My thoughts about books, writing, life and so many other things….Judy Leigh/ Elena Collins.
I read Damian Le Bas' book The Stopping Places in two days. It's the sort of book that should be available everywhere, on all shop bookshelves, in libraries, schools and universities, and widely read. It offers a first-hand account about the Romani people, the culture and their experiences in society, in history and in the …
Have you ever experienced the phenomenon of a book you should have read, but somehow it has slipped your attention? For me, John Williams' Stoner was one such novel. Worse still, when it came to my attention, I thought it was probably about drugs and bought it expecting something similar to Hunter S Thompson's Fear …
I've just read three novels, all literary fiction, which are really enjoyable and memorable, albeit for different reasons. Whether you just like a profound and meaningful narrative, or whether you're inspired as a writer by well-conceived and well-written novels, there three are highly recommended. We are all Completely Beside Ourselves, by Karen Joy Fowler, is …
Continue reading Three excellent novels I’ve just read all prove that Larkin was right.
I totally love this book. Without doubt, it will be my book of the year. The blurb on the front cover predicts that it will be a classic in years to come. That's a huge claim, so I began reading it with interest and a bit of scepticism. But it is out there with the best. …
Continue reading Absolutely the best novel I’ve read this year
Sue Monk Kidd's The Invention of Wings is about the brutality of slavery in America's deep south, at the point when some attitudes had started to change. The novel charts the period between 1803 to 1838 and the first person perspective moves between Handful, a ten year old slave, and Sarah, the girl to whom she is given …
I've never been a real crime novel fan although I did enjoy Into the Fire by Manda Scott, mainly because of the sustained tension and the gripping and likeable characters. I heard about The Widow from Madeleine Milburn at a writers' conference and she lauded the book because of its immediately interesting and arresting voice. The …
'The One in a Million Boy' is a novel by Monica Wood, telling the story of unlikely protagonists, misfits who become close to each other, finding out about themselves as they explore new relationships. Ona Vitkus is 104 years old and her friendship with the eponymous unnamed boy is the central focus: he is interviewing her about …
A writer never stops learning. I always feel that I have so much more to learn about the skill, the art, the craft of writing, and reading widely is always a good way to prompt thinking, learning and improving. I've just read three books, each good in its own right, each very different. Ian McEwan's …
Continue reading McEwan, Cannon, Kent: it’s all in the writing.
I read Game Girls by Judy Waite in two hours, trying to imagine myself as a fourteen year-old reader. I was lying in a hammock in the sunshine and there was nothing to disturb me but a few tweeting birds, yet I still managed to slip from my idyllic setting into the whirling world of …
Continue reading ‘Game Girls’: a tough tale for today’s young readers.
In the blurb on the back cover of The Fishermen, New York Times suggests that 'Chigozie Obioma truly is the heir to Chinua Achebe.' I read Things Fall Apart years ago and loved it: it was the archetypal 'modern' African novel and the title comes from a wonderful W. B. Yeats' poem The Second Coming. …
Continue reading ‘The Fishermen’: everything about Obioma’s novel is superb.
That quintessence of dust 