Tag: book-review

Édouard Louis shows us that ‘happiness’ may be the result only of ‘social determinism’ succeeding in its function to ‘condition the person’ you are. This is a blog on Édouard Louis (2026) ‘Collapse’, London, Harvill.

June 18, 2026

Édouard Louis shows us that ‘happiness’ may be the result only of ‘social determinism’ succeeding in its function to ‘condition the person’ you are. [1] This is a blog on Édouard Louis (2026) Collapse [Trans Tash Aw], London, Harvill. This piece probably relates to what I have tried to say in blogs about earlier books. The … More Édouard Louis shows us that ‘happiness’ may be the result only of ‘social determinism’ succeeding in its function to ‘condition the person’ you are. This is a blog on Édouard Louis (2026) ‘Collapse’, London, Harvill.

Memes are sometimes nothing more than rhythms in the memory. John Dyer, the hero of Nicholas Shakespeare (2026) ‘Frame 37’, uses the phrase, ‘… nothing ever disappears completely, and when it returns it does so in exaggerated form’.  This blog considers whether it is the purpose of ‘good stories’ to locate the source of truth of an incomprehensible universe, but to continually suggest that this truth runs like ‘a non-verbal poetry’ with a ‘rhythm that feels fresh’ and might wake us up ‘to the unspoken part of the universe’ around us.

June 12, 2026

John Dyer, the hero of Nicholas Shakespeare (2026) Frame 37, London, Harvill, uses the phrase, ‘… nothing ever disappears completely, and when it returns it does so in exaggerated form’.  It is so very nearly an echo of the many ways in which Sigmund Freud described ‘the return of the repressed’.[1] However, it would be … More Memes are sometimes nothing more than rhythms in the memory. John Dyer, the hero of Nicholas Shakespeare (2026) ‘Frame 37’, uses the phrase, ‘… nothing ever disappears completely, and when it returns it does so in exaggerated form’.  This blog considers whether it is the purpose of ‘good stories’ to locate the source of truth of an incomprehensible universe, but to continually suggest that this truth runs like ‘a non-verbal poetry’ with a ‘rhythm that feels fresh’ and might wake us up ‘to the unspoken part of the universe’ around us.

Self-confidence is an illusion, as the best novels tell you. Try for resilience and the drive to move on. First of all think more deeply about what selves are. ‘The Guardian’ entitles its review of Douglas Stuart (2026) ‘John of John’ with the sentence ‘No man is an island’, but the reference to John Donne belittles a work in which islands are not only a metonymy for alienated isolation and loneliness but also a container for non-communicating multiple selves of the same kind.

June 9, 2026

Self-confidence is an illusion, as the best novels tell you. Try for resilience and the drive to move on. First of all think more deeply about what selves are. The Guardian entitles its review of Douglas Stuart (2026) John of John, London, Picador with the sentence ‘No man is an island’, but the reference to … More Self-confidence is an illusion, as the best novels tell you. Try for resilience and the drive to move on. First of all think more deeply about what selves are. ‘The Guardian’ entitles its review of Douglas Stuart (2026) ‘John of John’ with the sentence ‘No man is an island’, but the reference to John Donne belittles a work in which islands are not only a metonymy for alienated isolation and loneliness but also a container for non-communicating multiple selves of the same kind.

The French novel always went further than the English novel did, until the latter did it in ‘daring’ pastiche of the French in another art-form. This blog is my preparation to see the National Theatre live- streaming of Christopher Hampton’s ‘Les Liaisons Dangereuse’, adapted from the novel by Choderlos de Laclos written in 1782.

June 6, 2026

The French novel always went further than the English novel did, until the latter did it in ‘daring’ pastiche of the French in another art-form. This blog is my preparation to see the National Theatre live- streaming of Christopher Hampton’s ‘Les Liaisons Dangereuse‘, adapted from the novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos written in 1782. … More The French novel always went further than the English novel did, until the latter did it in ‘daring’ pastiche of the French in another art-form. This blog is my preparation to see the National Theatre live- streaming of Christopher Hampton’s ‘Les Liaisons Dangereuse’, adapted from the novel by Choderlos de Laclos written in 1782.

Are there truly literature charts like there are pop charts? Is rating a ‘classic’ book (over or under the consensus level) the vain game I think it is? Is the term ‘classic’ already playing that vain game?

May 14, 2026

This questions prompts something less than an answer to it from me and something more than the kind of cool response, opinion seeking prompts are won’t to expect. First of all, the assumption that anyone and everyone will agree on what is a ‘classic book’, or even what ‘classic’ means in this respect just doesn’t … More Are there truly literature charts like there are pop charts? Is rating a ‘classic’ book (over or under the consensus level) the vain game I think it is? Is the term ‘classic’ already playing that vain game?

‘People stared at the narrow limits in front of them, until they neither saw nor heard the rumours at their own border’. Historical novels invent our interest in underrated lives; the likes of which might once have been lived by someone now forgotten, nevertheless. Is Bryher a neglected novelist in part for that reason? A case study based on their novel ‘Roman Wall’ (1955) and the borders of the ‘historical’ novel.

