I buy most of my books online. I feel bad about it, sometimes, but books are really expensive here. The mark-ups are extraordinary – and that’s not the retailers’ fault, that RRP. So, one does what one can with the … Continue reading »Stories in the Air
Junky takes a while to get into. No, that’s not right… It’s more that it takes a while to orient oneself within it. At any rate, once you have your bearings, it is magnificent. There’s a strange claustrophobia to the … Continue reading »Junky
The problem with bookshops is you always want to buy something when you go in. I wish I had more money, and could buy locally more often. There’s an independent bookshop near my university, a sweet little place called Unity Books … Continue reading »Before you ask, no, I don’t own a kindle.
Look at you. Sitting there with your beach novels. Blissfully, ignorantly happy with your paragraphs. You don’t know what I’ve seen. What I’ve suffered. This is a book that was made into a movie filmed in black and white. … Continue reading »Satantango
When people ask me my favourite book, I usually reply with a list. There will be disclaimers: “I like all the Discworld books but this is my favourite so it stands in for the whole” (Nightwatch); “This was my favourite … Continue reading »Favourite Books #1: Lolita
Some years ago, I bought a folio copy of Paradise Lost. I purchased it online, and it travelled the length of the country to get to me. I suspect the person I bought it from had not opened it often. … Continue reading »The Paradise Lost Mystery
It has come to be that I spend far too little time reading. I enjoy reading, but I never seem to find the time in the day in which to do any. My pile of bought-but-not-yet-read books grows ever larger, … Continue reading »The Tree Fort Irregulars
Bonjour Tristesse first grabbed my attention with its title. It had caught my eye when I was working in a bookshop a few years ago; one of a set of well-priced, slim books that came with their own cardboard shelf … Continue reading »Thoughts on Bonjour Tristesse
I’m reading Amanda Palmer’s book, The Art of Asking. I shouldn’t be, because it is November, and I am very far behind in writing my NaNoWriMo novel (or NaNovel, if you will). But it’s good, and I couldn’t help myself, … Continue reading »Art and Asking
Mervyn Peake is a dark god in a bizarre world of whimsy and melancholy. Gormenghast speaks of freedom, passion, and living, yet it is an examination of madness, of horror, of tragedy. And what does it say of tragedy? That … Continue reading »Thoughts on Gormenghast