The Literary Sofa
Book Review
Guest Author – Kate Mayfield on Writing about Life and Death
In this week’s holiday reading round-up I mentioned my new love of reading memoirs, but my enthusiasm for Kate Mayfield’s The Undertaker’s Daughter dates back even further, to the first time we met almost two years ago. When Kate told me her book was about growing up in a funeral home in rural Kentucky I couldn’t … Continue reading
Book Review – A Girl is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride
This review and the novel contain strong language. It’s an occupational hazard of literary blogging that people are always asking if you’ve read a particular book, and if it’s one that everybody’s talking about I usually do cave in even if doesn’t particularly appeal to me, just to stay in the loop. There were some strange … Continue reading
Book Review – The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
I am writing fewer reviews these days so only pick the books which really stand out for me. That is true of The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton, a debut which is now being released or eagerly anticipated all over the world. It was acquired by Picador in the UK for a six figure sum and went … Continue reading
Guest Author – Juliet West on Narrative Voice
In the year marking the centenary of the start of World War One I was expecting a flood of historical fiction set during that period but that doesn’t seem to have happened and I’ve only read a couple of titles so far. Before The Fall, the debut from today’s guest author Juliet West impressed me … Continue reading
Book Review – Look Who’s Back by Timur Vermes
This has been quite a week. I’ve had a breakthrough in the planning of my new novel. I read Jenny Offill’s extraordinary Dept. Of Speculation in one sitting and felt compelled to add to the buzz. I attended the spectacular theatrical launch of Jason Hewitt’s debut The Dynamite Room – it’s one of my Hot … Continue reading
Book Review – Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
I was supposed to be working this morning but realised my time would better spent telling you about Jenny Offill’s second book Dept. of Speculation. I read it last night in a single sitting so these are just a few uncut thoughts – for once it makes sense not to overanalyse. You’ll see what I mean in a … Continue reading
Writers on Location – Stephen May on San Francisco
After the fantastic response to Naomi Wood’s Hemingway’s Havana, the inaugural post in the WRITERS ON LOCATION series, today I am delighted to welcome Stephen May to the Literary Sofa. It’s not the first time his fiction has appeared here – Life! Death! Prizes! was one of my Hot Picks 2012 and since then our paths … Continue reading
Guest Author – Karen Joy Fowler on Animals
It’s with great pleasure that I welcome New York Times bestselling author Karen Joy Fowler to the Literary Sofa today. Karen and I met briefly at an event late last year and I was delighted when she offered to contribute a guest post to coincide with the UK publication of her latest novel We are … Continue reading
Book Review – Zenith Hotel by Oscar Coop-Phane
As I mentioned last week, things on the Literary Sofa are currently all over the place with lots of guest posts in the pipeline and as it turns out this week, the occasional gap. It seems like the perfect opportunity to review a very short book which made a disproportionately big impression on me, Zenith Hotel … Continue reading
A Novel View of Robert McKee’s STORY – Substance, structure, style and the principles of screenwriting
Robert McKee is a world-renowned lecturer in screenwriting, best known for the four day Story Seminar he developed whilst a professor at the University of Southern California. His former students include 63 Academy Award winners and 164 Emmy winners; the likes of Kirk Douglas, John Cleese and Peter Jackson, director of Lord of the Rings, … Continue reading
My new novel SCENT – out in paperback on 19 May 2022
The Literary Sofa 