May 12, 2026

‘People stared at the narrow limits in front of them, until they neither saw nor heard the rumours at their own border’.[1] Historical novels invent our interest in underrated lives; the likes of which might once have been lived by someone now forgotten, nevertheless. Is Bryher a neglected novelist in part for that reason? A … More ‘People stared at the narrow limits in front of them, until they neither saw nor heard the rumours at their own border’. Historical novels invent our interest in underrated lives; the likes of which might once have been lived by someone now forgotten, nevertheless. Is Bryher a neglected novelist in part for that reason? A case study based on their novel ‘Roman Wall’ (1955) and the borders of the ‘historical’ novel.

I doubt I would I be the ‘playboy’? This blog is my preparation to see the National Theatre streamed version of the play at the Reel Cinema, Bishop Auckland on Thursday 28th May.

May 9, 2026

I doubt I would I be the ‘playboy’? At the end of John Millington Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World, the so-styled playboy, Christy Mahon, realises that he has been transformed into an incarnated idea destined forever to represent a life of constant playtime and being the object of ‘game’ and joy in the … More I doubt I would I be the ‘playboy’? This blog is my preparation to see the National Theatre streamed version of the play at the Reel Cinema, Bishop Auckland on Thursday 28th May.

Relieving a man’s ‘urgent need’ on ‘Love Lane’:  This is a blog about that ‘surprising book’ by Patrick Gale (2026) ‘Love Lane’ London, Tinder Press.

May 8, 2026

Relieving a man’s ‘urgent need’ on ‘Love Lane’:  This is a blog about that ‘surprising book’ by Patrick Gale (2026) Love Lane London, Tinder Press. I have long been a reader and fan of Patrick Gale, though I have only written a blog on one of his novels, Mother’s Boy, a fictional biography of Charles … More Relieving a man’s ‘urgent need’ on ‘Love Lane’:  This is a blog about that ‘surprising book’ by Patrick Gale (2026) ‘Love Lane’ London, Tinder Press.

Should we ever regret taking the risk of giving a straight answer to a queer question? In her new novel, ‘My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein: a fiction’, Deborah Levy examines, amongst other things why: ‘Stein had put so much in the way. In the way of understanding. She did not believe in it’. The narrator of the novel continually asks: ‘What is it?’ of numerous ‘its’ that are so often getting lost to good, ill or mixed ends. What’s wrong with being always understood?

April 26, 2026

Should we ever regret taking the risk of not giving a straight answer to a queer question? In My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein: a fiction, Deborah Levy examines, amongst other things why: ‘Stein had put so much in the way. In the way of understanding. She did not believe in it’. [1] The … More Should we ever regret taking the risk of giving a straight answer to a queer question? In her new novel, ‘My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein: a fiction’, Deborah Levy examines, amongst other things why: ‘Stein had put so much in the way. In the way of understanding. She did not believe in it’. The narrator of the novel continually asks: ‘What is it?’ of numerous ‘its’ that are so often getting lost to good, ill or mixed ends. What’s wrong with being always understood?

‘Man measured his words like food and decided what was worth opening his mouth for’. Words and food in Derek Owusu (2026) ‘Hunger Pains’ for The Reading Agency Quick Reads.

April 18, 2026

‘Man measured his words like food and decided what was worth opening his mouth for’.[1] No-one measures his words like Derek Owusu, and no writer has pursued the link between food and the ‘matter’ that is, as in Hamlet (Act 2, Scene 2, 204ff.), ‘Words, words, words’, (whether spoken or written) like him since Shakespeare. … More ‘Man measured his words like food and decided what was worth opening his mouth for’. Words and food in Derek Owusu (2026) ‘Hunger Pains’ for The Reading Agency Quick Reads.

I read this book and it changes you. This blog considers the short stories in Colm Tóibín (2026) ‘The News From Dublin’.

April 10, 2026

I read this book and it changes you. ‘In his preface to The Spoils of Poynton, Henry James talks about this idea of a “germ”, what he called “a mere floating particle in the stream of talk”, something that “has the virus of suggestion”. Life, as James would have it, is “all inclusion and confusion”, just as art is … More I read this book and it changes you. This blog considers the short stories in Colm Tóibín (2026) ‘The News From Dublin’.

‘… but that was in another country; / And besides the wench is dead.’ Let’s make our diversity our common unity and not ‘other’ those of ‘another country’, if that was ever possible. An answer based on a case study reading of the novel by James Baldwin, ‘Another Country’.

April 3, 2026

… but that was in another country; / And besides the wench is dead.’ Let’s make our diversity our common unity and not ‘other’ those of ‘another country’, if that was ever possible. An answer based on a case study reading of the novel by James Baldwin, Another Country. This will turn into an answer … More ‘… but that was in another country; / And besides the wench is dead.’ Let’s make our diversity our common unity and not ‘other’ those of ‘another country’, if that was ever possible. An answer based on a case study reading of the novel by James Baldwin, ‘Another Country’.