Showing 1-16 of 45 Results.
The first great novel of the 21st century uses the sinister beauty of the American Tax Code as a springboard from which to launch into a genuinely serious discussion of the origins and importance of civic responsibility amidst the hazy, blurred stupidity of a country in quick decline. Contrary to many reviews, I don't think it's about boredom, and it's certainly not boring. Another posthumous editor-to-manuscript resuscitation, the book hangs heavy with the clotted spectre of Wallace's suicide, which makes the writing glow all the more painfully through it.
Chris Ware - 02/10/2012 |
Archie Burnett; Philip Larkin We already knew Larkin was - is! - a great poet, but this huge volume shows us that he was also far more productive than we thought. Indispensable.
John Banville - 18/06/2012 |
A captivating biography that reveals Sweden’s greatest writer as a peculiarly lovable polymath.
John Banville - 18/06/2012 |
I thought that my generation was doing pretty well following Art's example of how to make serious comic books for adults, but this book demonstrates just how pale and paltry our efforts have been; via interviews, documents, photographs and preparatory sketches (and an interactive DVD) it's clear that Art not only created the graphic novel, but that graphic novel may also never be bettered.
Chris Ware - 02/10/2012 |
A tour de force of empathy, understanding and a multi-hued approach to what makes us what we are, Smith's newly hyper-efficient writing approach here delivers ultra-compact sentences, word-images and impressions that bloom in the mind like paper flowers or concentrated dyes. I can think of no one alive who can so deftly and breathlessly sail amid, around and through the minds of her characters and classes than Smith, and after reading this book, I felt more like I'd visited London than the few times I've actually been there myself.
Chris Ware - 02/10/2012 |
Gustave Flaubert; Manolo Blahnik;... This atmosphere of this powerful novel remains with the reader well after the last page has been turned.
Alexander McCall Smith - 28/07/2011 |
Corbett’s second novel is a haunting high-wire voice novel performed with brio. The on-the-run Traveller Anthony Sonaghan is a remarkable act of consciousness. In his plaintive, touching tone, he eats into your soul: so humble, so sad, so trapped, so true. I love his honest simplicity, his street poetry, his frustrated urge to break out of an enclosed life and how the book remains true to the narrowness of opportunity. The book’s form is its philosophy — that life is a patchwork of mess and regret and trying, but yet somehow we must live on. A contemporary Irish classic.
Paul Lynch - 09/05/2013 |
I love the lyrical quality of the writing against the tightly constructed narrative.
Lauren Kate - 15/06/2012 |
Vladimir Nabokov; Mary McCarthy |
This was one of the first novels where I remember being genuinely aware of the brilliance of the writing as I was reading it – there are sentences and paragraphs that still take my breath away now, despite the number of times I’ve read it. It’s a long, slow, relentless novel – a beautifully drawn mystery woven through a painfully moving story of class, classics and what it means to belong, carried along by a group of the most unforgettable characters you’ll ever come across.
Will Hill - 15/03/2012 |
Alistair Moffat writes beautifully on history and topography. Here he leads us through that moist entrancing of Italian regions, Tuscany.
Alexander McCall Smith - 28/07/2011 |
EMILY BRONTË: Wrote my favourite female character – Cathy in Wuthering Heights - and is also responsible for the first ghost scene I ever read. There was no sleeping for almost a week when Cathy tapped on Heathcliff’s window in the middle of the night and it’s a scene I return to again and again to experience the joy of taut prose and terror.
Sara Sheridan - 19/06/2012 |
Roger Scruton is a philosopher who writes on a wide range of subjects within aesthetics. His observations on art and music are profound and stated with great clarity.
Alexander McCall Smith - 28/07/2011 |
John Vernon Lord; Janet Burroway This book is my all time favourite picture book. It was first published in 1972 (the year I was born) and I still own my childhood copy complete with my name written inside with multi coloured felt tips.
The Giant Jam Sandwich's rhyming text is the tale of a village invaded by wasps (can you guess how they solve the problem?). It's brilliant to read out loud with witty and intricate illustrations. As a child I used to spend hours poring over the details and loved looking for the three men who were chased from the village by wasps and turned up in subsequent pages.
Emily Gravett - 10/11/2011 |
James Joyce; Terence Brown Late in his life an old friend suggested to Joyce that this was his best book, and after a hesitation Joyce agreed. Of course, it depends what you mean by ‘best’.
John Banville - 18/06/2012 |
I am still using my 40-year-old copy, from which I learned to cook. I can do their Orange Tarragon Chicken with my eyes shut – and it’s actually healthy when you forget to buy soured cream so must substitute yoghurt. I am given the strawberry Pavlova every Christmas – yummy.
Lindsey Davis - 20/03/2012 |