In praise of silly books

                                                                 

 

 

Transrealism is a revolutionary art form.

Sunday Flash: As he fell

As he fell, Ezrael was saying over and over, ‘Fool, fool, fool!’

Weasel words* – Help desk

Help desk:

Hilary Mantel: The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher

We yield to no one in our admiration of Hilary Mantel. We love the woman.  But her new book of short stories The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher, is a disappointment.

Sunday Poem: Wattlebird*

 

Oyez oyez

With a modest smirk Gert announces that Anthony O’Neill, whose praises she has been bellowing for a long time*, is to have his latest book made into a film:

Airport novel: Merci pour ce moment

 

She knew she shouldn’t. She didn’t want to. She didn’t mean to.

Sunday Stir: Grumpy old man? Nordic Romantic?

 

Horace Engdahl of the Swedish Academy of Sciences has annoyed a lot of people with his comments that creative writing courses and writers’ grants are  undermining the richness and  imaginative range of today’s generation of writers. Writers, he thinks, have become institutionalised, and are locked into an unhealthy symbiosis with the literary institutions.

Crane Mansions reviews

Phew, what a plot! And that’s just the tip of a substantial iceberg. Gert Loveday’s done it again, with a gloriously convoluted (but easy to follow) series of mishaps and misunderstandings all rolled up into a fantastical package: Crane Mansions.

You can read Bridget Kulakauskas’ review here:

http://www.illiterarty.com/reviews/book-review-crane-mansions-gert-loveday

Thanks Bridget.  You’re our dream reader.

Dorothy Johnston has also given us a great review : Wild, whacky and delicious

http://dorothyjohnston.com.au/

 

Matthew Thomas: We are not ourselves*

This is the story we like to hear: a modest, hard-working writer who takes ten years to write his first novel, and hits the big time with it. The book earned a million-dollar advance and has been longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award.

Warning: spoilers all the way. Don’t read this if you don’t want to know what happens in this book!