No 398 White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi #ripxvi
In White is for Witching, Helen Oyeyemi uses the tropes of the ghost story and the Gothic haunted house to explore a more personal kind of horror – one that comes from within. White is For Witching is set in Dover and is ostensibly about a pair of twins, Miranda and Eliot, who live in a…
Read more No 398 White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi #ripxvi
No 399 Lucinella by Lore Segal for #1976Club
My second read for the 1976 Club this week is the wacky and wonderful Lucinella by Lore Segal, which would also make a perfect read for Novellas in November. This slim book is a satire on the New York literary scene which utilises meta-fiction, magic-realism and a sense of dream-like whimsy to great effect. Depicting…
No 400 The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin for #1976Club
The Boys from Brazil is the fourth Ira Levin novel I’ve read in the last few years and it is yet another gem of a book. With his tense, taut plots that often incorporate elements of the supernatural, or in this case, science fiction, many of his books were successfully adapted for the screen. The…
Read more No 400 The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin for #1976Club
Keeping Going on National Poetry Day
Today is National Poetry Day and as always on days like this, I look to the work of Seamus Heaney for inspiration. This year feels quite poignant as last week, Seamus Heaney’s brother Hugh Heaney passed away after a short illness. I knew Hugh well through his support for Seamus Heaney HomePlace and his enthusiasm…
No 401 The Elementals by Michael McDowell #ripxvi
Michael McDowell is a horror writer who, in his heyday, was mentioned in the same breath as Stephen King and James Herbert, with Peter Straub calling him “one of the best writers of horror in this or any other country.” Nowadays he has fallen under the radar somewhat and is probably better known for having…
Six Degrees of Separation!
September Miscellany
No 402 The Emperor of Ice-cream by Brian Moore for #BrianMoore100
When it comes to Brian Moore’s body of work, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne is often – justifiably – considered to be his masterpiece. I would argue though, that The Emperor of Ice-cream is another contender for that accolade. Written in 1965, The Emperor of Ice-cream was Brian Moore’s fifth novel and is his…
Read more No 402 The Emperor of Ice-cream by Brian Moore for #BrianMoore100
No 403 The Passion by Jeanette Winterson
I’m telling you stories. Trust me. It has been well over twenty years since I read Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges are not the Only Fruit and Sexing the Cherry in quick succession. I’m not sure why I never returned to her writing, but on the strength of The Passion, it seems that I have been missing…
