By Khaiah Thomson I was given a copy of Leaving Blackwood by the publishers in exchange for an independent review. The Blackwood trilogy is a Young Adult supernatural fiction series. Back in the mists of time I reviewed Welcome to Blackwood, and now Leaving Blackwood is out and my goodness, it was worth the wait. … Continue reading Review: Leaving Blackwood
by Annie Proulx Tried to read this pre-MA days. A couple of times. Captured by the characters and the idea but never got further than meeting the Aunt. Why? Maybe it was the prose style. The disjointed sentences. The head hopping. The MA has done something, because I finished the whole book yesterday and when … Continue reading Review: The Shipping News
Wrote a book review for Litro. Here it is! https://www.litromagazine.com/books/book-review-the-lamplighters-by-emma-stonex/
This is not my normal genre of book, but I loved the cover so I entered the Hawkeye Books competition for a free copy. Here’s my (ahem) winning entry: The title promises chaotic joy. The cover shows an alarmed emu and a strong capable woman alone on a motorcycle. I’m already smiling in anticipation. I … Continue reading Review: Hunt for the Virgin Rainbow
By Hilary Mantel (2014) This is a patchy collection of stories. I only liked three of them. Lots of reviews don't like all of them, though amusingly they all differ in which ones they think are good. Here's the review that I agreed with most. James Lasdun in the Guardian. I read the collection to … Continue reading Review: The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher and other stories
I read Shuggie Bains when it was on the Booker shortlist. I read it very quickly, and then I put it away. Since then I have thought about it from time to time. It's taken a little while to be ready to write about it. Shuggie Bains is a big purple bruise of a novel. … Continue reading Review: Shuggie Bains
Yesterday I told George Saunders I had a new love. Today, his new book arrived in Kindle (my younger self must have pre-ordered it - ah, the wisdom of youth) and now it’s all back on with me and George. A swim in a Pond in the Rain takes us through seven Russian short stories … Continue reading Review: A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
George Saunders has a startling mind. It slides off the everyday and shows it slantwise, letting us see ourselves afresh. Saunders, said in The New Yorker recently: ‘What I am trying to do these days, in the story form, is surprise myself - get out beyond my conscious mind and what I already believe and … Continue reading Review: George Saunders
Full disclosure: I am unwell. Not with THAT. I’m 99% sure it isn’t THAT. ‘But how can you tell?’ wails my teenage daughter, who’s been sent home from school for two weeks because she shared a form room with a girl who does have it and as a result is in a state of delicious … Continue reading Review: Some new ambush
As you might expect from Stephen King, this book is very readable. It’s part memoir, part thoughts on writing, part chip on shoulder about snippy critics who think he’s too popular (very small chip. A chipette. And he acknowledges it too, so fair play to him). He gives background on his writing career and puts … Continue reading Review: Stephen King – On Writing
Just waving 