­
book

The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson

Notes on the Author  Peter Swanson is an American author of two novels. He has won awards in poetry from The Lyric and Yankee Magazine, and is currently completing a sonnet sequence on all 53 of Alfred Hitchcock’s films.  Happy New Year readers! This was my last book of 2015, and a very solid one.  I was chatting to my friend whilst we had lunch at DF...

Continue Reading

book

The Children Act by Ian McEwan

Notes on the Author Ian Russell McEwan is an English novelist and screenwriter. He is noted as one of 'The 50 greatest British writers since 1945' - The Times He won the Man Booker Prize with Amsterdam (1998). In 2001, he published Atonement which was adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy.  In 2011, he was awarded the Jerusalem Prize. I have never read an Ian McEwan novel, even after my well read...

Continue Reading

dictionary

The Problem of Difficult Vocabulary

One problem I have, which I am sure is common amongst most avid readers, is reading a book with difficult vocabulary.  By difficult, I mean words which I may not have come across before, and of which I have no inclination of what they mean, that seem to be integral to the sentence if I am to understand it. This isn't fun as it...

Continue Reading

book

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

Notes on the Author Elena Ferrante is the pen-name of an Italian novelist whose true identity has been shrouded in mystery since the publication of her first novel in 1992. Ferrante is set to be one of the most important italian novelists of our generation.  My Brilliant Friend was recommended to me by a friend whilst we were having breakfast on a Monday morning at Berners Tavern - a place which I highly recommend,...

Continue Reading