Eliot, T. S. (1917 – 1954) The Waste Land and Other Poems

The Waste Land and Other Poems (1917 – 1954)
T. S. Eliot
Faber and Faber, 80pp
I picked up a box set, Faber and Faber Poetry Essentials a number of months ago, and this collection by T. S. Eliot is just one of the entries in the ten box set. It is a small sampling of Eliot’s [...]

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Bolaño , Roberto (2000) Nocturno de Chile (By Night in Chile)

Nocturno de Chile (By Night in Chile) (2000)
Roberto Bolaño
Translated by Chris Andrews
Vintage Books, 130pp
Published in Spanish in 2000, Chris Andrew’s translation of By Night in Chile appeared in 2003. Following Bolaño’s death and the success of 2666, Vintage has been publishing Bolaño’s back catalogue, of which this is the most recent. It is [...]

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Bolaño, Roberto (1996) Estrella Distante (Distant Star)

Estrella Distante (Distant Star) (1996)
Roberto Bolaño
Translated by Chris Andrews
Vintage Books, 149pp
Vintage Books continue their Roberto Bolaño series with Distant Star, a short work translated into English by Chris Andrews in 2004, and which won the prestigious Valle-Inclán Prize.
Distant Star, a short novella, not even 150 pages long, opens with an explanation by Bolaño that the [...]

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Doctor Who: Last of the Titans (2001)

Doctor Who: Last of the Titans (2001)
Nicholas Briggs
Starring: Sylvester McCoy
Big Finish
A single half hour story, based on the Audio Visuals story Vilgreth, Last of the Titans sees The Seventh Doctor stranded on a large spacecraft, whose one other inhabitant, Vilgreth, might not be all he appears to be. Given away free with Doctor Who [...]

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Winthrop, Elizabeth H. (2008) December

December (2008)
Elizabeth H. Winthrop
Sceptre, 373pp
A five hour train journey beckoned, and though I was in the middle of Charles Dickens’s Nicholas Nickleby, it had been a long day and night just gone and I wanted something lighter, more modern. In a Cardiff charity shop I picked up December, by Elizabeth H. Winthrop, knowing little [...]

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Gale, Patrick (2009) The Whole Day Through

The Whole Day Through (2009)
Patrick Gale
Fourth Estate, 237pp
A few years ago I read Patrick Gale’s A Sweet Obscurity (2003), very much enjoying his simple elegant style. Soon afterward I tried another but found it too slight. Not too long ago I bought a few books in my local bookstore and was offered Gale’s [...]

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Thomas, Michael (2007) Man Gone Down

Man Gone Down (2007)
Michael Thomas
Atlantic Books, 428pp
Man Gone Down, Michael Thomas’s debut novel, won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2009, beating off works such as The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist. It’s story is simple: an unnamed black narrator has four days to come up [...]

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McCarthy, Cormac (2005) No Country For Old Men

No Country for Old Men (2005)
Cormac McCarthy
Read by Tom Stechschulte
I first read Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men upon its release in 2005. I saw The Coen Brothers film upon its release in 2007. Cormac McCarthy is a particular favourite of mine and has been for over a decade, and I love [...]

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Vonnegut, Kurt (1969) Slaughterhouse-Five

Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)
Kurt Vonnegut
Read by Ethan Hawke
Blackstone Audiobooks
As I have said on this blog, I listen to audio plays whilst out walking, and I decided to give a novel a chance: would I be able to focus on it whilst covering the miles? I chose a novel I was familiar with, Kurt Vonnegut’s science-fiction classic [...]

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Doctor Who #21: Dust Breeding (2001)

Doctor Who: Dust Breeding (2001)
Mike Tucker
Big Finish #21
Starring: Sylvester McCoy & Sophie Aldred
When Ace ventures into the TARDIS’s art gallery she discovers that the Doctor has been ‘rescuing’ paintings shortly before they are destroyed, and according to his diary The Scream, by Edvard Munch, is to be destroyed on Duchamp 331 in ‘mysterious circumstances’ and [...]

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