Tuesday 12 December 2023

I reviewed Yasunari Kawabata's sublime 'lost' novel The Rainbow (translated into English for the first time by Haydn Trowell) for Review 31's Books of the Year 2023. Read the round-up here






Thursday 26 October 2023

I wrote about Maror and Adama, Lavie Tidhar's first two novels in his epic trilogy of Israel's criminal underworld, in the TLS









Tuesday 10 October 2023

Really excited about my event with James Cook at the Margate Literary Festival on Sat 21st Oct at 2pm. We'll be playing songs from James' memoir In Her Room as well as readings from the book. Expect music from the Beach Boys, Beatles, REM & Flamingoes. FREE tickets here







Monday 9 October 2023

Twinkind by William Viney (himself an identical twin) is a refreshingly partisan, sumptuously illustrated book about the cultural and social significance of twins. Here's my review in the Spectator



Monday 4 September 2023

DJ Taylor's entertaining if flawed music-biz saga Rock 'n' Roll is Life reaches its second instalment with Flame Music. Here's my piece in the Literary Review



Wednesday 2 August 2023

I reviewed Jo Ann Beard's taut, poignant novella, Cheri, in the Literary Review



Friday 21 July 2023

I reviewed The Black Eden, Richard T. Kelly's epic novel of North Sea oil exploitation, in the Guardian



Monday 10 July 2023

I will be talking with Amanda Craig about her immersive, Tuscany-set new novel The Three Graces at the Owl Bookshop Kentish Town, on Tues 11th July 6.30pm. Do come along. Tickets here



Thursday 6 July 2023

Here's my review of Éric Vuillard's An Honourable Exit, a cool and compact 'factual novel' about French colonial exploitation in Indochina. TLS



Thursday 25 May 2023

I wrote about Michael Arditti's rich and engrossing novel of art, faith and morality, The Choice, in the The Spectator



Saturday 29 April 2023

I reviewed Xiaolu Guo's memoir Radical, an intellectually rich and stimulating exploration of language and female emancipation, in the Guardian



Thursday 13 April 2023

Lydia Sandgren's Collected Works is a satisfying Franzenian doorstopper of a novel. Sometimes the traditional pleasures of character and narrative trump experiments with form. Here's my review in the Spectator



Thursday 30 March 2023

Kimberley C. Patton's Gemini and the Sacred is a capacious and erudite anthology of essays on twins and twinship in religion and mythology. Here's my review in the TLS



 I reviewed Catherine Lacey's ambitious and super-inventive new novel, Biography of X, in the TLS



Thursday 2 March 2023

Sebastian Barry's superb new novel is a deep exploration of the 'sad stations of memory' set on Ireland's Dalkey coastline. Here's my piece in the Literary Review



Friday 20 January 2023

Here's my review of Hotel Milano, the new novel from veteran novelist, essayist & translator Tim Parks in the Guardian









Thursday 19 January 2023

Toby Litt's A Writer's Diary is a remarkable daily record of life's minutiae, with much wisdom on the creative process and the how to keep going as a writer. Here's my review in the Spectator