Wild Swans is, simply put, a masterpiece. It is a memoir of three generations of author Jung Chang’s family, principally told around the lives of her grandmother, mother and herself. Though I could not find confirmation, it is by some accounts the highest-selling memoir of all time with sales variously reported as being between 10-15…
The late Christopher Hitchens had a long and varied career as a political and social commentator and journalist known for his exceptional ability as a polemicist. In his later life, he was best known as one of the ‘Four Horseman’ following the publication of God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Like much to…
Yesterday I posted my review of John Kolchak’s novel Next Year in Jerusalem. John kindly agreed to a short interview answering some of the questions I had after reading his novel. Tell me about what inspired the novel. Was there a particular character, plot point or theme that inspired you? This book was equally inspired…
A foreign superpower occupies the Holy Land. Insurgency is on the rise. Terrorists attack foreign soldiers and immigrants as well as any locals found to be complying with the occupiers or deemed to be in violation of their strict interpretation of religious laws. A new man has been appointed to govern the land and quash…
It was on a 2008 trip to Goa that my parents and I came across Luis de Assis Correia’s book on the history of Goa at a book market. His Goa, Through the Mists of History from 10,000 BC-AD 1958; A Select Compilation on Goa’s Genesis looks to be a self-published book (it has no…
Michael Henchard, a young hay-trusser, walks down a lonely country road in 1820’s England with his wife, Susan, and infant daughter, Elizabeth-Jane. They walk in silence, exposed to the sun, an arduous enough journey for a young man let alone a young mother carrying a baby. Henchard, though, has little sympathy. Beneath the quiet exterior,…
2016 has been a very successful year of reading for me. As well as getting through all 16 books on my 2016 Reading List, I also read five more. That may not sound like many by the standards of some readers, but by my standards, in a year where I was also a stay-at-home parent…
