Fiction and Non-Fiction by Chinua Achebe
Last week I read both an essay collection and a novel by the celebrated Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. Africa’s Tarnished Name is a...
literature book reviews book recommendations reading lists
WELCOME TO MY BOOKSHELF
Search
- Mar 9, 2021
- 3 min
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Poetic and heart-breaking. Those are the first words that come to mind when I think about Toni Morrison’s masterpiece Beloved. I only...
- Mar 2, 2021
- 3 min
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
"Youth is an irreplaceable treasure, and the only respectable thing to do with irreplaceable treasure is to waste it."
- Feb 23, 2021
- 2 min
Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town by Stephen Leacock
I stumbled upon Stephen Leacock’s Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town on some reading list online – and I am so glad I did! Something...
- Feb 16, 2021
- 3 min
Un Tempo Gentile di Milena Agus
English version below Un Tempo Gentile di Milena Agus è ambientato in un piccolo paese della Sardegna contadina, dimenticata e isolata....
- Feb 9, 2021
- 2 min
The Bookseller's Tale by Martin Latham
“This is the story of our love affair with books, whether we arrange them on our shelves, inhale their smell, scrawl in their margins or...
- Feb 2, 2021
- 3 min
Scherzetto by Domenico Starnone
English version below Scherzetto di Domenico Starnone è la storia di un incontro di quattro giorni tra un nonno scontroso e suo nipote di...
- Jan 26, 2021
- 2 min
Second Nature by Michael Pollan
“Writing and gardening, these two ways of rendering the world in rows, have a great deal in common.” Disguised as a gardening book,...
- Jan 14, 2021
- 2 min
Ghosts by Dolly Alderton
Nina is 32, a successful food writer working on her third book, finally owns property in London – even though it is a bit shabby and has...
- Jan 12, 2021
- 2 min
At the Existentialist Café by Sarah Bakewell
In the Bec-da-Gaz bar, towards the end of 1932, philosopher Raymond Aron made a statement that would kickstart the development of...
- Jan 2, 2021
- 4 min
Top Reads of 2020
In 2020 I read 69 books, fiction and non-fiction and all very different. So it was of course hard to pick favourites. But here are my top...
- Dec 30, 2020
- 2 min
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Imagine you had the opportunity to try on different lives – parallel (or perpendicular) to the one you lead. Who and where would you be,...
- Dec 27, 2020
- 5 min
My 2020 Booker Prize Winner
Over the past few weeks I read my way through the 2020 Booker Prize Shortlist – and a month after Shuggie Bain has been announced the...
- Dec 23, 2020
- 3 min
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Ta-Nehisi Coates’ 2015 essay Between the World and Me is a great contemporary read to follow James Baldwin's essays. Coates picks up...
- Dec 18, 2020
- 3 min
James Baldwin - Essays
I had a wonderful week: I spent it with James Baldwin's essays in The Fire Next Time and Notes of a Native Son. I first fell in love with...
- Dec 10, 2020
- 2 min
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
“The only people for me are the mad one, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same...
- Dec 1, 2020
- 4 min
Accabadora di Michela Murgia
(English version below) Accabadora è un termine sardo che descrive la figura responsabile di aiutare le persone in età avanzata a morire...
- Nov 26, 2020
- 2 min
A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid
Everyone, please stop whatever you are doing and go read Jamaica Kincaid's essay A Small Place! This is a work about colonialism, an...
- Nov 16, 2020
- 2 min
Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
It has almost been two weeks since I finished reading Naked Lunch and I am still not sure what to make of it. Therefore, the following is...
- Nov 16, 2020
- 3 min
È Stato Così di Natalia Ginzburg
(english version below) È Stato Così di Natalia Ginzburg (pubblicato da Einaudi, 1947) è il primo libro della scrittrice dopo la fine...