Dancing the Seasons with Powell #3

Republished into my blog’s timeline from my lost post archive   A Dance to the Music of Time 3: The Acceptance World We come to the third volume in Anthony Powell’s series – the last of the ‘Spring’ books. (If you’d like to catch up with volumes one and two, click accordingly.) The Acceptance World begins with Nick Jenkins meeting Read More

Two National Treasures at the Oxford Literary Festival

Alan Bennett and Nicholas Hytner in Conversation Earlier this evening I went into Oxford for my only visit to the Oxford Literary Festival this year. It was a sell-out event at the Sheldonian – with two national treasures who have been collaborating for decades in conversation. We were all crammed into the Sheldonian. I’d bought Read More

A man of letters…

This post was edited and republished into my blog’s original timeline from my lost posts archive. Dear Lupin… Letters to a Wayward Son by Roger Mortimer and Charlie Mortimer Memoirs told in letters are an endangered species these days. Who still writes letters to their nearest and dearest?  We tend to send a quick e-mail Read More

A contemporary take on the myth of Athena

This post was republished into my blog’s original timeline from my lost posts archive.   The Helios Disaster by Linda Boström Knausgård Translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles I am born of a father. I split his head. For an instant that is as long as life itself we face one another and look each other in Read More

The bells, the bells…

This post was edited and republished into its original place in my blog’s timeline from my lost posts archive. A Musical Interlude I’ve just finished reading Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller, which I loved and have reviewed for Shiny New Books here. In the novel, the narrator’s mother is a German concert pianist Read More

The Return of Clara Vine

A War of Flowers by Jane Thynne I am a big fan of the wartime adventures of Anglo-German actress and British spy Clara Vine’s first two outings in Black Roses and The Winter Garden, so I was delighted to get stuck into the third volume of Jane Thynne’s series to see what happened next to Clara. In the Read More

Loneliness and a life wasted?

The Twin by Gerbrand Bakker Translated from the Dutch by David Colmer It’s quite a feat to win a major prize with your first novel, but that’s what The Twin did, taking the prestigious IMPAC Award in Dublin back in 2010. Henk and Helmer are twins – identical in features, but with very different characters. When they Read More