After three months of grapevine-listening, tip-offs and an intense reading marathon, I’m very excited to present the Literary Sofa Top 10 Summer Reads 2013. Whatever your taste in fiction I hope you’ll find something you can’t wait to read: there are serious literary novels alongside books tipped to be commercial bestsellers; crime and psychological thrillers, … Continue reading
Display of Short Story Collections, Daunt Books, Marylebone Until relatively recently, I was a short fiction sceptic. The fact that I rarely read it didn’t stop me having a rather dismissive attitude: weren’t short stories a bit trivial and unsatisfying? Why would I spend time on them when I could be reading a novel? I was far from alone in my … Continue reading
I’ve attended many author events and have been lucky to hear/meet some of the big name novelists who’ve inspired me: Alan Hollinghurst, Linda Grant, Richard Ford, Marilynne Robinson. There’s a new addition to that list: Lionel Shriver, who read at an intimate salon at the Society Club on Saturday. I’ve never written up an author … Continue reading
OK, hate is too strong a word, but even blogposts need a good title… I’ve been in hypercritical mode lately and I’m hoping this will get it out of my system. It’s happened before. At university I spent four years overanalysing and pulling to pieces the greats of French and German literature. Parts of this I loved, … Continue reading
Given my love of US fiction, it’s surprising that I haven’t hosted an American guest author before now, but it’s been worth the wait – I’m thrilled to welcome international bestselling author Tracy Chevalier to the Literary Sofa. Tracy has written seven novels including Girl with a Pearl Earring which sold over 4 million copies. I … Continue reading
Before I joined Twitter and started blogging (both less than two years ago) I had never even come across the term TBR (To Be Read). Once I’d finished reading the novel for my monthly book group, I’d take a casual look on my shelves (always well stocked because the book stall at the school jumble … Continue reading