Short story review: ‘The Curse’ by A Yi

Story Title: 'The Curse' by A Yi; translated by Julia Lovell Source: Guardian Books (available online as part of the Guardian's 'China stories' series) Date Read: 12th April 2012 Briefly: It begins with an argument between two neighbours over a … [Read more...]

Short story review: ‘Galloping Horses’ by Xu Zechen

Story Title: 'Galloping Horses' by Xu Zechen; translated by Helen Wang. Source: Guardian Books (available online as part of the Guardian's 'China stories' series) Date Read: 12th April 2012 Briefly: Left in charge of watching over his father's … [Read more...]

Short story review: ‘Old Man Xinjiang’ by Xue Mo

Story Title: 'Old Man Xinjiang' by Xue Mo; translated by Nicky Harman Source: Guardian Books (available online as part of the Guardian's 'China stories' series) Date Read: 11th April 2012 Briefly: Every man has a cross to bear, and Old Man … [Read more...]

Short story review: ‘The Accident’ by Murong Xuecun

Story Title: 'The Accident' by Murong Xuecun; translated by Harvey Thomlinson Source: Guardian Books (available online as part of the Guardian's 'China stories' series) Date Read: 11th April 2012 Briefly: Wei is on his way to meet his girlfriend … [Read more...]

‘Book Bites’ for Wednesday 13th July 2011

In praise of battered books - Gotta love David Barnett's post over at Guardian Books, in which he shows some genuine affection for the more battered titles to be found on his bookshelves. I absolutely get where David is coming from. Every … [Read more...]

Discussing The Guardian’s ‘Twelve Tales of Christmas’

With the launch of their Twelve Tales for Christmas (a series of special short story-flavoured podcasts which run from now until Christmas), how wonderful it is to see the Guardian showing so much reverence for the short story form, They’ve even … [Read more...]

Guardian Books: Top 10 ‘Circadian Novels’

John Mullan over at Guardian Books has an interesting article on what he considers to be the top 10 'circadian novels'. Are you familiar with the term? I wasn't until it was explained that novels coming under the tag of circadian, are ones where the … [Read more...]

10 websites that NO reader should live without

Readers are a fickle bunch, and if our heads aren't buried in the pages of a favourite novel or work of non-fiction, then we can be found trawling the Web, seeking out that latest 'must read' or communally grouping around a virtual coffee table, … [Read more...]