Novelist and short-story writer Michel Faber, in his three monkeys interview, commented “I think it’s juvenile and arrogant when literary writers compulsively remind their readers that the characters aren’t real. People know that already. The challenge is to make an intelligent reader suspend disbelief, to seduce them into the reality of a narrative.” This is [...]
So, yesterday I took some of our own TMO advice (doled out by our twitter feed @litblog) and joined publisher Canongate’s site www.meetatthegate.com..
I did it out of curiosity, but also for another simple reason - they’re giving away a free download of Lewis Hyde’s book The Gift. Hyde’s book has a cult following already, [...]
A medieval Irish monastery under siege by the forces of darkness, who find their breach in the cell of the unfortunate brother Fursey, a monk blessed with a stammer who thus can’t adequately perform the rites of exorcism required to keep the monastery safe.
The premise alone, regardless of the excellent execution, should be enough to [...]
This blog has often focussed on great openings to novels, interested particularly in that magical moment where you, the reader, accept an opening contract from the author. What makes us choose one book over another is an area where the ending doesn’t come into play.
A handy approach that also spares us the risk of ruining [...]
It seems like a good year and a half since I’ve read a novel that didn’t involve a writer writing a novel, so I started Domenico Starnone’s First Execution wearily, almost out of duty - despite the fact that the original Italian version of the book comes highly recommended.
It has though, thus far (I’m half [...]
David Ost’s The Defeat of Solidarity: Anger and Politics in Postcommunist Europe (2005) is the best book of its kind I know. His central thesis is that anger is an inevitable by-product of capitalism and should be channelled into class struggle where it can do some good for ordinary workers. If not, grievances caused by [...]
How do you choose what writers to read? Or more specifically, how do you choose from those writers that you know you’re ’supposed’ to read? The dead and dusty ones from the canon.
I take shortcuts, which is probably the reason why Cervantes has never darkened my door. Short stories have many virtues, but they’re unparalleled [...]
A short selection of our favourite lit blogs
For the full list go to our literary blog links page.
