Because Hensher has read so many novels, the reader feels in safe hands.
Read MoreQuick look: A History of the Novel in Britain
in Bookshelf, Research, Quick looks, Reviews
Quick looks
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Quick look: G., by John Berger
in Bookshelf, Quick looks, Reviews
The funny thing about reading the first few pages of a book is that the outcome can sometimes be the opposite of what you’d expect.
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Quick look: About Looking, by John Berger
in Bookshelf, Quick looks, Reviews
This is a collection of essays or meditations on looking and seeing or, fundamentally, visibility.
Read MoreQuick look: Here is where we meet, by John Berger
in Bookshelf, Quick looks, Reviews
A strange sort of book, this. A mixture, it seems to me, of fiction and autobiography.
Read MoreQuick look: Celtic Wonder Tales
in Bookshelf, Quick looks, Reviews
I am not familiar with Irish myths and tales, so this beautiful collection of stories is quite an eye-opener.
Read MoreQuick look: La Brava
in Quick looks, Reviews
Before I read a book properly, especially if it has only just arrived, I like to get its measure. I look it up and down. Are its shoes polished?
Read MoreQuick look: Split Images
in Bookshelf, Quick looks, Reviews
I’ve just started reading this, and it has me gripped already. I like the fact that it doesn’t mess about: no long-winded descriptions…
Read MoreTwo previews
In this post I preview two books which you may be interested in. One is a series of autobiograohical stories, beautifully written, while the other comprises six writers explaining why they did what they did in their short story included in the book.
Read More“The style is plain and simple, and all the more powerful for that, and I like the sense of foreboding.”
Quick look: Hard Rain Falling, by Don Carpenter -- Progress report
in Bookshelf, Quick looks, Reviews
The style is plain and simple, and all the more powerful for that, and I like the sense of foreboding.
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Quick look: Conversations with Third Reich Contemporaries
in Bookshelf, Quick looks, Reviews
Context is given regarding the manner in which the interviews were conducted, and there is a great deal of nuance regarding the concept of “bystanders” vs “perpetrators”.
Read MoreThe electrophone? The Gecophone?
in Audio, Bookshelf, Quick looks, Reviews
Although I’ve been writing for donkeys’ years, I’ve never written anything for radio.
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Quick look: The many lives of Anne Frank
in Bookshelf, Quick looks, Reviews
The structure of this book is very interesting.
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Quick look: Hard Rain Falling, by Don Carpenter
in Bookshelf, Quick looks, Reviews
The style is plain and simple, and all the more powerful for that.
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Quick looks: The Great Exchange: Making the news in early modern Europe
in Bookshelf, Quick looks, Reviews
The real history of news is not about a chronology of technological inventions.
Read MoreQuick look: The Penguin Book of Polish Short Stories
in Bookshelf, Quick looks
The stand-out aspect of this collection for me is the way it has been organised into categories, a brave choice I think.
Read MoreQuick look: The Penguin Book of Bengali Short Stories
in Quick looks, Bookshelf
These stories really provide a short glimpse into a culture of which I am almost completely ignorant.
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Upcoming book reviews June 2025
in Quick looks, Reviews
This is just a very quick heads-up. I’m just about to send off four reviews to Teach Secondary magazine. I will post the reviews here once they’ve been published there (that’s the deal), but here are one-liners to whet your appetite.
Read MoreQuick looks: The Oxford Book of Caribbean Stories
in Bookshelf, Quick looks, Reviews
One of the things I think can add to one’s enjoyment and also improve one’s writing is to read stories from other cultures.
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Books added to the TBR heap
in Quick looks
This article is an excerpt from a longer one that appeared on my Eclecticism newsletter.
Read MoreBooks I'm reading or about to read
in Quick looks, Reviews, Bookshelf
I’ve been sent the following books by publishers, and will review them in due course. Here is some information about them.
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