@grantrintoul.bsky.social
Bought this at Edinburgh Book Festival and then forgot to read it! Another masterful collection of stories - my only complaint about Schweblin is that I wish she would write more.
November 23, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Bought this at Edinburgh Book Festival and then forgot to read it! Another masterful collection of stories - my only complaint about Schweblin is that I wish she would write more.
Having written outstanding science fiction and autobiographical fiction, Olga Ravn turns her hand to historical fiction with the most wondrous narrative voice.
November 22, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Having written outstanding science fiction and autobiographical fiction, Olga Ravn turns her hand to historical fiction with the most wondrous narrative voice.
As already reviewed, a charming coming-of-age story from Columbia.
November 22, 2025 at 3:03 PM
As already reviewed, a charming coming-of-age story from Columbia.
What a great night in Lochgelly yesterday with Stanza and @hameisharts.bsky.social - poet William Letford, the Coaltown Daisies and a whole lot more!
November 22, 2025 at 3:01 PM
What a great night in Lochgelly yesterday with Stanza and @hameisharts.bsky.social - poet William Letford, the Coaltown Daisies and a whole lot more!
Bottom's Dream. In fact, it is the coffee table.
November 14, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Bottom's Dream. In fact, it is the coffee table.
Penguin are reprinting A Glastonbury Romance next year.
November 14, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Penguin are reprinting A Glastonbury Romance next year.
As always, Aira picks up an idea and runs with it...until he decides to put it down, pick up another idea and run with that...
November 12, 2025 at 10:23 PM
As always, Aira picks up an idea and runs with it...until he decides to put it down, pick up another idea and run with that...
Mario Bellatin's novels may be short but they transport you to a place no one else can.
November 10, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Mario Bellatin's novels may be short but they transport you to a place no one else can.
Dasa Drndic's Trieste - not one page but 44.
November 9, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Dasa Drndic's Trieste - not one page but 44.
November reading - this month's Maigret was a little disappointing as its set-up seemed very similar to the previous novel, Maigret's Pickpocket - an obvious suspect that Maigret refuses to charge.
November 9, 2025 at 10:01 AM
November reading - this month's Maigret was a little disappointing as its set-up seemed very similar to the previous novel, Maigret's Pickpocket - an obvious suspect that Maigret refuses to charge.
Latest book club read - loved the language but the novel itself is rather meandering and the lack of female characters glaring. I suspect its classic status raised expectations.
November 9, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Latest book club read - loved the language but the novel itself is rather meandering and the lack of female characters glaring. I suspect its classic status raised expectations.
It immediately made me want to read more of her work (not easy as I spent a couple of years reading all her novels) and look what I came across in Edinburgh yesterday:
November 2, 2025 at 9:36 AM
It immediately made me want to read more of her work (not easy as I spent a couple of years reading all her novels) and look what I came across in Edinburgh yesterday:
I absolutely loved this biography of Muriel Spark by Frances Wilson deftly combining the life and the work.
November 2, 2025 at 9:33 AM
I absolutely loved this biography of Muriel Spark by Frances Wilson deftly combining the life and the work.
More fragmented than The Limit but equally scarring - Belben is the quintessential 'not for everyone' writer.
October 25, 2025 at 8:41 AM
More fragmented than The Limit but equally scarring - Belben is the quintessential 'not for everyone' writer.
The perfect Halloween read - eerie and unusual in equal measure. (More straightforward than Bora Chung's other two collections in English, this is possibly a good place to start).
October 25, 2025 at 8:38 AM
The perfect Halloween read - eerie and unusual in equal measure. (More straightforward than Bora Chung's other two collections in English, this is possibly a good place to start).
Park Seolyeon, interpreter and translator Anton Hur (who said he was there because he couldn't quite believe the book had finally been published) talking about Capitalists Must Starve at Toppings in Edinburgh tonight.
October 24, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Park Seolyeon, interpreter and translator Anton Hur (who said he was there because he couldn't quite believe the book had finally been published) talking about Capitalists Must Starve at Toppings in Edinburgh tonight.
The latest in @birlinn.bsky.social Darkland Tales series, playing perfectly to Burnet's strengths - historical setting, unreliable narrator. I've enjoyed every one of these.
October 19, 2025 at 10:39 AM
The latest in @birlinn.bsky.social Darkland Tales series, playing perfectly to Burnet's strengths - historical setting, unreliable narrator. I've enjoyed every one of these.
October reading - first up, my monthly Maigret, in which he gets his pocket picked... by a potential murderer. A great example of Maigret feeling his way through a case.
October 19, 2025 at 10:36 AM
October reading - first up, my monthly Maigret, in which he gets his pocket picked... by a potential murderer. A great example of Maigret feeling his way through a case.
Looking forward to Jean-Patrick Manchette's arrival at Vintage Classics next February (with No Room at the Morgue and Skeletons in the Closet to follow in July).
October 17, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Looking forward to Jean-Patrick Manchette's arrival at Vintage Classics next February (with No Room at the Morgue and Skeletons in the Closet to follow in July).
Fascinating discussion of Lublin with author Manya Wilkinson at Toppings in Edinburgh last night.
October 17, 2025 at 9:14 AM
Fascinating discussion of Lublin with author Manya Wilkinson at Toppings in Edinburgh last night.
Some secondhand books I picked up in Leith yesterday.
October 16, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Some secondhand books I picked up in Leith yesterday.
Currently reading Comic Book Punks by Karl Stock about British writers and artists transforming US comics in the 1980s and coincidentally picked up 2 issues of A1 from that time featuring many of the same individuals in Oxfam yesterday.
October 13, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Currently reading Comic Book Punks by Karl Stock about British writers and artists transforming US comics in the 1980s and coincidentally picked up 2 issues of A1 from that time featuring many of the same individuals in Oxfam yesterday.
One of my heroes.
October 13, 2025 at 8:54 AM
One of my heroes.
Slightly concerned that Dundee may no longer be at the end of the Tay Road Bridge.
October 12, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Slightly concerned that Dundee may no longer be at the end of the Tay Road Bridge.
UK publishers! Anyone interested in Hervé le Tellier's new novel given the success of The Anomaly? Or what about Lydie Salvayre's latest which only seems to have an Australian publisher?
October 6, 2025 at 9:20 PM
UK publishers! Anyone interested in Hervé le Tellier's new novel given the success of The Anomaly? Or what about Lydie Salvayre's latest which only seems to have an Australian publisher?