Herod’s Filthy Bathtime” from The Body and the Baptist
Once upon a time, I was trying to be a writer…
Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy
The first Cormac McCarthy novel I read was 2006’s The Road, and it is by far and away his best.Continue Reading
Viper Wine by Hermione Eyre
I often state that me taking more than a week to read anything, irrelevant of size, is a sign thatContinue Reading
The Tongues of Men or Angels by Jonathan Trigell
I like Biblical novels. So much so that I wrote one*, and so much so that after reading about ten/twenty,Continue Reading
The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth
The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth was a surprising literary hit of 2014. Not a “literary hit” in that it soldContinue Reading
The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
I thoroughly enjoyed The Paying Guests, which was a relief as the last book I read was DIRE. I’d neverContinue Reading
The Minister of Evil – The Secret History of Rasputin’s Betrayal of Russia by William Le Queux
The Minister of Evil: The Secret History of Rasputin’s Betrayal of Russia is a very strange book. I read itContinue 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
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
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
The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín
Today I read Colm Tóibín’s 2013 novella, The Testament of Mary. It’s very short, 104 pages in this edition, with pretty bigContinue Reading
Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel
I was worried that Hilary Mantel’s 2012 Booker-winner Bring Up The Bodies would take me weeks to read. But there wasContinue Reading
Triumph Of The Now 