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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: UK

Review: The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens

A contained and seething study of madness and familial obligation.

1960s, Fiction, Jewish writers, London, Man Booker prize, Novel, UK

Review: Permafrost by SJ Norman

A collection of haunted stories that unsettle like the melting permafrost of the title.

Australian, Contemporary, Fiction, Germany, Horror, LGBTIQ, Non-binary, Poland, queer, Short stories, UK

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: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

There’s something haunted and occult about this otherwise godly classic.

Charlotte Brontë, Classics, England, Jane Eyre, UK

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: Crow by Ted Hughes

A fascinating and ugly collection of poetry.

Poetry, Ted Hughes, UK

Review: Summer by Ali Smith

Ali Smith’s Seasonal quartet is over. What a journey, and what a time for it to end.

Ali Smith, Brexit, British, Climate change, Contemporary, Donald Trump, Fiction, Novel, UK

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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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