Lit Titbits (4)

I’ve not created a Lit Titbits post for almost nine months (!), but thought I’d reinstate it as a sporadic blog series.  As ever, I have collected together six bookish articles or reviews which I have very much enjoyed of late.

1. The Telegraph: ‘Are we really drowning in noise?  A History of Silence review’ – here

2. Huffington Post: Carol Kuruvilla has written an enlightening and very sad article about Anne Frank’s family’s application to escape to the USA – here

3. The Atlantic: ‘Why We Forget Most of the Books We Read’ – here

4. The Guardian: ‘An Essay in Pictures: Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell on why we need libraries’ – here

5. The Telegraph: ‘The best thrillers and crime fiction of 2018 (so far) – here

6. The Guardian: Review of James Frey’s new novel, Katerina – here

Lit Titbits (3)

Another edition of Lit Titbits is here, with some wonderful links I’ve found of late.  If you have anything you’d like to see featured in a future list, please let me know.

1. Simon at Stuck In a Book and Rachel at Book Snob are two of my favourite reviewers, and their podcast, Tea or Books?, is wonderful.  I tend to listen to it before bed, and have to make sure that I have a notebook and pen handy to note down all of those new-to-me books that I want to read immediately.
2. Find out about the weird and wonderful things found in books sent out by AbeBooks here.
3. Some wonderful artists have come up with the Corbyn Comic Book.  It was launched at a Labour Conference in 2017, and I feel I need to get my hands on a copy.  Read about it here.
4. The excellent Jon McGregor’s companion to Reservoir 13, entitled The Reservoir Tapes, were serialised on BBC Radio 4 last year.  They’re the perfect length (fifteen minutes) to listen to when whipping up a quick meal or washing up.  You can find them here.
5. Sarah Dunant speaks wonderfully, drawing links between the Ancient world and the modern.  You can listen to ‘When Greeks Flew Kites’ here.

Lit Titbits (2)

This is the second instalment of Lit Titbits.  These will, I hope, be the perfect things for you to read over a well-deserved tea break, or when you have a few minutes to relax during your day. They make perfect, brief stops from thesis research too (trust me, I speak from experience).

1. Here is a recipe from Good Food Stories for Marcel Proust’s famous madeleines.
2. They are sadly not being uploaded any more, but I am very much enjoying making my way through the Books on the Nightstand podcasts.  You can find them all here.
3. On Nudge, Hilary White reviews a wonderful looking Galician novel about politics, family and community – The Low Voices by Manuel Rivas.  Read it here.
4. AbeBooks has a fun post about ‘literary selfies’, when authors sign books with a self-portrait, here; it’s one way to make a book unique, I suppose!
5. Between the Covers has a wonderful audio interview with Celeste Ng here.  It’s a little longer than a tea break permits, unfortunately, but is well worth a listen.
6. The New York Times draws attention toward exciting new Nigerian fiction, which aims to break genre boundaries.  Find Alexandra Alter’s wonderful article here.

Lit Titbits (1)

I read so many lovely pieces on the Internet, all related to literature, and thought that I would start grouping them together into a little series which I am calling ‘Lit Titbits’.  Each will be made up of five or six different links, and will, I hope, be the perfect things for you to read over a well-deserved tea break, or when you have a few minutes to relax during your day.  They make perfect, brief stops from thesis research too (trust me, I speak from experience).  Without further ado, I hope you enjoy this new series.

1. ‘Ali Smith: How I Write’ in The Daily Beast is a wonderfully insightful interview about the woman behind some of my favourite books.  Read it here.
2. The Guardian posted this fascinating study, based on stats from http://www.audiobooks.com, of when exactly we give up on audiobooks here.
3. The Bookseller talks of how the world, and our reading, has changed upon the tenth anniversary of the Kindle.  Read it here.
4. Back in November 2017, Jane of Beyond Eden Rock wrote this absolutely wonderful review of Emile Zola’s The Fortunes of the Rougons, which has made me want to get to the rest of the series as soon as I possibly can.
5. ‘The Persephone Post’, by one of my favourite publishers, is updated regularly, and is wonderful for a browse.  Find it here.