The Literary Sofa
Books
Guest Author – Charles Lambert on Writing a Novel in Fragments
Today’s featured title With a Zero at its Heart was released in May 2014 but I only read it recently, on the recommendation of several friends who predicted I would love it. They were right. My keen interest in narrative structure dates back to my student days, and although this novel in fragments has many … Continue reading
Guest Author – Alice Jolly on Crowdfunding – How to make new friends (and lose old ones)
*PUBLICATION UPDATE – JULY 2015* **CONGRATULATIONS to Alice Jolly and to her publishers Unbound on the publication of Dead Babies and Seaside Towns. The hardback edition (see the cover below) is a thing of beauty as befits this extraordinary true story and it is rightfully receiving a great deal of media attention.** As with many … Continue reading
Author Events – with a guest appearance from Francis Plug
Apologies to anyone wanting to read a serious article about author events. This isn’t one. But it is a historic event, or if you want to get all literary, an historic event. It was supposed to be a guest author post but that went wrong from the start when South London New Zealander Paul Ewen, … Continue reading
The Literary Lunch Third Blog Anniversary Competition – results
COMPETITION NOW CLOSED – SEE END OF POST FOR WINNERS It’s hard to believe that this week sees the third anniversary of the Literary Sofa and it feels like something to celebrate. The blog continues to grow in popularity with more hits than ever in the last twelve months and this week’s post is, as … Continue reading
Guest Author – Emily St John Mandel on Setting a Novel in the Future
By happy coincidence, the autumn season on the Literary Sofa has started with two truly outstanding books. When Kate Mayfield joined me last week, I mentioned my new love of memoirs. My taste is pretty broad and always evolving, often to include genres and subjects which didn’t previously attract me, in today’s case, dystopian fiction. Since … Continue reading
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
Summer Holiday Seven – the Verdict
September is one of my favourite months and having just returned from a glorious fortnight in Provence I’m all fired up for a busy autumn with a big writing goal (to finish my first draft by Christmas), a stellar line-up of guests here on the Literary Sofa, an avalanche of titles for Hot Picks 2015 and to … Continue reading
My Poolside TBR List 2014
It’s been a great summer so far. The weather has been fantastic for weeks on end, even in England. In June I went on a solo trip to Paris and Brittany. Progress is good – or at least not terrible – on the second novel I started three months ago (by the way, there was a fantastic response … 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
My new novel SCENT – out in paperback on 19 May 2022
The Literary Sofa 