The In-Shelf (September 2010) and plans for October

I call these posts the in-shelf because I visualise my acquisitions in their new abode on colour-coordinated shelves. Truth be told my shelves are full and the reading room floor is now one extended bookcase.  I must do something about this soon. The shelves have been chosen, just not purchased and I suspect my reading room will end up looking eerily similar to [...]

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Stevenson in September (2) – The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Dualities in Stevenson’s life and fiction abound.  The conflict between his Calvinist background and the sensuality of his final abode in the South Seas. Perhaps most famously the duality in human nature as expressed in The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.  While his thoughts on this were doubtlessly fed by the psychological [...]

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Inadvertently clogging up your google readers …..

Apologies – I’ve been doing some background maintenance – i.e adding the tag “review” to posts that contain them. I didn’t think that this would cause the posts to reappear in your readers. Sorry. BTW – There are 256 review posts on this blog featuring roundabouts 300 books. I feel quite exhausted thinking about it.

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Room – Emma Donoghue

I have now read 3 of this year’s Booker shortlist and in all 3 there is a clarity of voice:  Andrea Levy’s Jamaican feisty slave July, Damon Galgut’s melancholy author-protagonist-self and now Emma Donoghue’s 5-year old captive Jack.  Such distinctive voices but I think Jack is going to haunt me more than the others. (Please note  [...]

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In A Strange Room – Damon Galgut

There are two authors on this year’s Booker longlist who will win the Booker one day – David Mitchell, who fell at the shortlist hurdle (I’m maintaining a dignified silence about that) and Damon Galgut whose The Good Doctor was the surprising find during the 2003 season.  So popular was that read, that Galgut’s publishers rushed [...]

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BBAW: Forgotten Treasure

When in Scotland, read Scottish.   But where to start if you know nothing about contemporary Scottish literature beyond the global megastars, Ian Rankin and Alexander McCall Smith? A few years ago  I decided it was time to get better acquainted with the contemporary scene and I wanted to start with the best.  So I began [...]

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Triple Choicing at Kim’s place

It’s my turn today to select a trio of favourite books over at Reading Matters. What do you think? Are you tempted to follow up on my recommendations?

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Reckless – Cornelia Funke

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BBAW: First treasure(s)

Why limit myself to one blog when I can tell you about two fantastic recent discoveries? 1) Tony’s Reading List An English expat in Australia, Tony writes the in-depth reviews that I aspire to. He covers Victorian, Japanese, French and German fiction. Moreover, unlike my lazy self, he reads German titles in the original. 2) [...]

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Stevenson in September (1) – Kidnapped

It took an Argentinian-Canadian (Alberto Manguel) and a Swiss (Alex Capus) to persuade me.   I have decided to fill a huge gap in my reading  and finally acquaint myself with some classics from the pen of Robert Louis Stevenson.   While I located Stevenson’s childhood home, in a lovely part of town I might add, I never [...]

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