Now here's a work of fiction that I know absolutely nothing about; and I know even less about its author, Steven Amsterdam. However, I have it on very good authority that Things We Didn't See Coming (Harvill Secker) is an unmissable debut, and I … [Read more...]
Forethoughts: Today by David Miller
June 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment
What you will to begin to see now on RobAroundBooks over next the few weeks is a targeting of specific books which are linked to this year's Edinburgh Book Festival, or to be more precise the events that I'm attending during the month of … [Read more...]
Forethoughts: Everything Beautiful Began After by Simon Van Booy
June 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
As many of you will know already, lit reviewing is a never-ending cycle of read and review, read and review, read and review, and while there are no complaints about that from me (because at the end of the day it's both a thrilling job and a … [Read more...]
Forethoughts: True Stories: A Century of Literary Journalism by Norman Sims
June 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Although I've loved literary nonfiction for quite some time now I've never featured it much on RobAroundBooks. That is until now, with the relaunch of RobAroundBooks, where literary nonfiction finally gains a deserved position as one of the main … [Read more...]
Forethoughts: The Birth Machine by Elizabeth Baines
June 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment
I think is was earlier in the year, or possibly late last year, when Salt Publishing's Chris Hamilton-Emery was showing off his latest handiwork with a new batch of sexy covers coming out of The Cover Factory, for his own publishing house's upcoming … [Read more...]
Forethoughts: Bitter Bitch by Maria Sveland
June 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment
So I come to my latest translated fiction read - Bitter Bitch (Corsair); a debut novel from Swedish author and journalist, Maria Sveland, which was originally published in 2007 under the title, Bittenfittan. Before I head off into this novel though, … [Read more...]
Forethoughts: Monsieur Linh and His Child by Philippe Claudel
May 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment
You won't find a review on RobAroundBooks at this time of Philippe Claudel's Independent Foreign Fiction Prize winning novel, Brodeck's Report (it lingers on my 'reviews still to write' list. You can catch my forethoughts on it, HERE), but I can tell … [Read more...]