Thanks to all who've sent notes asking if I'm still alive. Sorry I wasn't able to reply to all, but I'm popping in to reassure you I haven't yet left this earthly plane. For some of you, hopefully that's what you'd hoped to hear. For the rest of you, I know lots of …
Category: 2018
March in Review: Much more reading, many more books. That’s more like it.
I had faith March wouldn't let me down, unlike my crappy January and February. Lie: I had no such faith, but told myself things could hardly go further south. And there were no Olympics, no television distracting me. The TV reverted to its usual function: background noise for napping and covering the surface of my …
Continue reading March in Review: Much more reading, many more books. That’s more like it.
St Patrick’s Day Gift: interviews with three great Irish writers
Happy St. Patrick's Day, y'all! I do have a bit of genuine Irish in me, but the bulk of my heritage is English, Scottish and Dutch. What Irish I do have I magnify on March 17th, as one does. My daughter and I toured Ireland together back in 2014. She was finishing up a …
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Women’s Prize for Fiction Longlist 2018: the Debut Novelists
I'm still pretty amazed finding six of the longlisted novels for the Women's Prize for Fiction are debuts. Six of sixteen. That's a big chunk, nearly half. I can do math! These women are incredible, each one. I may normally quibble and grumble about first-time novelists snagging such a prestigious longlist nomination, but after reading …
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Elmet by Fiona Mozley
“What are you, Daniel?' 'I don't know.' 'What are your father and sister?' 'I don't know.' 'Well, if you don't, then how can I? But I do know they're fanatics. When they care about something, whatever it is, they care about it to the full. They care about it as much as anyone …
Daily: What forgiveness means
Two posts from me in one day. Ah, but they're very different. Some of you know about my Scotland 2017 story, the uber exciting chance to move there and live with a man I considered a close friend, to marry and work side by side. It didn't come off as planned, and I've …
The Ballad of Peckham Rye by Muriel Spark
What a wickedly delightful novel. Who'd have expected it from a book about the devil? Dougal Douglas, a Scot claiming to be one of the devil's minions, shows up one day in the village of Peckham Rye. Insinuating himself into a carefully balanced society, he quickly but stealthily begins pulling strings …
Women’s Prize for Fiction 2018: It’s Early Yet
Welcome to the 2018 Women's Prize for Fiction longlist, formerly Baileys Prize, formerly Orange Prize. Quite the crop this year, including six debut novels. Six! I've had the Longlist date on my calendar for weeks. I just got very busy and had no time to post before now. I've read a grand …
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February in Review: A whole lotta nothing going on.
That deafening sound is the huge, sucking vortex that was my February. Where the ever-loving hell did it even go? It went to the Olympics and my new obsession with curling, I suppose. Figures, it's a Scottish sport. I can't get by a week without something Scottish grabbing my ankle, interrupting me, disrupting my attention. …
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Daily: Self care in the mail.
I was literally hundreds of words deep into a blog post on, of all things, patience when I lost it all: every, blessed word. I'd saved it, and was going to read it through one last time in preview mode - my last step before publishing - when it went *poof!* How does …
