Can You Tolerate This? — Ashleigh Young
This is like one of those great, wide-ranging conversations where you talk about everything, from what you did last weekend to the meaning of life, and everything in between. Each essay is on its own topic and they are apparently … Continue reading
A map to fix Auckland’s broken…
The Anthologist — Nicholson Baker
This is a fascinating book about poetry, disguised as a wry and humorous story about a poet with writers’ block. It’s like two books in one! The protagonist is a likeable everyman. Well not really an everyman — he’s a … Continue reading
This Is Not a Novel — David Markson
I have never read a novel like this before, but that’s obvious since it is actually not a novel. (The clue is in the name.) But it has characters (well, a character), lots of historical figures, and a (very faint) … Continue reading
“celerity should always be contempered…
The synopsis didn’t really grab me, so…

Little Deaths — Emma Flint
New York City last century: the scarlet woman, the suspicious tragedy, the tough cop, the tenacious reporter. They’re all here, but they are put together in some unexpected ways. Right at the beginning, the “murder mystery” trope is upended by … Continue reading