Reviews
Some of the essay topics may be a little dated – the failure of the Italian novel being one – but such is the clarity and variety of his work that the actual subject matter starts to feel immaterial.
Read MoreWhy I can’t read Lolita, but am reading Nabokov’s short stories.
Read MoreWhere do authors’ ideas come from? Even Stephen King finds that a difficult question to answer. One possible answer might be ‘Everything they see on their travels’, because as Roland Barthes once suggested, writers are never truly on holiday…
Read MoreIt is bordering on the preposterous to think that a writer best known for his fiction, and who died nearly thirty years ago, has anything relevant to say to us today.
Read MoreThere are loads of prizes for writers, but maybe there should be one or two for readers as well.
Read More
If you’re looking for some great inspiration for your writing, or you want an excuse to not write for a day, I highly recommend this exhibition at the British Museum.
Read MoreI thought I would test ChatGPT’s mettle in a rather self-interested way. I write a lot of book reviews — a lot. I have three books I need to review for an education magazine by 21st January, plus two books I need to review for other websites soonish, and I have to write a review of an exhibition for a different education magazine by next week <gulp>.
Therefore I have two (competing) concerns.
Read More
Click the image to see this book on Amazon (affiliate link)
It is easy to believe that ‘fake news’ is a modern phenomenon, brought about by social media and promulgated by politicians. Yet as the British Library’s event, ‘Breaking the News’ exhibition demonstrates, fake news – or that unforgettable phrase ‘alternative facts’ – have been features of news reporting for at least 500 years.
Read MoreYou might wonder why I’ve included a review of it at all on this website, given that the target readership of the website is writers, and people thinking about writing.
Read MoreI was commissioned by Teach Secondary magazine to review this book. I’ve included here both the review I submitted, and the lightly edited version published in the magazine.
Read MoreBerkman has written an interesting and very academic examination of the links between maths and literature.
Read More
Bookcase, by Terry Freedman
The news a few months ago that Annie Ernaux was going to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature prompted me to think that a round-up of reviews of books by non-English authors, or set in foreign countries, would make quite an interesting article. Some of these have been reviewed here before, but I thought you might enjoy having them all in one place according to a theme. Enjoy!
Read More
Reference books, by Terry Freedman
Specific books, and general categories. Some of these books have been reviewed here before, but I thought it might be useful for people to have all of them in one place.
Read More
Why shouldn’t nonfiction writing be as well-crafted, interesting, even exciting as fiction?
Read More
The life of a freelance writer is one of unreliable remuneration, shifting loyalties and sudden endings, as this book makes abundantly clear.
Read MoreI should have thought that part of the purpose of a book review is to tell potential readers whether the book is actually any good or not.
Read More
On 17 June 2021 I wrote a round-up of my reviews of books about the Oulipo. Here’s a link to that article.
Read More
Image by Megan Rexazin from Pixabay
I think a lot about book reviewing, and am continually experimenting with different forms.
Read More
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
For some years I’ve been considering studying for an MA in English Literature. Thus when this course came to my attention I was very interested in using it as a way of dipping my toes in the waters of academia once again.
Read MoreBeing a teenager is not easy.
Read More
