Books

Please, bring back 1990s gatekeeping

Does everyone else idealise a specific decade, or just me?

Sep 3 •

Why is the Commonwealth Short Story Prize so wilfully boring?

Sorry, but it’s embarrassing at this point

Jun 29 •

On rawdogging David Foster Wallace

The Pale King is a long, dense argument in favour of reading long, dense books

May 17 •

Stop getting mad about AI art

This moral panic isn’t worthy of your anger

Apr 5 •

The morlocks eat the eloi, forever

A heavy-handed political analogy

Nov 6, 2024 •

JRR Tolkien’s naming conventions were slightly unhinged

For a linguistic disciplinarian, why did Tolkien’s decisions seem so random when it came to christening hobbits?

Oct 26, 2024 •

TVTropes and the endless quest to itemise storytelling

Ever wanted to reduce your favourite novel to the sum of its constituent parts?

Jul 26, 2024 •

Maggie O’Farrell, Hamnet and the problem of historical ethics

Good historical fiction shouldn’t be (too) relatable. Should it?

May 30, 2024 •

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