Three Books About Books By Bookish Lads
on ian flemming, jackie kerouac, karlo knausgaard
on ian flemming, jackie kerouac, karlo knausgaard
truly one of the greatest recent works of fiction
distracting the self with heady genre fiction
endings are never easy
slowly, book by book, i realise what i like
We need to talk about how you wouldn’t get a literary novelist called Kevin in England
Once I was young and unafraid.
A charming, quirky, book tainted by middle aged white male bullshit.
A beautiful book about a horrible thing.
What is the point of literature? What is the point of life? Karl Ove Knausgaard, author of the hugely acclaimed MyContinue Reading
I’ve accidentally grown a goatee and as a result of this I now look like a sex pervert*. This wasContinue Reading
When I read the first volume of Elena Ferrante’s lauded Neapolitan Novels series, many of the conversations being had about itContinue Reading
It’s taken me a few more days than I’d hoped, but I’ve just finished reading the fifth book of KarlContinue Reading
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
A few weeks ago I went for a day trip, alone, with Karl Ove Knausgaard’s Dancing Is The Dark. Here’sContinue Reading
For the past four years, the big literary release (for me) has been the continuing publication of Karl Ove Knausgaard’sContinue Reading
Obnoxiously (the manner in which I do most things), I read Tarjei Vesaas’ The Birds because Karl Ove Knausgaard refersContinue Reading
Sticking with middle-brow Scottish literature, I followed Irvine Welsh’s Filth with another dark, scary, psychological story about a disturbed ScottishContinue Reading
I’m writing this in the beautiful Spanish Pyrenees, having spent a day doing little more than reading Proust and lookingContinue Reading
It’s been a while since my last post, yes, that is true. I’ve been having a busy (and not particularlyContinue Reading
As I’ve mentioned on here many, many, many, many, many times, Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace* is one of theContinue Reading
A classic, yes, I should probably have read it by now… But nineteenth century, French, more than 300 pages –Continue Reading
Karl Ove Knausgaard is one of my favourite writers. It would probably be fair to say that he is one of (inContinue Reading
Even committed literary snobs like myself need a break from time to time, so in order to cleanse my paletteContinue Reading
I took a week to read this harrowing, depressing, heart-wrenchingly awful* biography of one of the most troubled, confused andContinue Reading
David Shields’ Reality Hunger is a non-fiction book about the fictional and the unreal being dead to contemporary creativity. ItContinue Reading
This is a stunning, beautiful, deeply moving novel that had me in streams of tears, laughing from the pit ofContinue Reading
Sheila Heti’s brand new* How Should A Person Be? is a charming – and very contemporary – autobiographical novel detailing aContinue Reading
A Death In The Family revolutionised the way I thought about literature. The honesty, the transparency, in Knausgaard’s autobiographical proseContinue Reading
I have decided, mostly as a way of procrastinating before a) sending off my first novel to agents or b)Continue Reading
I thoroughly enjoyed The Bell Jar. And I realise “enjoyed” might not sound like the appropriate word… I loved Plath’sContinue Reading
A Time To Every Purpose Under Heaven by Karl Ove Knausgaard Kanusgaard is my favourite contemporary writer, entirely because ofContinue Reading