Reviews
I’ve reviewed a lot of books over the years. A man has to eat. Watching peoples’ works and reputations come and go is a usefully sobering dose of reality for a writer. These reviews are those which, to my mind, still stand the test of time and might have something of interest still to say.
Folk
Zoe Gilbert’s intriguing book is not quite a novel and not quite a story collection. Maybe it is a map. 2018.
The Four Degrees
New books on climate change by Naomi Klein and George Marshall illustrate just how screwed we are. 2014.
Solitude
In which Michael Harris seeks to moderate his internet addiction, thus demonstrating how moderation is impossible. 2017.
Distant Neighbors
The collected correspondence of Wendell Berry and Gary Snyder charts the rise of the Machine and its discontents. 2014.
The Abundance
Annie Dillard is a beautifully-hard-to-pin-down writer. But the one common thread is God. 2016.
Isolarion
James Attlee’s study of Oxford’s Cowley Road ventures beyond the ‘dreaming spires’ to the margins where the life is. 2007.
Welcome To Everytown
In which a media philosopher ventures beyond the metropolis and accidentally prophesises Brexit ten years early. 2007.
Demo
Alison’s Miller’s political novel is an accidental reminder of why so many political novels don’t work. 2005.
England In Particular
Sue Clifford and Angela King’s beautiful book about local character is a keeper. 2006.
The World Is Flat
Thomas Friedman’s latest is a collection of advertising slogans disguised as journalism. As usual. 2004.
Confessions of an Economic Hitman
John Perkins writes a John Le Carre thriller that turns out, terrifyingly, to be non-fiction. 2006.
IOU
A bitchy review of the book by Noreena Hertz, ‘It-Girl of the anti-globalisation movement.’ 2004.