My little brother and his pals would play Cowboys and Indians for hours at a time. They’d point an imaginary gun at the unfortunate lad who drew the short straw and became the Indian, to be hunted down until he took his last breath. Then they’d gallop off on their trusty steeds. Nothing could have interested me less. But then I discovered Glendon Swarthout, the author of sixteen fine novels, mostly set in Midwest America. Reading his stories, I can …
Category: Fiction
My childhood home was littered with books on every available surface. They were stacked in wobbly piles on the floor, and two deep on the few makeshift shelves that threatened …
I read Pachinko by Min Jin Lee last year (see previous post), and when I finished it, I knew it was very good. But I didn’t realise how good. It …
There was a time when I would read a book cover to cover whether I was enjoying it or not. It was as if I was obeying an unwritten rule …
In our final post for 2019, Mary Burnham rounds up her favourites of the year. See you in 2020! It’s that time of year when so many people give books …
Amid a certain amount of consternation, Bernardine Evaristo shared this year’s Booker Prize with Margaret Atwood. It’s the third time in its history that two authors have shared this most …
I have a friend who is originally from the States and I recently told her that, of all the places in the USA, I’d love to visit Maine first. She …
When I read a review of Adam Mars-Jones’s novel Pilcrow in 2008, I was determined to buy it even though it was a big, expensive hardback. When the sequel, Cedilla, …
The nice thing about working in the same bookshop for a while is that you get to know your customers, especially your regular customers. You develop a good sense of …
Reading an easy book is like turning on the telly, regardless of what’s on, and letting it wash over you. Not that there’s nothing wrong with that when you need …
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