The Lost Café Schindler
Meriel Schindler’s The Lost Café Schindler: one family, two wars and the search for truth is an absorbing account of the ways the fortunes of a Jewish family in Austria ebbed and flowed through history.
Read MoreWilliam Trevor's Schooldays
My long essay on the Irish Times website today on William Trevor and the influence of his schooldays on his fiction is here. Today would have been his 93rd birthday.
Notes on Grief
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s latest (very short) book recounts how her father’s death in 2020 hit it brutally, in ways she was unprepared for.
Read MoreMacbeth 6: ten key quotations
The final post in a series of 6 for pupils revising Macbeth. Here are 10 key quotations: think about their significance and write notes before reading the analyses.
Read MoreA Swim in a Pond in the Rain
George Saunders has written a superb book presenting and then commenting on seven great stories by the Russian masters. It is marvellous.
Read MoreOne of Them
Musa Okwonga’s One of Them: an Eton College memoir is a highly pleasurable and beautifully written personal reflection.
Read MoreCat in the Rain
An exercise for English class suggested by George Saunders in his marvellous book A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: divide Hemingway’s story ‘Cat in the Rain’ into 6 equal parts, handing them out one at a time, and examining the ‘escalations’ of the story.
Read MoreOur Lady of the Nile
Scholastique Mukasonga’s début novel, now re-released by Daunt Books, is a startling and surprising approach to the Rwandan genocide of 1994.
Read MoreMacbeth 5: the end
Essay 5 in a series on Macbeth looks at the end, particularly the key speech ‘Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow.’
Read MoreMacbeth 4: the supernatural
The fourth in a series of essays on Macbeth looks at the impact of the supernatural.
Read MoreMaking Meaning in English
David Didau’s new book is a welcome and rare analysis of the history and current state of English as it is taught as a subject in schools.
Read MoreMacbeth 3: Malcolm the hero?
The third in a series of essays on Macbeth looks at a possible ‘hero’ of the play, Duncan’s son Malcolm.
Read MoreThe researchED Guide to Leadership
Brief notes on a collection of essays on school leadership, edited by Stuart Lock.
Read MoreMacbeth 2: the real Lady Macbeth
Lady Macbeth is not a one-dimensional ‘fiend’ but rather a complex, living human being. This essay examines her nine appearances in the play.
Read MoreTelling Tales
Patience Agbabi’s 2014 Telling Tales is a vibrant updating of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and itself a masterclass in poetic form and tone.
Read MoreMacbeth 1: 'If it were done'
The first in a series of posts on Macbeth starts with the most important moment in the play, the soliloquy ‘If it were done…’
Read MoreSimple Passion
Simple Passion by Annie Ernaux was first published in France in 1991, but now arrives in English from Fitzcarraldo Editions in an immaculate translation by Tanya Leslie, perhaps to coincide with a film version.
It can be read it in 30 minutes (note: opens with 'strong material'). It's intense and honest, as always with Ernaux. So this post is extremely short, too.
Here are my thoughts on the longer, brilliant, more complex The Years.
The Boy Behind the Curtain
Tim Winton's The Boy Behind the Curtain: notes from an Australian life is an outstanding book of essays, both personal and cultural.
Read MoreHow to Argue with a Racist
Adam Rutherford’s How to Argue with a Racist has a morally important purpose. It is also a brilliant example of how to write about complex ideas in an accessible way.
Read MoreSuppose a Sentence
Brian Dillon’s close readings of 28 sentences by authors ranging from Joan Didion to James Baldwin to John Donne are a real pleasure.
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