Latest Previews (Forethoughts)
Forethoughts: Things We Didn’t See Coming by Steven Amsterdam
Is it a novel or is it a short story collection? I think I’m going to treat as the former. Regardless, I’m hugely excited to be reading Steven Amsterdam’s dystopian debut.
Forethoughts: Today by David Miller
Billed as a novel which is “beautiful in its understatement and profound in its psychological acuity”, this debut from London-based David Miller has the promise of something wholly sublime.
Latest Reviews (Afterthoughts)
Afterthoughts: The Birth Machine by Elizabeth Baines
A good novel but one, due to the subject matter, that is probably best appreciated by a female audience. That said, I came away from this book feeling more than contented.
Afterthoughts: Kapitoil by Teddy Wayne
A very readable novel made all the more enjoyable by the presence of a wonderfully crafted main character. If you think this novel is all about corporations and oil then think again. It’s so much more than that. Highly recommended!
General Book News
Book Bites: Jane Mount in motion, Book Bricks, Indy’s 50 best winter reads
Thessaly La Force’s ‘ideal bookshelf’ – While I’m sure many of you would have already seen the extraordinarily gorgeous bookish art of Jane Mount, few would have bore witness to the creation of her art, in motion. Well, thanks to the Paris Review we can now all watch the artist at work. Jane recently painted [...]
Scotland set to stage week-long celebration of reading
The National Library of Scotland was abuzz yesterday, as Scotland’s Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop launched the Book Week Scotland programme. Taking place between 26th November and 2nd December, Scotland’s inaugural celebration of reading will feature many of the nation’s most beloved authors. With Val McDermid appearing in Orkney and Iain Banks popping up in Loch [...]
‘Book Bites’ for Monday 1st October 2012
Skip the Paris Cafés And Get a Good Pen – A few days ago novelist and short story writer Mark Helprin offered some sound and gloriously writing advice of a retro nature, in the Wall Street Journal’s Word Craft column. Aside from advocating the use of pen and paper, he urges the aspiring writer to [...]
Have you got what it takes to join the League of Extraordinary Booklovers?
If you’re a voracious reader and you’re based in Scotland, then you might be exactly the person that the Scottish Book Trust are looking for. Running in support of the first ever Book Week Scotland – which runs from 26th November to 2nd December 2012 – the Scottish Book Trust are forming a band of [...]
Edinburgh Book Festival to launch global writers’ conference
Potentially, the most ambitious and impactful event of this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival will be a series of discussions run in partnership with the British Council. These discussions – which will open with a keynote speech delivered by a noted author – will bring together fifty leading Scottish and international fiction writers, as they [...]
2012 Edinburgh International Book Festival set to be biggest yet
The 2012 Edinburgh International Book Festival was launched yesterday in the oppulent surroundings of the Signet Library in Parliment Square, Edinburgh. Festival Director, Nick Barley promises that this year’s Book Festival will be a ‘showcase for some of the best Scottish writing’, while also being the place to celebrate a myriad of literary talent from [...]
General Feature
Introducing ‘Totally Callaghan’
You know when you read something by an author that you’ve never read before and everything just feels right? You connect with his/her writing immediately. You find yourself hanging on every word that’s set before you. You feel as though you and the author are linked as kindred spirits. Well, this is exactly how I [...]
Although I tend to focus more on under-represented literary forms at RobAroundBooks, there is always room for fiction of a more general nature. Pretty much 'anything goes' as far as this section is concerned, but I will admit to having something of a major soft spot for debut novels.
