"The main thing is that we remain different from them, that we never allow ourselves to be made into them. Even if they conquer the whole world, we must refuse to become Nazis." My new blog post on Hans Fallada’s superb novel, EVERY MAN DIES ALONE. readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/03/29/e...

A new Celia Dale is out in September! 👏👏

"Even if the only effect is to remind them that there is still resistance out there, that not everyone thinks like the Führer…’ ‘No,’ she says. ‘Not everyone. Not us.’ ‘And there will be more of us, Anna. We will make more. We will inspire other people to write their own postcards."

The News from Dublin by Colm Toibin: No duds here alifeinbooks.co.uk/2026/03/the-... #ReadingIrelandMonth2026

"Solitude tugged at him and enticed and whispered, he came to be of the kind who was forever seeking solitude..."

This novel was extraordinary. An ordinary German couple start an act of resistance against the Nazis. EVERY MAN DIES ALONE by Hans Fallada, translated by Michael Hoffman. My thoughts: readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/03/29/e...

An unexpected favourite from the #InternationalBookerPrize2026, Matteo Melchoirre's The Duke, translated by Antonella Lettieri and published by @foundryeditions.bsky.social 1streading.wordpress.com/2026/03/27/t...

"The main thing is that we remain different from them, that we never allow ourselves to be made into them. Even if they conquer the whole world, we must refuse to become Nazis." My new blog post on Hans Fallada’s superb novel, EVERY MAN DIES ALONE. readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/03/29/e...

This novel was extraordinary. An ordinary German couple start an act of resistance against the Nazis. EVERY MAN DIES ALONE by Hans Fallada, translated by Michael Hoffman. My thoughts: readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/03/29/e...

My first attempt at acrylic painting.

"In these parts, they called her Queen. And she was queen of rags, of sagging moldering roofs, of nothing. And with each passing day the bank claimed yet another piece of her domain. And the Queen had wanted something different. Of some thing completely different had she dreamed, this Queen."

"Hope is with you when you believe The earth is not a dream but living flesh..."

My latest #InternationalBookerPrize2026 review is Sharhnush Pasipur's Women Without Men, translated by Faridoun Farrokh: 1streading.wordpress.com/2026/03/23/w...

Starting A GOAT'S SONG by Dermot Healy soon for #readingirelandmonth26.

Read an interview with Mathias Énard and me at the @thebookerprizes.com : thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-l...

My latest #InternationalBookerPrize2026 review is The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran by Shida Bazyar, translated by Ruth Martin: 1streading.wordpress.com/2026/03/18/t...

A photo I had clicked of Anna Kavan's marvellous book, ICE. This hardback edition was part of the Peter Owens Cased Classics series. The publisher loved the photo and wanted to use it for their marketing material but for some reason it never materialised.

A tiny perfect novel ☘️

Just two weeks before we publish the most powerful book so far in the Recovered Books series from Boiler House Press: Vengeance is Mine by Friedrich Torberg. Though this stunning Holocaust novella was first published in 1943, this is the first time it's ever been translated into English.

Happy 9th birthday to my blog! 🎉🎉 readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/03/16/o...

My blog turned 9 today! Here's me sharing nine favourite books from nine favourite indies. readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/03/16/o...

Happy 9th birthday to my blog! 🎉🎉 readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/03/16/o...

One of the best portraits of a mother-daughter relationship that I've ever read. A stellar book. I couldn't put it down.

A roundup of my reading in Jan and Feb. readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/03/15/t...

My mom wrote this piece describing the first two years of her married life in Iran. My parents were happy there but the Iranian Revolution in 1979 forced them to flee. My mom was pregnant with me at the time, she and my dad had to board different planes, and a few months later I was born in Mumbai.

I read some brilliant books in January and February. readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/03/15/t...

I read some brilliant books in January and February. readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/03/15/t...

I loved Ursula Parrott's EX-WIFE - a wonderful novel on marriage, relationships, freedom & independence, perfectly capturing the spirit of 1920s New York complete with cocktails, nightclubs, speakeasies, Harlem dance halls and more. readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2023/06/20/e... #BlogArchives

This came in through the post today. THE CASE OF CEM by Vera Mutafchieva. Translated from Bulgarian by Angela Rodel. #bookmail

A new translation by Rachel Careau of Colette's The Pure and the Impure coming this July.

New on my blog, I've written about Daniel Kehlmann's haunting, cinematic novel, THE DIRECTOR, which has been longlisted for the #InternationalBookerPrize2026. readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/03/12/t... @thebookerprizes.com

New on my blog, I've written about Daniel Kehlmann's haunting, cinematic novel, THE DIRECTOR, which has been longlisted for the #InternationalBookerPrize2026. readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/03/12/t... @thebookerprizes.com

"The river was the very expression of this melancholy, its most beautiful metaphor: what we watch disappear, what flees to the great unknown producing a green, fluid, iridescent, endless beauty, always present and never the same."

My latest #InternationalBookerPrize2026 review is Ana Paula Maia's On Earth As It Is Beneath, translated by Padma Viswanathan and published by @charcopress.com 1streading.wordpress.com/2026/03/12/o...

ICYMI I wrote about this mesmerizing novella translated from the Swedish by Saski Vogel. @archipelagobooks.bsky.social And she ruled: Queen by Birgitta Trotzig roughghosts.com/2026/03/11/a...

"Times are always strange. Art is always out of place. Always unnecessary when it's made. And later, when you look back, it's the only thing that mattered."

"Times are always strange. Art is always out of place. Always unnecessary when it's made. And later, when you look back, it's the only thing that mattered."

My new blog post on Daniel Kehlmann's THE DIRECTOR, an excellent, cinematic novel that explores art, complicity, and moral failure. Translated from the German by Ross Benjamin. readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/03/12/t...

My new blog post on Daniel Kehlmann's THE DIRECTOR, an excellent, cinematic novel that explores art, complicity, and moral failure. Translated from the German by Ross Benjamin. readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/03/12/t...

Paused what I was reading because I picked this up, checked out the first few pages, and couldn’t stop. I think it’s those tenses; they keep the pace at a zip. Anyhoo, only 140 pages. A joy from Mathias Énard and @avecsesdoigts.bsky.social.

"The cabin, the hovel, you'll take refuge there for a while, the cabin will protect you with its childhood, you'll be caressed with its memories, sometimes sleep comes by surprise like the bullet of a marksman lying in ambush." #CurrentlyReading

Seven Favourite Virago Modern Classics readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/03/08/s...

My latest #InternationalBookerPrize2026 review is Mathias Enard's The Deserters, translated by @avecsesdoigts.bsky.social - 1streading.wordpress.com/2026/03/08/t...

Virago Modern Classics and @radzpandit.bsky.social? The perfect combination.

A new blog post today on some of my favourite Virago Modern Classics readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/03/08/s...

A new blog post today on some of my favourite Virago Modern Classics readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2026/03/08/s...

Starting this today.

Ethel Mannin’s AN AMERICAN JOURNEY is being republished in May by Boiler House Press thanks to Brad Bigelow who is the force behind @neglectedbooks.com There is a story here: Back in 2023, I had been posting photos from my trips on the Greyhound bus. Brad saw them & got in touch asking if I… (1)

Today's #bookmail, a couple of Scandinavian titles from the excellent Faber Editions.

For anyone who has read GREYHOUND & would like to read Ethel Mannin’s AN AMERICAN JOURNEY, which I discuss in my book, the wonderful people at @bhousepress.bsky.social are republishing it in May with an introduction by me. It’s a wonderful addition to the literature of the road. #anamericanjourney