You are currently browsing the booklit weblog archives for November, 2008.

Thursday, November 27th, 2008
Posted in Penguin, 1001 Books, existential, coming of age, Salinger, J.D., runaways, first person narrator, education, America
9 responses so far. Keep them coming. »
There are a number of novels out there that people are expected to have read at some point in their youth. Not to have done so is, in a word, ... Read more..
Monday, November 24th, 2008
Posted in Guatemala, Acorn Book Company, Monterroso, Augusto, existential, humanity, humour, short stories
1 response so far. Why not add your thoughts? »
To call him an unknown name is perhaps to do Augusto Monterroso a disservice, for while he may not be known in many English speaking circles, he's a well known ... Read more..
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
Posted in 1001 Books, noir, crime, Cain, James M., Orion, fate, thriller, murder, first person narrator, justice, America
4 responses so far. Keep them coming. »
Following on from a recent review of Albert Camus' L'Étranger at Mookse, I was struck by something read in the comment - that Camus took his inspiration from an American ... Read more..
Sunday, November 16th, 2008
Posted in money, humour, coming of age, Canongate, religion, Fante, John, poverty, Great Depression, first person narrator, America
9 responses so far. Keep them coming. »
As the opening to Tolstoy's Anna Karenina makes clear, unhappy families are unhappy in their own way, and in dealing only with its own families it leaves a wealth of ... Read more..Friday, November 7th, 2008
Posted in Author Events
10 responses so far. Keep them coming. »
A great deal of my reading tends to involve works from all over the world. Places as far flung as Japan, Hungary, and Mexico. Rarely does it occur to me ... Read more..
Saturday, November 1st, 2008
Posted in fundamentalism, Canongate, humour, satire, Scotland, religion, Faber, Michel
3 responses so far. Keep them coming. »
As I've mentioned before on this blog, I have a hit or miss relationship with the Canongate Myths series. The contributions of Jeanette Winterson and Margaret Atwood failed to excite ... Read more..