Not So Perfect Stories by Nik Perring: of perfection and imperfection

22 short short stories; 22 not so perfect lives. Bird watchers come out at night, couples perform love surgery, and a woman is throwing up animals. The extraordinary is everywhere, but an unsettling familiarity pervades. Reading the blurb here, I was puzzled as to why it should be seen as odd that bird watchers come [...]

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Beside the Sea by Véronique Olmi

A great deal has been said about Beside the Sea.  The English translation of Véronique Olmi’s Bord de Mer – translated by Adriana Hunter for Pereine Press, who kindly sent me a review copy – has been received very warmly.  And the warmth is quite understandable given the novella’s clear artistic merit.  dovegreyreader, the Independent, [...]

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I am living as I please … Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford

Matthew Crawford, a fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia, owns and operates Shockoe Moto, a motorcycle repair shop in Richmond, Virginia. Stand back and take a look at that statement. Is it not pleasing? Do you not like the incongruity of it: a state-registered intellectual running a [...]

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This week on Vulpes Libris …

I spent a long time trying to identify a common thread in this week’s ludicrously diverse offerings before I realized that it was staring me in the face. Books. They’re all about books. No-one could ever accuse ME of not paying attention … Oo:~~~ Monday: Fixing your bike and curing narcissism: a philosopher explains.  Michael [...]

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Home by Marilynne Robinson

Home is, in a sense, Marilynne Robinson’s companion to Gilead, which was published in 2004 to a good deal of critical attention and a couple of prestigious literary prizes. It concerns the same community in Iowa and the same people, but while Gilead focuses on John Ames, his much younger wife and their small son, [...]

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The Rapture by Liz Jensen

The Rapture is a novel that looks at the destruction global warning could wreak on our planet, but with a twist.  The destruction is foretold by matricidal teenager Bethany Krall – or so it seems to her therapist Gabrielle Fox, who is determined not to be as easily taken in by Bethany as her predecessor. [...]

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In Converation With: Chloe Hooper

Sam talk to Chloe Hooper about The Tall Man, and what it’s like to discover the heart of darkness in your own country, Sam Ruddock: First up, can you tell us a bit about The Tall Man? Chloe Hooper: One morning, in the Far-north Queensland Aboriginal community of Palm Island, a local man called Cameron [...]

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The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island by Chloe Hooper

Palm Island, November 2004. A 36 year old Aboriginal man, Cameron Doomadgee, is arrested for swearing at a police officer. He is drunk, and as they arrive at the station he strikes Senior Sergeant Christopher Hurley in the face. 45 minutes later Cameron Doomadgee is dead, his liver cleaved in two as you might see [...]

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