Friday, 27 June 2025

Why romantasy is the book genre Gen Z can't stop talking about

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Once upon a time, fantasy and romance lived in separate kingdoms. One was filled with dragons and quests; the other, with yearning glances a...
Wednesday, 25 June 2025

Short stories, big hearts: ten collections worth reading

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Sometimes, when you’re reading, you want to dip in and out. To read a story from start to finish, savouring the words and the rhythm of the ...
Sunday, 22 June 2025

From Memoir meltdown to dystopian excess: Jame Frey returns with a roar

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Like a lot of people, I read A Million Little Pieces when it came out. I read it quickly, swept up by its manic rhythm and gut-punching cand...
Friday, 20 June 2025

How Glasgow Boys reinvents the coming-of-age novel in Scots

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When Margaret McDonald, at just twenty-seven, became the youngest-ever winner of the Carnegie Medal for Glasgow Boys , it felt like more tha...
Wednesday, 18 June 2025

Where to start with Martin Amis: The style, satire and the savage beauty of language

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With writers you grew up reading, their departure leaves a space in your life that is as close to an ache as books and literature can get. T...
Monday, 16 June 2025

The Road: A devastating vision, brought beautifully to screen

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TikTok got me thinking about great book-to-screen adaptations. There are plenty of good and bad out there. For me, Cormac McCarthy’s The Roa...
Thursday, 12 June 2025

From Sylvia Plath to The Smiths: The ultimate bookish playlist

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If you're like me, and you love books and music, you probably get the same unique thrill in hearing a favourite book or author woven int...
Saturday, 7 June 2025

20 Military history books and memoirs worth your time

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From D-Day to drone warfare: definitive reads on modern conflict If you’ve ever wanted to understand not just what happened in war, but why ...
Friday, 6 June 2025

20 War Novels that stay with you

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Today is 6th June, marking the 81st anniversary of the D-Day landings. D-Day was the largest seaborne invasion in history and a turning poin...
Sunday, 1 June 2025

The BookTok Effect: Why is The Secret History still so popular?

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One of the most talked-about books on TikTok is Donna Tartt's The Secret History. More than 30 years after its publication, it remains ...
Friday, 30 May 2025

The Great American Novel: 15 books that define a nation

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Last time I wrote about what the Great American Novel is, where it came from and whether it was still needed or even possible. Everyone, inc...
Wednesday, 28 May 2025

What is the Great American Novel – and does it still matter?

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One of the questions I’m endlessly fascinated by when it comes to literature is The Great American Novel. It is so evocative, and carries su...