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The Library Is Open

A blog about books and writing, through rainbow-tinted glasses. Every book gets a gay rating.

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Tag: British

Review: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Narnia, Philip Pulman’s multiverse, David Mitchell’s “metanovel”, Hogwarts … English writing is full of people disappearing through portals into other … More

British, Fiction, Novel, Speculative

Review: Things I Don’t Want To Know by Deborah Levy

Deborah Levy concisely summarises what makes her own writing so compelling.

British, Female writers, Memoir, Nonfiction, South Africa, UK

Review: China Room by Sunjeev Sahota

A slight but full novel set in 1920s and 1990s Punjab.

1920s, British, Contemporary, Fiction, India, Novel, Racism, UK

Review: The Mermaid Of Black Conch by Monique Roffey

A fish-out-of-water tale that becomes something stranger.

British, Caribbean, Contemporary, Fantasy, Fiction, Novel

Review: Light by Eva Figes

A masterful, stroll-around-a-garden novella.

Art, British, Classics, Female writers, Fiction, France, Novella, Painting

Review: Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez

A story of growing up black and queer in the UK.

Black writers, British, Contemporary, Fiction, LGBTIQ, queer, Writers of colour

Review: The Sunken Land Begins To Rise Again by M. John Harrison

A dense and watery novel about the madness of searching for meaning in our mad times.

British, Contemporary, Fiction, Goldsmiths Prize, Novel, UK

Review: An Episode Of Sparrows by Rumer Godden

A novel about gardening that is also what it takes to rebuild.

1940s, British, Classics, UK, World War II

Review: Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock

An intriguing fantasy drawing on forest myths that is burdened by an unfortunate attitude to women.

British, Classics, Fantasy, Fiction, Novel, UK

Review: Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald

A virtuosic collection of essays about the meanings we invest in nature and animals.

Animals, British, Climate change, Environment, Essays, nature, nature writing, Nonfiction

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A white middle class New York family heads into the woods and the world ends in Rumaan Alam’s gleefully silly horror-comedy.
Bodies Of Light tells the story of Holly, a 40-something woman who lives in Vermont. When she is one day contacted by someone who thinks she might be someone else on Facebook, the novel cuts back into the past to explore Holly’s childhood in Melbourne - and why she has taken on several new identities during her life.
A tricksy collection of poetry from poet and academic Kate Lilley.
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