Richard Matheson: I Am Legend
I grew up with an interest in vampire stories, working my through the likes of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles but, despite forever hearing good things about…
Philippe Grimbert: Secret
On my regular visits to book shops there has been one book that I’ve picked up on each visit, pondered it awhile, and returned to the shelves. Not because it…
Adolfo Bioy Casares: The Invention Of Morel
Ask me what my favourite film is and I’ll no doubt respond with Last Year In Marienbad (1961), written by Alain Robbe-Grillet and directed by Alain Resnais. Its appeal is…
Arthur Miller: Plain Girl
Arthur Miller is better known to me, as I’m sure he is to many students in classrooms today, as the dramatist responsible for such plays as Death Of A Salesman…
Glenway Wescott: The Pilgrim Hawk
After the Great War there were a number of literary figures from America given over to, to some degree, the expatriate life in Europe, notably Paris. Names such as Gertrude…
Ryu Murakami: Piercing
Ryu Murakami is an author I’ve been aware of for a while now, partly because of his literary namesake, Haruki Murakami, and also through noting a positive response to his…
Jennifer Clement: The Poison That Fascinates
Woman, divine woman, you have the poison that fascinates in your eyes, goes the song by Augustin Lara from which Jennifer Clement takes the title to her second novel, The…
Rosa Liksom: Dark Paradise
When I think of Finland, the impressions I get are twofold. The first, as should be obvious, is of a country covered with lakes and forests touching upon the Arctic…
Adalbert Stifter: Rock Crystal
With Christmas in mind I fancied reading something festive to try and get me out of the humbug spirit and, while the obvious choice would have been Dickens’ A Christmas…
Raymond Radiguet: The Devil In The Flesh
It sometimes seems that there’s a precocious streak running through French literature with authors garnering literary respect at young ages. Françoise Sagan springs to mind, publishing Bonjour Tristesse in 1954…