In a Nutshell: Doran’s The China Bird is a real triumph, a literary classic which should be, and must be, eagerly consumed by readers of all tastes. If you've been following my reading journal over the past couple of weeks then you would have … [Read more...]
Reading Journal: Saturday 1st August 2009
August 1, 2009 By Leave a Comment
07:00 - Another morning and another session with Ox-Tales: Fire (Profile Books). This morning was the turn of Sebastian Faulks with his story A Family Evening. Not a bad story, and Faulk’s rationale for creating it seem to centre on his need to … [Read more...]
Reading Journal: Friday 31st July 2009
July 31, 2009 By Leave a Comment
07:30 - Keeping up my daily ‘ticking off’ of the Ox Tales four volume short story collection, I read the next story in line in Ox-Tales: Fire (Profile Books), written by Geoff Dyer, which isn’t a story at all but rather a nice little essay. … [Read more...]
Reading Journal: Wednesday 29th July 2009
July 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Well it’s been a few days since my last reading journal entry, which for something that I’d envisaged being a daily thing, isn’t all that great. Fact is the unexpected (friends from university) and the distracting (any number of insignificant … [Read more...]
Reading Journal: Thursday 23rd July 2009
July 23, 2009 By 2 Comments
Last night - Finished off Who Knows?, the Maupaasant story I’d set for myself to read earlier in the day. This is rumoured to be the last story that Maupassant ever wrote, because soon after this he was committed to the asylum. I’ve got to say, … [Read more...]
Reading Journal: Wednesday 22nd July 2009
July 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment
08:00 - Just finished reading Beryl Bainbridge’s Goodnight Children, Everywhere, which takes me two-thirds of the way through Ox-Tales: Air (Profile Books). I rather enjoyed the story which is all about Thomas, and a freaky old radio that can … [Read more...]
Forethoughts: The China Bird by Bryony Doran
July 20, 2009 By 2 Comments
Note: A review for this novel have now been posted. A few weeks ago Yvonne Barlow the editor of Hookline Books said one of the nicest things about me on her blog. Pointing out that many lit bloggers have big egos (I agree), and acknowledging that … [Read more...]
Daily Bookshot: The Hookline Novel what?!?
June 15, 2009 By 2 Comments
The Hookline Novel what?!?, originally uploaded by Robert Burdock. Two days without a Daily Bookshot is fairly inexcusable so I thought I'd make up for that by giving you something a bit special today. What you are looking at here is the … [Read more...]