Minutely detailed, beautifully paced, and often wryly fun, each of the stories in The Lemon Table can be read on its own. Together however, the book becomes a rich and varied exploration through the pain, frustration, and vanities of aging,…
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A review of Blueback by Tim Winton
Winton called this novel a contemporary fable, and there is certainly a clear and obvious moral with a positive answer to the question of how can we live in the modern world with our morality and respect for the environment…
A Review of Liam’s Going by Michael Joyce
So often novels have style but little substance and often there is a struggle to express substance but the project is doomed without style. Here is a book with both in abundance and a sense of poetry that illumines both…
An Interview with Michael Joyce
The author of Liam’s Going talks about the writing of his latest novel, his characters, on being a “Joyce”, the big themes, on hypertext and his own celebrated hypertext works, the natural weaving of voices in Liam’s Going, on the limitations (and…
A review of The Master by Colm Toibin
Although readers of The Master can’t help comparing this fictional James against the figure who is so well known and written about, the focus of the novel isn’t James the real writer. Instead the reader moves between life and longing…
A review of The Muse and the Mechanism by Josh Davis
This is a remarkable novel. It is described on the back cover as his second book but the name of this first book appears nowhere. This may thus be his first published work. It is eminently readable and assured. Reviewed…
Interrogations at Noon by Dana Gioia
The variety and range is considerable with such a brief collection. I found myself unable to complete the reading process when I reached the last poem in the book and went back to the beginning to reread some of the…
Interview with Georgia Blain
The author of Names for Nothingness talks about the writing of her fourth novel, her characters, the impact of parenthood on the writing process, the PhD she is working towards, her other business – Screenrights, her research, her next book,…
A review of Names for Nothingness by Georgia Blain
Nothing is simple, and as Blain herself says, Names for Nothingness raises more questions than it solves. Caitlin’s life is sad, but she finds a kind of peace, even if the reader disapproves of her choice, which seems little more…
A review of Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss
This book will make the pedant, or “stickler” feel good about themselves. The rest of us will probably agree with most of what Truss writes, enjoy this book for its good natured, light hearted banter, and often hysterical examples, and…