Book reviews, new books, publishing news, book giveaways, and author interviews

Friend-zoning and Ivan Turgenevs Fathers and Sons

Friend-zoning and Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons

If you're new here, why not subscribe to our email updates or follow us on Facebook? You can also add us to your Google Reader. Thanks for visiting!   Earlier this morning I read that the term friend zone is set to enter the OED. Its a term that I stumbled over only relatively recently, probably within the last few months or so, and...

Guest Post: Books that have taught me how to travel by Walter Mason

Guest Post: Books that have taught me how to travel by Walter Mason

Todays guest post is by Walter Mason 'If I rest, I rust.' Martin Luther I suffer that great affliction of all bookish people: Before I embark on any activity I need to read at least one book about it. Perhaps it betrays a lack of imagination, but I think it more likely that it exposes a deep-seated sense of insecurity. I find it quite impossible to...

My top reads for 2012

My top reads for 2012

Well, its nearing the end of the year, and a couple of readers have been asking about my top books for 2012. This year has been another one of wide-ranging reading for me, with most genres represented. Early in the year I went on a bit of a middle grade kick, while these past few months Ive been craving literary fiction, so these books may be...

When book cover quotes are the critical equivalent of youve had a haircut

When book cover quotes are the critical equivalent of 'you've had a haircut'

I once had a copywriting job that involved writing promotional pieces for a group of chiropractors*. My brief said very clearly that I was not to promise any sort of positive results from visiting a chiropractor. Fair enough. A bit of bone crunching doesnt necessarily translate into someone being able to do backflips on command, after all. But my brief...

The Story Girl and Anne: or why we need more quiet books

The Story Girl and Anne: or why we need more quiet books

Last year I happened across the Anne of Green Gables books in audiobook format. These were books that Id pooh-poohed as a child purely because of their scratchy old covers and nondescript titles, and my eventual decision to read them was made with a sort of grim determination, much as how I might have approached an end-of-year examination or a...

Occupational hazards: can writing ruin your love of reading?

Occupational hazards: can writing ruin your love of reading?

Todays guest post is kindly provided by Margaret Yang and Harry R Campion We are going to tell you a secret. All writers know it. None of them talk about it. The secret is this: writers hate a lot of the books we read. Not all of them, mind you, and not in a malicious way. It has nothing to do with jealousy or spite. It's just a horrible side-effect of...