I wasn't far into Mark Henshaw's The snow kimono before I started to sense some similarities to Kazuo Ishiguro. I was consequently tickled when, about halfway through, up popped a secondary character named Mr Ishiguro. Coincidental? I can't help thinking it's not - but I haven't investigated whether Henshaw has said anything about this. I'm not at all suggesting, … Continue reading Mark Henshaw, The snow kimono (Review)
Review
Sherwood Anderson, Adventure (Review)
As some of you will know, I started discussing books online in January 1997 when I joined a listserv-based international reading group. I was active in that group until around the time I started blogging, when I found I could no longer keep up with all my on-line presences. In the period that my involvement … Continue reading Sherwood Anderson, Adventure (Review)
Wendy Scarfe, Hunger town (Review)
A little over halfway through Wendy Scarfe's novel, Hunger town, one character says to another that "kindness needs to be a political way of life". It sounds a little naive I suppose, but in recent months the idea of kindness, in the political as much as the personal arena, has been playing on my mind. … Continue reading Wendy Scarfe, Hunger town (Review)
Helen Keller, I go adventuring (Review)
My reading has been so disjointed recently that I thought I'd look at recent Library of America (LOA) offerings for inspiration, and came across Helen Keller's "I go adventuring", an excerpt from her Midstream: My later life. It appealed to me because I haven't read anything by Keller since I was a teenager, and because this … Continue reading Helen Keller, I go adventuring (Review)
Kavita Nandan, Home after dark (Review)
When Kavita Nandan offered me her novel to review I was happy to accept because its setting - Fiji, Australia and India - intrigued me. I've read several novels set in India, and by Indian writers, but none set in Fiji or by Fijiindian writers. Moreover, as Nandan wrote in her email, and as the … Continue reading Kavita Nandan, Home after dark (Review)
Sam Tranum and Lois Kapila, Love on the road 2015 (Review)
Rules, they say, are made to be broken, and so it was that I broke my rule* of not accepting overseas publications for review and said yes to a short story anthology from Ireland, Love on the road 2015: Twelve more tales of love and travel. I'm not exactly sure, in fact, why an Irish publisher … Continue reading Sam Tranum and Lois Kapila, Love on the road 2015 (Review)
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (Review)
Although I've titled this a review, as I do when I write about a book, this post on my latest read, Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, is not really going to be a review. Like all her novels, it's been intensively written about from multiple angles, and in fact there are many themes and ideas I'd love to write about, but … Continue reading Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey (Review)
Emma Ashmere, The floating garden (Review)
I had a little chuckle when, fairly early in Emma Ashmere's novel, The floating garden, we discover that our main character, Ellis Gilbey, writes a gardening column under the name Scribbly Gum! Good name, I thought. If it hadn't been for my school song inspiration, this would have been the name for me! There's another … Continue reading Emma Ashmere, The floating garden (Review)
Bacchus, Ruth & Hill, Barbara, First things first: Selected letters of Kate Llewellyn 1977-2004 (Review)
It might look like I've suddenly hired myself as author Jessica White's PR Consultant as this is the second post in a row that I've opened with her, but the coincidence was too great for me not to. You see, this week, White posted on her Facebook Author Page that she'd received funding for a novel from … Continue reading Bacchus, Ruth & Hill, Barbara, First things first: Selected letters of Kate Llewellyn 1977-2004 (Review)
Virgil Thomson, Taste in music (Review)
There are several reasons why now seemed an opportune time to write my first Library of America (LOA) post for 2015. The first reason is obvious. It's June and I haven't featured one yet. The second is because my last post was on music, so writing about an article by American composer Virgil Thomson seemed apposite. The … Continue reading Virgil Thomson, Taste in music (Review)
