Russell T Davies & Benjamin Cook (2010) The Writer’s Tale: The Final Chapter

The Writer’s Tale: The Final Chapter (2010) Russell T Davies & Benjamin Cook BBC Books, 704pp There are many hundreds of books about writing – some of them are very good indeed. When I taught creative writing at university, I used to wax lyrical about Stephen King’s On Writing, but also about E.M Forster’s Aspects [...]

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Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (1987) Matigari

Matigari (1987) Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o Heinemann African Writers Series, 175pp Translated by Wangũi wa Gori With the Nobel Prize for Literature being awarded on 7 October 2010, I searched online for a list of possible winners, and soon learnt that a significant number of bets had been placed on the Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. [...]

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Honoré de Balzac (1832) La Bourse (The Purse)

La Bourse (The Purse) (1832) Honoré de Balzac J.M. Dent & Co, 34pp Translated by Clara Bell La Comédie Humaine is full of short stories, and The Purse is another. I am still in the Scènes de la vie privée (Scenes of Private Life), though in some editions it has been placed in the Scènes [...]

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Jonathan Franzen (2010) Freedom

Freedom (2010) Jonathan Franzen Fourth Estate, 570pp Was there a more anticipated novel in 2010 than Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom? It has been nine years since The Corrections made his name (or was it the furore with Oprah Winfrey that made his name?), and now Freedom is upon us, Franzen once again provokes controversy: his book [...]

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Timothy Zahn (1991 – 1993) Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy

Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy Volume 1: Heir to the Empire (1991) Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy Volume 2: Dark Force Rising (1992) Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy Volume 3: The Last Command (1993) Timothy Zahn Bantam Books, 416pp, 416pp, 496pp I’d been reading children’s stories I should have read when I was eleven: Sherlock [...]

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Arthur Conan Doyle (1890) The Sign of the Four

The Sign of the Four (1890) Arthur Conan Doyle Penguin Classics, 160pp The second Sherlock Holmes adventure sees Holmes in a deep melancholy, one that is only lifted by a visit from a troubled young woman, Mary Morstan, whose father disappeared ten years before. Four years later she began to receive a gift, once a [...]

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Arthur Conan Doyle (1887) A Study in Scarlet

A Study in Scarlet (1887) Arthur Conan Doyle Penguin Classics, 192pp So we come to another classic of its genre that I’d never read: Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. I’d seen the films, the TV versions – including the just brilliant new BBC version, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. I was once given the complete collection [...]

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Virginia Woolf (1915-1941, 1990) A Moment’s Liberty: The Shorter Diary

A Moment’s Liberty: The Shorter Diary (1915-1941, 1990) Virginia Woolf Edited by Anne Olivier Bell Pimlico, 516pp Virginia Woolf began her diary in 1915, by which time her first novel had been accepted for publication but had yet to appear. She was known as the husband of the novelist Leonard Woolf. Her diaries appeared in [...]

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Cambridge Ancient History 1.1: Prolegomena and Prehistory (1970 – 2007)

Cambridge Ancient History 1.1: Prolegomena and Prehistory (1970 – 2007) Edited by: I. E. S. Edwards; C. J. Gadd & N. G. L. Hammond Cambridge University Press, 724pp My historical knowledge, especially pre-nineteenth century, is a little weak: in fact it’s downright dreadful. Asking a friend what the best history series to read was, to [...]

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Jules Verne (1873) Le Tour du Monde en Quatre-Vingts Jours (Around the World in 80 Days)

Le Tour du Monde en Quatre-Vingts Jours (Around the World in 80 Days) (1873) Jules Verne Puffin Classics, 304pp A truly famous story: Everyone knows of it – they know the name Phileas Fogg, and of his bet to circumnavigating the globe in 80 days. Many even remember the name of his loyal companion, Passepartout… [...]

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