Category Archives: Shena Mackay

Injury Time – Beryl Bainbridge

Posted on March 19, 2023 by wordsandpictures2016

‘Injury Time’ published in 1971, is a novel the like of which no one seems to write anymore – a novel full of sharp characters and swift plotting which rushes and pushes and makes no claim on the reader bar … Continue reading →

Posted in Beryl Bainbridge, Gwendoline Riley, Muriel Spark, Ottessa Moshfegh, Shena Mackay | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Obsessions, obsessions

Posted on October 10, 2020 by wordsandpictures2016

I’ve always been a collector: from around the age of 8 anything collectable became my obsession: from rocks and fossils to Disney stickers and Doctor Who ‘Weetabix’ cards, from Marvel comics to records by The Human League (amongst many others). … Continue reading →

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Beautiful Books 16

Posted on July 11, 2020 by wordsandpictures2016

‘Old Crow’ by Shena Mackay; Jonathan Cape 1967, Jacket Design by Bill Botten This wonderful cover perfectly sums up the off-kilter country life detailed within: the story of Coral Fairbrother’s descent from village beauty to reviled outcast, a fate cast … Continue reading →

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The Voice in My Ear – Frances Leviston

Posted on June 28, 2020 by wordsandpictures2016

The ten stories which make up the debut fiction collection from poet Frances Leviston each feature a protagonist called Claire, each unrelated, each bearing am unerring mirror to the relationship each has with her mother, or a mother figure, each … Continue reading →

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Pant-wetting excitements for 2020

Posted on December 3, 2019 by wordsandpictures2016

A the year draws full circle, I can’t help but look forward to see what pant-wetting excitements we have lined up for next year Ali Smith – Summer Of course, in July we have the final volume of Ali Smith’s ‘seasons’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Ali Smith, Andrew O'Hagan, Anne Enright, Emily St John Mandel, Evie Wyld, Garth Greenwell, Hilary Mantel, Ottessa Moshfegh, Philip Hensher, Shena Mackay | Leave a comment

My favourite 20th Century books…

Posted on November 16, 2019 by wordsandpictures2016

This is just a silly list of some of my favourite 20th century books: some are seen as ‘important’, some as ‘classics’ but what binds them together is that over the years I have gained so much enjoyment and stimulation … Continue reading →

Posted in Alan Bray, Angela Carter, Angus Wilson, Barbara Comyns, Camille Paglia, Delia Smith, Derek Jarman, Douglas Coupland, Edward Carpenter, Eleanor Graham, Gordon Burn, Jean Rhys, Joe Orton, John Kennedy Toole, John Waters, John Wyndham, Jonathan Coe, Katherine Mansfield, Kazuo Ishiguro, Kenneth Williams, Muriel Spark, nell dunn, Pat Barker, Shena Mackay, Virginia Woolf | Leave a comment

My favourite books of the 21st century, so far…

Posted on October 26, 2019 by wordsandpictures2016

  Recently ‘The Guardian’ published a list of the ‘best’ books of the twenty first century so far. It got me to thinking and so here I present my own list. They may not be acknowledged ‘classics’ (though some are) … Continue reading →

Posted in Alan Warner, Alexandra Harris, Ali Smith, Andrew O'Hagan, Camille Paglia, Claire Louise Bennett, Cristina Sanchez-Andrade, Elain Harwood, Garry Mulholland, Gwendoline Riley, Hallie Rubenhold, Han Kang, Jill Gardiner, John Grindrod, Julie Peakman, Kate Atkinson, Maggie Nelson, Michelle Paver, Nigella Lawson, Ottessa Moshfegh, Owen Hatherley, Philip Hensher, Sarah Waters, Shena Mackay, Zadie Smith | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Hothouse by the East River – Muriel Spark

Posted on August 10, 2019 by wordsandpictures2016

Muriel Spark is a tonic. Her books may be slender but what they lack in heft they more than make up for with a huge compression of the blackest of humour, the sharpest of prose, the cleanest of styles and … Continue reading →

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Shena Mackay 1: Dust Falls on Eugene Schlumberger/ Toddler on the Run

Posted on April 27, 2019 by wordsandpictures2016

I love the work of Shena Mackay – if I’ve said it once I’ve said it a hundred times. But what is it that makes her work so modern, so appealing? This is the first in a Shena Mackay marathon, … Continue reading →

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‘My Year of Rest and Relaxation’ Ottessa Moshfegh

Posted on August 25, 2018 by wordsandpictures2016

‘Oh, sleep, nothing else could ever bring me such pleasure, such freedom, the power to feel and move and think and imagine, safe from the miseries of my waking and consciousness.’ I recently wrote about Sayaka Murata’s charming ‘Convenience Store … Continue reading →

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