One man's endless ranting about book covers and design...
Shawn was kind enough to host me again, this time banging on about Hungarian/Magyarul literature in English translation, one of my personal obsessions. Click through to watch. Books discussed: Zsófia Bán: Night School (A Reader for Grownups) Miklós Bánffy: They Were Counted Géza Csáth: The Diary of Géza Csáth György Dalos: The Circumcision Margit Kaffka: The Ant Heap Imre Kertész: The Union Jack…
In the unlikely event anyone still happens across this dusty wasteland of a site, my most recent best books of a year in reading has gone up at Dorian Stuber's blog , for 2025. For the record, previous years are here: 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
The fourth of my year-in-reading columns has gone up over at Dorian's blog: the best stuff I read in 2024 (that I hadn't read before).
The third of my year-in-reading columns has gone up over at Dorian's blog : the best stuff I read in 2023.
I recently read and thoroughly enjoyed a book by a publisher new to me, First to Knock .The book was Jeremy Kitchen's Mr Crabby You Have Died , which was not quite like anything else I've read (always a plus). Imagine falling into conversation in a bar with a stranger who starts telling you drink-fuelled anecdotes. Anecdotes about being an American soldier during Desert Storm, and being exposed to…
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The free online launch for my book is this weekend (21 or 22 October, depending where in the world you are): please feel free to come along !
My book is out, published by the good folk at Orbis Tertius Press , should you wish to read it. You do wish to read it, right? It's the discontinuous narrative of an Australian family in short stories, including glass eyes, false mermaids, inadvertent death, nuclear weapons, and the accidental destruction of the Sydney Opera House. You can buy it here for now. At some imminent-ish future date it…
Because I will be doing a monthly thing next year with the mighty Brad Bigelow about novellas, here's the full list of 100 great short books I recommended on Twitter, in one place for ease of reference. *** 1. THE DUEL: Joseph Conrad: genuinely funny novella about a Napoleonic officer being stalked over a period of years by a madman determined to fight a duel. 2. CONFESSIONS OF A LAPSED…
The Big Book of Unfortunate Author Deaths Sherwood Anderson: swallowed a toothpick which punched holes in his innards, leading to lethal peritonitis. Ödön von Horváth, hit by a falling branch from a tree and killed during a thunderstorm, three days after writing a poem about being scared of storms. Francis Bacon, killed by pneumonia contracted after an experiment in freezing a dead chicken with…
For the second year in a row, the mighty Dorian Stuber was kind enough to ask me to write about my favourite books of the past year at his blog. So I did . Books discussed (click to enlarge):
My book, GIBBONS, being the discontinuous narrative of an Australian family in short stories, including glass eyes, false mermaids, inadvertent death, nuclear weapons and the accidental destruction of the Sydney Opera House, coming in 2023 from Orbis Tertius Press .
I'm sorry, but only crime novels featuring a dark house with a yellow light and some yellow text will be considered for publication from now on.
Over at the Scratch Books website , I attempt the impossible task of briefly introducing Franz Kafka through his brilliant short story Blumfeld, an Elderly Bachelor . As a suggestion, if you're looking for an attractive edition of the story, try the one illustrated by David Musgrave , published as part of the Four Corners Familiars series .
A couple more recent appearances on the mighty Shawn 's Youtube channel recently, discussing the brilliant Danish writer and suicide Tove Ditlevsen, plus a certain recovered classic : Click through for actually not-tiny full-screen versions!
(A follow-up to this post , derived from this thread ...) 51. AN OBSCURE MAN: Marguerite Yourcenar Astonishingly convincing novella about a 17th-Century Dutchman, his travels, his loves and his failures. Found in this collection (also available as 'Two Stories and a Dream'), with its equally successful sequel novella, A LOVELY MORNING. 52. SICKLE: Ruth Lillegraven Verse novel encapsulating the…
Somehow I end up sharing virtual space with the mighty Chip Kidd on this podcast here , talking about book cover design and its commercial pressures.
The ever-splendid Dorian Stuber was kind enough to ask me to write about my favourite books of the past year over at his blog . So I did. Books discussed: (click for bigger image)
This was a lot of fun--a bunch of people who read too much discussing the year behind and the year ahead in reading, and I got to be one of them: Click through for a nice full-screen version! Apologies for the way that Zoom cuts to my horrible face every time I laugh.
I darken Shawn 's doorstep once again, this time discussing a Polish classic: Click through for a nice full-screen version! The book is The Romance of Teresa Hennert by the great Zofia Nałkowska.
Anyone who has read much of what I blather about here or on Twitter will know my passion for neglected, rediscovered books. As an attempt to justify this, I'd say that with nearly forgotten books from the past, as with translated literature, they need real champions to get them into print. They're not chasing the latest trend, so they don't fit easily into modern publishing's line-ups. Someone, or…
I haven't had a chance to watch this yet, but I'm sure I am as silvertongued as ever as I discuss a book featuring a woman and her potato on the cover. Also features people who know what they're talking about: Click through for a nice full-screen version!
Some people have unwisely asked to see all my books. Have at it: All the books? All the books. from Flyin Pasties on Vimeo .
For all your Canadian bear sex novella needs: Click through for a nice full-screen version!
Looking back, apparently the longest book I've read this year so far is designer, artist and typographer Rian Hughes ' wonderful XX . US edition from Overlook UK edition from Picador It's a 1000-page novel about AI and First Contact and consciousness and memes and art and typography and a centuries-old conspiracy involving Hugh Walpole. It also has a reversible dustjacket... ..and various…