I have always loved nature documentaries, ever since I was a child. I have been in awe of the natural world and have always felt a powerful urge to protect, learn from, and be in harmony with it. Wildlife and nature documentaries were the gateway drug, so to speak, for a little nature nerd like … Continue reading
Tag Archives: British authors
History “Lessons” with Ian McEwan: A review of McEwan’s latest novel
The novel follows the life of Roland Baines, and the novel swaps between Roland’s formative years at an all boys boarding school in the U.K. and his adult life as a single father to his son Lawrence, after his wife disappears one day. Continue reading
Book Review of Emma Gannon’s “Olive”: Fiction about Being Childless
The pressure to have a child as a cis woman is REAL. It is all encompassing. It comes up with every person you meet – and the expectation is not if you will have kids, but when. So there is no nuance for those of use, who just really don’t think kids are for them for whatever personal reason that may be. Continue reading
A Review of Ottessa Moshfegh’s “Eileen”: An Ode to Daphne Du Maurier’s “Rebecca”?
I am a big fan of Ottessa Moshfegh’s writing. I have also reviewed her novel My Year of Rest and Relaxation which you can check out by clicking on the title. Moshfegh has an amazing way of writing perfectly awful characters in such a nuanced and special way. I feel like you love to hate … Continue reading
A Review of “Adults” by Emma Jane Unsworth: on- and offline life
This book has all the trappings of contemporary adult living from social media and phone obsessions including the ways in which life online complicates our relationships, especially female friendships. The characters are generally dreadful in their own special ways, but there was something about them that also made them real, accessible, and relatable. The novel … Continue reading
Brexit Literature: a complete review of Jonathan Coe’s “The Rotters’ Club” trilogy including “Middle England”
This post as been a long time coming and I am so glad to be able to finally review all three of Jonathan Coe’s novels from his accidental trilogy, The Rotters’ Club. When his novel Middle England was published in 2018 it received worldwide literary praise. Despite it popularity many readers didn’t know that it … Continue reading
5 Things I Learnt About Life Thanks to Catherine Gray’s Book “The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary”
We find ourselves in weird times. Many of us have lost jobs. Others are trying to work from home while trying to look after children and family. Uncertainty is common place and it can be extremely easy to let that overwhelm you. Since Australia went into various stages of lock down I have fluctuated between … Continue reading
Repeating Lies Until They are True: a review of “Strange Magic” by Syd Moore
Strange Magic by Syd Moore is a great escapist read if you are looking for something light in these overwhelming times. I picked up this copy in Zurich, and I was drawn to the cover and the prospect of a witchy tale. The plot centres on Rosie Strange who has just inherited her grandfather’s “Essex … Continue reading
A Review of “The Dead Wife’s Handbook”: Moving through grief with the aid of fiction
I bought this book in the first few months after arriving in Switzerland at the giant English bookshop, that used to be located on the Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich. I was so intrigued by the idea of a dead person narrating a book. The dead couldn’t talk. I tried to read the first chapter of the … Continue reading
John Lanchester’s “The Wall”: climate change, building walls, and the world’s future
“It’s guilt: mass guilt, generational guilt. The olds feel they irretrievably fucked up the world, then allowed us to be born in it. You know what? It’s true. That’s exactly what they did. They know it, we know it. Everybody knows it” (55). Continue reading
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