Dermot Healy's 1994 novel, 'A Goat's Song' is remarkable. It has tragedy, history, natural history, unrequited love, metaphysics, mythology, existentialism, religion, the nature of consciousness, politics, and more. It has been called 'a great & masterful Irish novel'. It is hauntingly captivating.

For fans of the American poet, Robert Lowell, this is a fascinating biography and assessment of his poetry through the lens of his bipolar disorder:

Well, this was a delightful find. Published in 2014, John Carey, Emeritus Professor of English at Oxford University, has provided a delightful memoir of his life in the midst of literature. Several more books have been purchased as a result!

The French poet, Paul Valery (1871-1945), was nominated an astonishing 12 times for the Nobel Prize for Literature. This new translation of his work has the English translation alongside the original French version.

For all my ex-pat friends, a seasonal poem from my 2nd collection of poems, 'On Quarry Beach':

By the same author of 'The Swimming-Pool Library', 'Our Evenings' by Alan Hollinghurst is an admirable observation of our times. Described as a 'dark, luminous, and wickedly funny' story of 'race and class, theatre and sexuality, love and the cruel shock of violence'. A very readable book.

If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend this book. It is certainly a page-turner...

Dostoevsky hit the mark with this paragraph from Crime and Punishment.
(I wonder whether the "Revd Mephistopheles" is taking note? - those who know, know...) 🤔😉

'The Road to Wigan Pier' by George Orwell is a book of two halves. The second half is a treatise on Socialism, which may or may not appeal. However, the first part is a powerful description of 20th-century working-class life in the slums and mines. The book is worth reading for that alone.

There are senior elements of today's Church who have long forgotten this. For that reason, the institutional Church will be the cause of its own demise within the 21st century.

I only went into the bookshop to browse whilst waiting for my wife. This one had other ideas...