Conscious of the fact that I want and need to improve my own personal essay writing skills, I'm launching my own weekly essay series, entitled Robservations. In these essays I will endeavour to mainly cover the subject of reading and writing, but in … [Read more...]
Maupassant Monday: Flaubert on originality
March 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment
It's a well known fact that Maupassant was a pupil of Flaubert. The French novelist thought the world of young Guy (Flaubert had been a long-term family friend of Guy's parents, and he took the emerging writer under his wing so to speak), and he … [Read more...]
Bookshelf of the Week: Keith Fawkes bookshop
February 1, 2012 By 1 Comment
What bibliophile could resist the lure of a bookshop where the weight of books inside is so much that the owner has to take to displaying his stock outside? This is Keith Fawkes bookshop, the subject for this week's Bookshelf of the Week, and it has … [Read more...]
On The Radar: Improving the craft, writer’s notebooks, New York, and European fiction
September 17, 2010 By 9 Comments
“On the Radar” provides small incidental rundowns on books which I’ve discovered, but haven’t yet purchased. These are titles which I’ve either added to my wishlist, or am keeping a close eye on with a view to adding them. In addition, … [Read more...]
Bookshelf of the Week: Bratislavan Bibliophile
January 13, 2010 By 8 Comments
There's not a lot of detail about the subject for this week's Bookshelf of the Week - other than it was taken in Bratislava, by fiction writer Michal Hvorecky - but I don't think it really needs any. With books flowing from wall-to-wall and … [Read more...]
Cover Love: Knut Hamsun series from Souvenir Press
September 11, 2009 By 5 Comments
It's been a wee while since I've done a Cover Love post (my last one was the four-volume Ox-Tales collection from Profile Books), so what better way to bring it back than with a post celebrating eight of the titles I'm reading in my Totally Knut … [Read more...]
Rob’s 5 Reading Rules (inspired by Michael Bhaskar)
September 3, 2009 By 23 Comments
Inspired by Michael Bhaskar’s excellent post on the Picador blog, in which he introduces his five new rules for reading which will hopefully help him to tackle his ever sky-reaching book pile, I thought I’d play along on this occasion and offer … [Read more...]