The British campus novel is generally a cosy thing (unless there’s a murder involved). Often they can be rather claustrophobic too, peopled with backbiting dons, scheming students, and inscrutable college servants, all of which give opportunities for creating high comedy – naturally I’m thinking David Lodge here, or the funniest of all, Porterhouse Blue by Read More
Category: Authors T
Victory for the little guy over bureaucracy!
This was one of those books that once spotted, had to be purchased. A new author to me with an intriguing name and equally interesting book title, a great cover, plus it was an American import that shouted ‘quirky’ at me. There’s nothing I enjoy more than a novel with a bit of quirk in Read More
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
This is a brilliant novel, but one I found it difficult to enjoy. The title, appropriately for a parody of America’s deep south in the 1960s, comes from master satirist Jonathan Swift and is a perfect description of the book. The author has assembled a cast of grotesques, from aged crones to spoilt housewives, and Read More
School Dinners by Becky Thorn
My sister-in-law has a book out and it’s a real retro nostalgia trip. I saw the manuscript earlier this year, and it got us all talking for hours about stories of our own school dinners when we were little – loved and loathed in equal measure I think. And as for the dinner ladies … Read More
