Category Archives: literature

November spawned a monster

Posted on November 26, 2011 by blogmywiki

Or, My NaNoWriMo Hell It was a mad, spur-of-the-moment decision. I hadn’t thought it through. A couple of friends were doing NaNoWriMo – and I thought, what the hell, why not? 50,000 words in a month, 1666 words a day. … Continue reading →

Posted in children, family life, fiction, literature | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Review: Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi by Geoff Dyer

Posted on August 21, 2011 by blogmywiki

Caution: this review contains spoilers. This book is crap. Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi was recommended to me by an old school friend. (To be clear: the school is old. She isn’t). And I hated it. Awkward, as they … Continue reading →

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HUNGRY the STARS and EVERYTHING

Posted on June 27, 2011 by blogmywiki

There’s a tagline on the back jacket of Emma Jane Unsworth’s first novel that is out of place: ‘Can Mr Wrong ever be Mr Right?’. This makes it sound like chick-lit, and it’s at odds with the rather sophisticated under-designed … Continue reading →

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Is ‘Nordic Noir’ really so strange?

Posted on May 22, 2011 by blogmywiki

I’ve just finished reading Jar City by Arnaldur Indriðason – desperate to finish it so I can watch the film back. It’s another bit of ‘Nordic Noir’, so fashionable at the moment: Scandinavian crime fiction in the mould of Wallander … Continue reading →

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Bittersweet Lucy Ellman

Posted on April 10, 2011 by blogmywiki

Poorly, elderly parents abound. I was convinced the other week that there was a great quote from the writer Lucy Ellman about the death of one’s parents. It was sad, it was witty, it was pithy. It was up there … Continue reading →

Posted in fiction, grief, literature, recently read | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments