Book reviews, new books, publishing news, book giveaways, and author interviews

On Instagram, travel writing and On A Chinese Screen by W Somerset Maugham

On Instagram, travel writing and On A Chinese Screen by W Somerset Maugham

If you're new here, why not subscribe to our email updates or follow us on Facebook? You can also add us to your Google Reader. Thanks for visiting!   I have a friend whos a former chef. The only thing he loathes more than poor-quality coffee is the current trend of amateur food photography. Wouldnt you rather enjoy the food that...

Well-behaved Women and Miles Franklins My Brilliant Career

Well-behaved Women and Miles Franklin's My Brilliant Career

  Well-behaved women seldom make history, wrote laurel Thatcher Ulrich in 1976. Having spent this past year or so reprising or catching up on all sorts of classic literature for young readers, Im quite convinced that the same is true of literature.'If theres a common thread among the books Ive read, its that their protagonists...

The Story Girl and Anne: or why we need more quiet books

The Story Girl and Anne: or why we need more quiet books

Last year I happened across the Anne of Green Gables books in audiobook format. These were books that Id pooh-poohed as a child purely because of their scratchy old covers and nondescript titles, and my eventual decision to read them was made with a sort of grim determination, much as how I might have approached an end-of-year examination or a...

Mr Darcy and The Awkward Man: the perils of shyness in literature

Mr Darcy and The Awkward Man: the perils of shyness in literature

LM Montgomerys The Story Girl'features a character described as the Awkward Man, a man who rarely goes out into society because of his crippling shyness and difficulty in managing in social situations. However, when the Awkward Man is in his own element hes articulate and accomplished, to the point that those who havent seen...

Pumpkin-head jousting and Washington Irvings The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Pumpkin-head jousting and Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

  (Contains spoilers, but its a classic. You know how it ends anyway, right?) I often attempt to read books in situ, although I cant say that Ive ever been especially successful. Perhaps because I choose books that are way too lengthy and ponderous to get through in the short amount of time I have at my disposal in a location. Proust...

On Spoilers and The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens

On Spoilers and The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens

Ive never understood the utter terror that accompanies being told how a book or a movie turns out, and I certainly dont understand the passionately head-in-sand approach to learning anything at all about a story ahead of time. With the possible exception of a whodunnit novel, Im perfectly happy to read on even if I know exactly how a book...