Unseen Academicals

A new Terry Pratchett novel is always an exciting thing and for the last few years I have always bought a copy for my boyfriend, the gift being a pretext for the opportunity to read it after (although once sneakily before) him. This year I actually received a review copy from Doubleday, which was very [...]

Gourmet Rhapsody

Earlier this year I waxed lyrical about The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. At that time I had found one of my favourite books of the year and was excited to discover that Gourmet Rhapsody (Gourmet here in the UK and Une Gourmandise in France) had a scheduled release a few months later. [...]

Let's Call the Whole Thing Off

Let’s Call the Whole Things Off: Love Quarrels from Anton Chekhov to ZZ Packer (notice what the title cleverly does?) selected and compiled by Kasia Boddy, Ali Smith and Sarah Wood brings together some of the best short story writers on the topic of lovers’ quarrels. Some of the writers I am very familiar with [...]

Persephone Biannually

I am relieved that the Royal Mail strikes in the UK did not prevent me from receiving the Persephone 2009 Autumn/Winter Biannually as it allowed me to spend a pleasant hour yesterday perusing it whilst drinking a Chai latte in Starbucks (no cake, alas). I read the Biannually from cover to cover, flicked through the [...]

Library Loot: the scary

In honour of upcoming Hallowe’en my library loot takes a distinctly horrific hue this week. The Virago Book of Ghost Stories is of course intended to scare and The Complete Maus has a terrifying subject matter (the Holocaust) whereas Fun Home is a family tragicomic set in a funeral home. Wolf Home is a book [...]

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