Tessa Hadley (http://www.bathspa.ac.uk/our-people/T.Hadley) is the author of five highly praised novels, Accidents in the Home, which was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, Everything Will Be All Right, The Master Bedroom, The London Train and Clever Girl. She has also written two collections of stories, Sunstroke and Married Love. She lives in London and is […]
Kent Haruf (http://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/kent-haruf#/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Haruf) was an award winning writer from Colorado. This posthumously published novel explores mature love in small-town America. Like all his work, the prose is precise and calm but the emotional strength is very affecting. Addie Moore lives in the small town of Holt, Colorado. One day she pays an unexpected visit to
Our Souls at Night Read More »
Lauren Groff (http://laurengroff.com/) is a young American novelist and short story writer. She has had stories published in the New Yorker, the Atlantic Monthly, Five Points, and Ploughshares, and the anthologies Best New American Voices 2008, and Best American Short Stories 2007, 2010 and 2014 editions. Fates and Furies (2015) starts with honeymoon sex on
There is a phrase which has entered English usage recently. This is ‘the elephant in the room’. It is used to indicate a large inconvenient truth about which some prefer to remain blind. It could well be used in discussions of ‘theodicy’, otherwise known as ‘the problem of evil’ (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/evil/). This is an entire branch of
Evil, Suffering and Religion by Brian Hebblethwaite Read More »
The prolific author Nora Roberts (http://www.noraroberts.com/) has been prolific again for the 4th time this year alone. (The total number of her novels including those written under the author name J.D. Robb amount to over 200 novels. Her readers fall upon each new work like a thirsty cat leaps to a dish of cool water in
Edgar Lawrence “E. L.” Doctorow (January 6, 1931 – July 21, 2015, http://www.eldoctorow.com/) was an American author, editor, and professor, best known for his works of historical fiction. Many regard him as one of the most important American novelists of the 20th century. His novels The Book of Daniel (1971) and Ragtime (1975) may be better known,
World’s Fair by E.L. Doctorow Read More »
The Accidental Tourist is a novel by Anne Tyler (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Tyler) that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction in 1985 and the Ambassador Book Award for Fiction in 1986. The novel was adapted into a 1988 award-winning film starring William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, and Geena Davis,
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Harlan Coben (http://www.harlancoben.com/), born January 4, 1962) is an American author of mystery novels and thrillers. The plots of his novels often involve the resurfacing of unresolved or misinterpreted events in the past (such as murders, fatal accidents, etc.) and often have multiple plot twists. In Coben’s series of ‘Myron Bolitar’ novels the setting is in and
We live in times (2008-2015 >) of swingeing public sector cuts. Town hall chiefs are forced by central government to bring the hatchet down on local government spending. Public libraries have taken a hammering the length and breadth of Britain, a trend carefully documented in a blog by Ian Anstice available here http://www.publiclibrariesnews.com/. The nostalgic whimpering of politicians,
Public library and other stories Read More »
Religion is an extremely complex social and cultural phenomenon. No simple definition can capture its manifold nature. Rich, simple, consoling, disturbing, unifying, divisive, colourful, austere, prayerful, practical, doctrinal, mystical, peaceful, militaristic, solitary, communitarian, supernatural, worldly. It has all of these (often contradictory) aspects. The very briefest attempt to get a conceptual handle on the phenomenon can be found at this link http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/philosophy-religion/.
The World’s Religions by Ninian Smart Read More »
Larry McMurtry (born June 3, 1936) is an American novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter whose work is predominantly set in either the old West or in contemporary Texas. His novels include Horseman, Pass By (1962), The Last Picture Show (1966) and Terms of Endearment (1975), which were adapted into films earning 26 Academy Award nominations. This
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty Read More »
Tess Gerritsen (http://www.tessgerritsen.com/) wrote 9 romance novels between 1987-1996, and her latest thriller this year could have been the title of one of those. It is Playing with Fire (2015). You know, some people would prefer to think that the past has ceased to exist. They are wrong. It interpenetrates with the present and future in ways
Marilynne Robinson (born November 26, 1943, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/05/magazine/the-revelations-of-marilynne-robinson.html?_r=0 ) is an American novelist and essayist. She has received several awards including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005 and the 2012 National Humanities Medal. One high profile admirer is Barack Obama. If ever there was a time when we should heed the voices of wisdom and compassion
The Givenness of Things by Marilynne Robinson Read More »
There was a day and age when a nine year old girl was not permanently fixated upon her smartphone. This was a time when you could be separated from the gizmo for more than five minutes without plunging into the severe anxiety which is now being reported (http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/05/14/nomophobia-smartphone-separation-anxiety_n_7282008.html). Such an age was the Second World
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak Read More »
Nigella Lawson has embarked on another of her celebrity cook series on television this season at the end of 2015 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/programmes/b06nvzkg). Her opening remarks in the first episode of ‘Simply Nigella’ gushed to the effect that life is worth celebrating in every single meal that one prepares. It’s as easy as popping round to your local
The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester Read More »
