Tag: reading

There has never been a greater need to critique the assumption that ‘our world has changed’, than when it is used ‘to justify massive expenditure on the weapons industry again to keep us safe in the new era, the doorway, or threshold, of which is already blocked up with the brand new dead’. It’s always on our ‘to-do list’ but ‘never get’s done’. This is a blog on the urgent new (2026) novel by Ali Smith, ‘Glyph’.

February 4, 2026

There has never been a greater need to critique the assumption that ‘our world has changed’, than when it is used ‘to justify massive expenditure on the weapons industry again to keep us safe in the new era, the doorway, or threshold, of which is already blocked up with the brand new dead’.[1]  It’s always … More There has never been a greater need to critique the assumption that ‘our world has changed’, than when it is used ‘to justify massive expenditure on the weapons industry again to keep us safe in the new era, the doorway, or threshold, of which is already blocked up with the brand new dead’. It’s always on our ‘to-do list’ but ‘never get’s done’. This is a blog on the urgent new (2026) novel by Ali Smith, ‘Glyph’.

‘I’m not sure how I ended up here … and I see only blocks of text that are unclear like each word is fused into the next …’. Reading is an aspiration towards a communion.

January 24, 2026

Have you ever felt that so much depended on a reading of what is in front of you? I have just made a first reading – fast and furious – through the proof text of a novel not due for publication until, I think, September 2026, Derek Owusu’s The Recovery House, which will be published … More ‘I’m not sure how I ended up here … and I see only blocks of text that are unclear like each word is fused into the next …’. Reading is an aspiration towards a communion.

You get to build your perfect space for reading and writing. What’s it like? I think that for me the only answer I could supply would be that I should build a space that breaks down the boundaries we build around us to define our interior, even between reader and writer. This blog uses as a case study Timothy O’Grady (2025) ‘Monaghan’.

December 27, 2025

You get to build your perfect space for reading and writing. What’s it like? I think that for me the only answer I could supply would be that I should build a space that breaks down the boundaries we build around us to define our interior. Talking about his inspiration in writing To Anthony Cummins … More You get to build your perfect space for reading and writing. What’s it like? I think that for me the only answer I could supply would be that I should build a space that breaks down the boundaries we build around us to define our interior, even between reader and writer. This blog uses as a case study Timothy O’Grady (2025) ‘Monaghan’.

“It’s not wholly unlike seeing people talk about Faerie”. ‘Do you ever see wild animals?’ is a question trapped in the net of  binaries. This blog takes as its case study Amal El-Mohtar’s ‘The River Has Roots’.

December 6, 2025

“It’s not wholly unlike seeing people talk about Faerie”. [1] ‘Do you ever see wild animals?’ is a question trapped in the net of binaries. This blog takes as its case study Amal El-Mohtar (2025) ‘The River Has Roots’, London, Arcadia, Quercus Books. ‘Wild animals’ possibly don’t exist except as the ‘other’ to two norms … More “It’s not wholly unlike seeing people talk about Faerie”. ‘Do you ever see wild animals?’ is a question trapped in the net of  binaries. This blog takes as its case study Amal El-Mohtar’s ‘The River Has Roots’.

“Boo only comes out at night”, so says Jem Finch in the 1962 film of ‘To Kill A Mocking Bird’. What does it take to make ‘darkness visible’. This is a blog preparing me to see the touring production of the play by Aaron Sorkin at the Lowry Theatre on 22nd January 2026.

November 25, 2025

Thrown to the pit of Hell, Satan in Paradise Lost looks around him: At once as far as Angels kenn he viewsThe dismal Situation waste and wilde,A Dungeon horrible, on all sides roundAs one great Furnace flam’d, yet from those flamesNo light, but rather darkness visibleServ’d onely to discover sights of woe,Regions of sorrow, doleful … More “Boo only comes out at night”, so says Jem Finch in the 1962 film of ‘To Kill A Mocking Bird’. What does it take to make ‘darkness visible’. This is a blog preparing me to see the touring production of the play by Aaron Sorkin at the Lowry Theatre on 22nd January 2026.

Never trust my Booker predictions! Yet ‘Flesh’ is a great winner of the 2025 prize.

November 11, 2025

Never trust my Booker predictions! Yet ‘Flesh’ is a great winner of the 2025 prize. In my last go at a prediction of the 2025 Booker [see this link], I placed David Szalay’s novel Flesh , 3rd out of the 6th. And now we find it has won. It is more than a worthy winner, … More Never trust my Booker predictions! Yet ‘Flesh’ is a great winner of the 2025 prize.

The 2025 Booker Shortlist – My experience & predictions for those I read

October 18, 2025

The 2025 Booker Shortlist – My experience & predictions for those I read The Longlist blog is still available – and still messy. It is here at this link, if you want to access link to blogs on books not shortlisted. Tash Aw was definitively cheated of a shortlist place with his best book ever … More The 2025 Booker Shortlist – My experience & predictions for those I read

What does your ideal home look like? Of course, it shall look like number 1, Nova Scotia House. This is a blog on Charlie Porter’s 2025 novel, ‘Nova Scotia House’, and the impossible  queer magical thinking it makes possible.

September 11, 2025

What does your ideal home look like? What does your ideal home look like? Of course, it shall look like number 1, Nova Scotia House. This is a blog on Charlie Porter’s 2025 novel, ‘Nova Scotia House’, and the impossible queer magical thinking it makes possible. The prompt question here is a kind of trick! … More What does your ideal home look like? Of course, it shall look like number 1, Nova Scotia House. This is a blog on Charlie Porter’s 2025 novel, ‘Nova Scotia House’, and the impossible  queer magical thinking it makes possible.

If it is the job of the novelist is to render the form of memory through many aspects of mind and bodily sensations, then this is one of the most superb novels ever. This is a blog on Claire Adam (2025) ‘Love Forms’.

September 6, 2025

‘Hills: … For many years these hills stayed safely in my memory. Even now, I can bring them to mind, or the feeling of being amidst them. Sometimes when I’m alone, my right hand lifts, and the hand sweeps diagonally upward, as if to trace the curving flank of one of those hills: a slow, … More If it is the job of the novelist is to render the form of memory through many aspects of mind and bodily sensations, then this is one of the most superb novels ever. This is a blog on Claire Adam (2025) ‘Love Forms’.

This is a blog on the role of endings in the modern metafictional novel and the light shed on that role by Maria Reva (2025) ‘Endling’ London, Virago Press.

August 15, 2025

‘She felt a small pang of resentment: the endling’s last moments on Earth, and it pined over not getting laid. Of course this was normal. If anything, endlings should pine all the louder for the end of their species. … // At least gastropods yearned in silence, …’.[1] This is a blog on the role … More This is a blog on the role of endings in the modern metafictional novel and the light shed on that role by Maria Reva (2025) ‘Endling’ London, Virago Press.