Category Archives: MY Writing

My various thoughts/rants depending on the mood I was in when I wrote them!

Case Histories

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson is more ambitious than your average crime novel. It’s no simple whodunit. The focus of much of the novel is on those who are left behind to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. The novel asks a question that Brodie later asks himself: What do you do when […]

My Year of Meats

My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki is an enjoyable read which will also provide you with plenty of food for thought. Brilliantly written, not least because of the way Ozeki blends the various strands of the novel together. Its heroine is the Japanese-American Jane Takagi-Little. We first meet Jane, unemployed, on her uppers and […]

Homegoing

Homegoing, written by Yaa Gyasi, is so beautifully and skilfully written it’s hard to believe this is her debut novel. Homegoing is a historical novel whose sweep of history is breath-taking in its scope, featuring wonderfully drawn characters and giving a voice to those whose story is rarely told. The catalyst is the fates of […]

Ten Things They Don’t Tell You About Shared Ownership

Shared ownership – where nothing is shared and you don’t own a thing You are simply paying a hefty down payment for an assured tenancy, the right to live in a property for a set number of years and a share in the equity once the property is sold. That’s it! 1. In some […]

Oh You Pretty Thing

VG Lee’s collection of short stories is a fantastic read. Beautifully written, eclectic in subject matter, they range from life in small town Idaho in the 19th century to two friends on a shopping trip to Bluewater. What is consistent throughout, however, is the subtle and engaging way each story is told. It’s evident that […]

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

Set mainly in Edinburgh, The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell is told from the perspective of three women, the eponymous Esme Lennox, her sister Kitty and the granddaughter, Iris. It is masterful storytelling of the first order, as O’Farrell intertwines their stories as if they were pieces in an overarching jigsaw puzzle. […]

My Sister, The Serial Killer

Set in Nigeria, My Sister, The Serial Killer grabs you from the start with its intriguing premise of two sisters, Korede, the sensible, older sibling, constantly coming to the assistance of her younger and much more attractive sister, Ayoola who has a nasty habit of murdering her boyfriends. If that’s not bad enough, things become […]

Something for the Weekend – Le cinéma à la française

Thanks to the popularity of Scandi drama, us Brits may finally have overcome our antipathy towards watching anything with subtitles. Here’s an eclectic choice of some French movies that might tickle your fancy. Le Bossu – On Guard (1997 Philippe de Broca) One of my favourite films, a French swashbuckler (think Errol Flynn but set […]

Something for the Weekend – Some German Literature Tips

I’m an inveterate reader of German literature, I’ve even written a nine-page critical essay on an obscure Austrian novel from the 1970s – Die Groẞe Hitze oder Die Errettung Österreichs durch den Legationsrat Dr Tuzzi. Read it? To be honest, neither have most Austrians. However, if you fancy settling down to rather less esoteric German […]

Semi Lockdown Life of a London Singleton – Week 12

At times, it’s fair to say I sometimes wonder if I’m a character in a sitcom and I just don’t know it. A case in point this week was when I had to explain to my neighbour who had kindly offered to paint my window ledges for me why I had a blow up doll […]

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