Sam Selvon: The Lonely Londoners
First published in 1956, Trinidadian born, Sam Selvon, began his London based fictions with a short novel called The Lonely Londoners. It’s set during a time when many West Indians…
Leo Tolstoy: The Death Of Ivan Ilyich
Beginning, as it does, with the death of Ivan Ilyich, you wouldn’t think there was much left to say but Leo Tolstoy’s novella, The Death Of Ivan Ilyich, then winds…
Tim Krabbé: The Vanishing
Not many books can claim to have been filmed on more than one occasion although as Hollywood becomes more of a recycling plant than a hotbed of imagination that will…
Ian Cross: The God Boy
Were it not for my rather unnatural obsession as regards collecting all of the Penguin Classics, I may never have heard of The God Boy by New Zealand journalist, Ian…
John McPhee: Oranges
First published in the 1960s, Oranges by twice Pulitzer winning journalist, John McPhee got a limited lease of life back in 2000 when Penguin reissued it as a modern classic.…
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa: Rashōmon and Seventeen Other Stories
I bought the new Penguin Classic, Rashōmon and Seventeen Other Stories by Japanese author, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927), with the intention of furthering my knowledge of Japanese fiction and its writers…
Atiq Rahimi: Earth And Ashes
First published in 2000, Atiq Rahimi’s Earth And Ashes is a short novella set in his native Afghanistan (he’s another one of those writers that run away to France, like…
Milan Kundera: Ignorance
Ignorance, by Milan Kundera, is a small novel but big on ideas. Playing like a watered down Odyssey, two Czech émigrés return to post-communist Prague after twenty years. A chance…
Bernard MacLaverty: Lamb
Lamb, by Bernard MacLaverty, is, at 150 pages, a short read, but its brevity serves only to provide a perfectly told story without padding or exposition. It follows the story…
James Meek: The People’s Act Of Love
It was the intention of James Meek that his third novel, The People’s Act of Love, should be written in the manner of the great Russian novels. While I have…