The Literary Sofa
Isabel Costello
Book Hype (for want of a better word)
Sometimes I commit to writing something and then think Oh shit. I did briefly wonder if it’s possible to talk about book hype and the like without it generating cynicism and negativity, which is not the intention. I want to look at an interesting question. How do the various ways we discover books affect our … Continue reading
Guest Author – Claire Fuller on Finding Inspiration in Place
I’d like to start by thanking everyone for the exceptional response to last week’s Literary Lunch competition, which prompted a deluge of retweets, entries and appreciation for the blog. Just as well I did keep going! And since the entries took the form of book recommendations and there were so many great ones – including … Continue reading
The Literary Lunch 2018 blog anniversary competition *now ended*
*UPDATE* THE COMPETITION HAS NOW ENDED! Thank you for all the shares, entries, and appreciation. The winner is Zarina, who has a great blog of her own, Page to Stage, and I’m really looking forward to our lunch. So many brilliant recommendations resulted from this year’s competition – including many I hadn’t heard of – … Continue reading
Writers on Location – Amanda Huggins on Japan
Welcome to the first guest post of the new season, a special one in several ways. It’s the first time Japan has featured in my Writers on Location series, and also the first time I’ve had the pleasure of hosting an award-winning travel writer. Amanda Huggins’ fiction and travel writing have been published in a … Continue reading
The Verdict on my Summer Reading 2018 – Part Two
It’s been a frantic couple of weeks since I returned from Provence and the days of lounging by the pool reading for 6+ hours seem very distant. Last week I reported on half of the books I read during my August blog break, but as the others were just as good and included several I … Continue reading
The Verdict on my Summer Reading 2018 – Part One
As always at this time of year, this is an informal round-up of the books I read during my summer blog shutdown (as distinct from my Summer Reads selection of recommended new releases, where I’m delighted to hear that many of you found something of interest). To be precise, it’s my verdict on half of … Continue reading
Autumn preview 2018
Welcome back to the Literary Sofa – I hope you enjoyed a long hot summer and some good books. This is a quick Hello, I’m back! and glimpse of the upcoming programme on the blog. I always know it’s been a good break when I come back raring to get stuck into everything, and there’s nothing … Continue reading
My Poolside TBR 2018
This is one of my favourite posts because it always feels like I’m off duty, or soon will be. For me, the year starts in September – literally, as my birthday is early that month. I’ll always look back on being 50 as a huge turning point in my life, much of it spent grappling … Continue reading
Writers on Location ̵ Philip Teir on Jakobstad, Finland
This week’s post concludes the coverage of my Summer Reads selection; a record number of authors (7/12) have joined me on the Literary Sofa and I’m very grateful to all of them for their fantastic pieces and all of you for your interest and positive feedback. One of the best things about running the blog … Continue reading
Guest Author – Sofka Zinovieff on Writing a Taboo Relationship
[NOTE: This post discusses the portrayal of child sexual abuse in fiction.] When I was organising Sofa visits from authors featured in this year’s Summer Reads selection, I thought what an exceptional line-up it was going to be and it’s great that it’s met with so much interest and enthusiasm – thank you to everyone … Continue reading
My new novel SCENT – out in paperback on 19 May 2022
The Literary Sofa 