The Literary Sofa
Books
Summer Reads 2014
*SEE END OF POST FOR COMPETITION WINNERS* I’m very excited to unveil the Literary Sofa SUMMER READS 2014. From a field of over 50 titles considered, the twelve books I selected reflect the breadth of my taste and hopefully also yours. You’ll find crime and mystery, a memoir, comic and tragic family sagas, intriguing tales … 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
The Literary Guilt and Inferiority Quiz
Many of you book-lovers will have seen this very interesting, possibly funnier than intended article by the supremely erudite Will Self in The Guardian, lamenting the death of the serious literary novel (again). Now, serious and literary are two of my favourite words but this piece contained one or two (dozen) others which challenged my … Continue reading
Six Degrees of Separation in Books
Thank you to writers Emma Chapman and Annabel Smith for inviting me to take part in their Six Degrees of Separation blog meme – I say no to these all the time but this one really captured my imagination and it’s been interesting reading other people’s too. The first book, BURIAL RITES, was fixed but … 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 