Clik here to view.
Sunday Reading
More stuff I’ve been reading/plan to read. And yet another filler post from me. Enjoy. Mingus: The Chaos and the Magic Don’t Be A Stranger Subtopia, Exurbia, Utopia Cinema Tarantino: The Making of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sunday Reading
More good stuff from other people… Uncle Charlie Newman and the Impossible Novel Famous Tombs: Love in the 90s George Saunders, Tenth of December Hugh Kenner and the invention of modernism Exit This...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sunday Consuming Stuff
Happy Easter folks. Something to read, something to listen to and something to watch. Maps – A lovely post about memory, cities, home and how writers remember, or mis-remember, places. A second short...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bad versions of great writing
As one of those (annoying) people who seems to prefer reading about writing to actual writing (1) I found myself reading this rather exhaustive essay about the writer and editor Gordon Lish. The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Towards Tescopolis
There was an interesting article on the Guardian website the other day from one of the judges of the Granta list of best British novelists under 40. Now, as this list is collated every ten years and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The return of Frank Bascombe
Potentially rather exciting news for fans of Richard Ford with reports of him reading from a new Frank Bascombe story. Ford has written three books focusing on the character, and I am a huge fan of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sunday Reading
This week I have been reading/planning to read/pretending to read the following. Hopefully you’ll find something of interest amongst it all. Building a Mystery: Boards of Canada’s Promotional Mindf—...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Any requests?
Hello folks. I’m turning the editorial direction of this place over to you. For a bit. You, the reader, can post any idea for a post, blog post title, or other sort of inspiration for a post such as a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A world without beer
The extinction of a whole species isn’t as rare as you think. It happens all the time. However, the extinction of a prominent and popular species, now that doesn’t happen so often. The Humulus lupulus,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Modernism Redux
A rather fun take on modernism from Will Self, broadcast earlier this year. I’d happily listen to a whole series of programmes arranged like this, different voices drifting in and out, new...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Prompt Me
Friend of the blog Mike posted a fine list of blogging ideas last month. This was in response to a similar post of mine. And here I am now, inspired to write a post, from a post that was inspired by...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Failed fragments
1 Mainstream literary fiction is falling to pieces. 2 This may not be a bad thing. So, I read an interesting piece on the rise of the fragmented novel. It is worth reading, but my understanding of it...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Emperor’s New Book
It seems like every year I fall for it. I read about the ‘must-read’ book of the year. The newspaper reviews are gushing. The bloggers and the tweeters talk the book up as thought-provoking,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sunday Reading
By no popular demand whatsoever, a return of one of those posts with links to things I’ve been reading, or planning to read, with little or no context whatsoever. Hopefully you’ll find something here...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sunday Reading
This week I’ve been working my way through David Peace’s new novel, Red or Dead. It is outstanding, although perhaps an acquired taste as it combines football with some proper modernist writing, but...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Two quotations about/from authors I haven’t yet read, so probably shouldn’t...
“Asked, in 1954, why he chose to change languages, Beckett answered: out of a “need to be ill equipped”. His response is exceedingly sly because, if you listen more attentively, its boastful tone is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sunday Reading
All of this week’s reads are well worth your time. Not that I’d share a load of articles that are so-so, but these are particularly excellent and/or thought-provoking… The Jockey Debbie Harry at the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A probably unnecessary post about David Foster Wallace
On the anniversary of David Foster Wallace’s death I expect there will be a glut of people sharing that This is Water video. It is a lovely piece of writing, but an odd one as it seems to have become...
View ArticleClik here to view.
I remember when this was all fields
Jonathan Franzen is telling us what he thinks is wrong with the modern world. Rebecca Solnit sees the changes to our world post-internet as profound and troubling. These are two recent examples of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Freshly Pressed – Welcome to all you new folk and a quick question
A big hello and welcome to everyone who has come across this site after seeing my recent post on the WordPress Freshly Pressed page. I hope some of you consider following this blog or subscribing to...
View Article