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
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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
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Nan (Anna) Shepherd (11 February 1893 – 23 February 1981, http://www.slainte.org.uk/CILIPS/publications/scotauth/shephdsw.htm) was a Scottish novelist and poet who was born and lived most of her life in the Aberdeenshire village of West Cults. She became an early Scottish Modernist writer, producing three stand alone novels set in small, fictional, communities in the north of Scotland. The Scottish
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John Grisham (http://www.johngrisham.co.uk/) has sold more than 275 million copies of his thriller fiction worldwide since 1989, and has been translated into 42 languages. He’s obviously struck on a winning formula. If you’ve never tried his entertaining witty style which drives forward a fast paced gritty narrative, how about giving the latest, Rogue Lawyer, a go?
Isabel Allende ( http://www.isabelallende.com/en/home/8 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_Allende) is arguably the world’s most widely read Spanish language author. She has had a long and fascinating life which reflects so much of the history of our times. This magical realist novel catapulted her to literary fame, and it was in virtue of this and her wider oeuvre that she
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Antonio Tabucchi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Tabucchi) was an Italian academic deeply interested in Portuguese culture, which he taught at The University of Sienna. His novel ‘Sostiene Pereira’ (translated as ‘Pereira Declares’, and sometimes‘Pereira Maintains’) has received international recognition. The novel is set in Portugal in the summer of 1938, during the dictatorship of Salazar (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant%C3%B3nio_de_Oliveira_Salazar). The summary is as
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