"Party Going" by Henry Green Another cryptic but rewarding novel from Henry Green. A group of socialites arrive at a London terminal to take the boat train to the contin...

Just finished my third Henry Green novel in a few weeks: 'Party Going'. My review: bit.ly/4sFIAsH

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"Conversations with a Machine" by Ruth Irwin This is a set of fourteen sonnets, some of which are Shakespearean in form, in which some lines are written by poet Ruth Irwin and others b...

@renardpress.com 'Conversations with a machine' by Ruth Irwin is a remarkable collaboration between human and AI that has resulted in 14 wonderful sonnets: bit.ly/42gyt2K

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To answer my own question: no. While it perked up every time the mum turned up (great acting Ruth Jones!) the story was so predictable my wife and I started playing trope bingo.

But such books can achieve super sales:
Lessons in Chemistry.
Where the Crawdads Sing.

Avoid using Mary Sue character type in stories Among the many character types to avoid when writing is the Mary Sue. This is an idealized character who stands in for the author as his idealized self.This usually young and low-ranking chara…

#writingq #writer #writing #amwriting #writingcommunity inventingrealityediting.com/2...

"Living" by Henry Green Set in Birmingham and written in 1929, this novel chronicles the lives of workers at an iron foundry. The old boss dies and his son takes ...

Just completed 'Living' by Henry Green, novel with few articles. Interesting read. Challenging. Modernist. Fun.

Review: bit.ly/4mzKbim

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Aren't bluebells beautiful.

I've just finished episode 5 of 10 of the BBC TV adaptation of The Other Bennett sister. Episodes 1 & 2 were fanfic rehashes of Pride and Prejudice, episodes 3 & 4 were so lacking in conflict (everyone around Mary was sooo nice) that it became dull and plodding. Is it worth continuing?

"Brat Farrar" by Josephine Tey After Brat left the orphanage, he ran away to sea, changing his name and eventually becoming a horse tamer in America until a broken leg br...

Continuing my exploration of the works of Josephine Tey: my review of 'Brat Farrar' a novel based on the Tichborne Affair: bit.ly/4toiXha

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After a slow start (publisher in Italy, luggage not), a brilliant first day at Bologna Book Fair – brilliant bookish conversations and pasta, Prosecco and a palazzo 🍝🍾

And this morning the Renard stand is finally complete! 📚 🙌

I read the Wimsey novels during Covid lockdown. Great fun. Enjoy!

That was typed in a hurry! Departure(s). series.

"Departure(s)" by Julian Barnes Although this has a story in the heart of it, an account of the relationship of two friends which is, so far as I can judge, true except for...

I've just completed (last night) 'Departue(s)' by Julian Barnes an elegantly written, intelligent and elegiac saeries of meditations on ageing and death.

My review: bit.ly/4el5wtR

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Sunshine After The Rain YouTube video by Elkie Brooks - Topic

#MusicChallenge
#AprilMusicChallenge
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Day 14 : A Song For Fine Weather

Elkie Brooks : Sunshine After The Rain

youtu.be/I3wJjBNoVIE?...

"The Art of Reading Poetry" by Harold Bloom In this thin book, Bloom defines poetry as " figurative language, concentrated so that its form is both expressive and evocative.” (Ch 1) ...

Harold Bloom's 'The Art of Reading Poetry'. My review: bit.ly/4dJcaKi

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"A Shilling for Candles" by Josephine Tey A classic whodunnit from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. Tey's Inspector Grant on his second outing investigates the drowning of a Chri...

I'm exploring the murder mysteries of Josephine Tey. Here is my review of her second Inspector Grant novel 'A Shilling for Candles'.

bit.ly/4cj7zMh

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Year of the Cat (2001 Remaster) YouTube video by Al Stewart - Topic

#52WeeksOfFavourites
#MusicChallenge

Week 15/1

Title Tracks From Albums

Al Stewart : Year of The Cat

youtu.be/Yxy1eF_w7sU?...

"History of the Rain" by Niall Williams Longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2014, this lyrically written novel traces the tragic history of an Irish family.  It is narrated in the ...

I hadn't heard of Niall Williams until a few months ago and now I've read three of his beautiful books. Here's my review of 'History of the Rain': bit.ly/3Oketca

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"Kala" by Colin Walsh Fundamentally a crime thriller. A teenage gang broke up after one of them, Kala, disappeared. Fifteen years later, four of them reunite in t...

Just finished 'Kala' by Colin Walsh, a brilliantly written and hugely enjoyable crime thriller, set in an Irish town.

My review: bit.ly/41mPVT4

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Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water (Audio) YouTube video by SimonGarfunkelVEVO

#MusicChallenge
#AprilMusicChallenge
#MusicSky

Day 8 : A Song With Piano

Simon & Garfunkel : Bridge Over Troubled Water

youtu.be/4G-YQA_bsOU?...

I want to learn how to write poetry. I've read Stephen Fry's 'The Ode Less Travelled' What other guides do people recommend?

"Loving" by Henry Green Selected by Time magazine as one of the best novels since Time began (1923)  Set in a castle deep in rural Ireland with a English family an...

I've just read my first Henry Green novel: 'Loving'. I must read more.

Time magazine said it was one of the best English language novels since Time began (1923)

My review: bit.ly/4v0CiX4

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"Tales of Love, Madness and Death" by Horacio Quiroga Short stories from a Uruguayan who spent much of his life in Argentina, dying of prostate cancer in 1937. He wrote plays and poems and at ...

Another classic writer unearthed by @renardpress.com
My review of Horacio Quiroga's collection of short stories in a new translation: bit.ly/4cg82A1

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Nobody Does It Better YouTube video by Carly Simon - Topic

#52WeeksOfFavourites
#MusicChallenge

Week 13/1

Favourite Songs From 1977

Carly Simon : Nobody Does It Better

One of the best Bond song, definitely the best Bond opening sequence

youtu.be/uWWwKDttHnM?...

The Culture 5 - your cultural highlights for the next seven days Hear The Culture 5 every Friday on Aedín in the Afternoon on RTÉ lyric fm, from 1pm

The Leonard and Hungry Paul TV is picked as a cultural highlight on RTE.

It's currently streaming on the RTE Player.

www.rte.ie/culture/2026...

"The Magician" by W Somerset Maugham An early novel by a master story-teller, inspired by WSM's encounters with Aleister Crowley, the occultist whose biography I reviewed, in  ...

'The Magician' by W Somerset Maugham has instructions for the creation of homunculi remarkably similar to those in sitcom 'Small Prophets'

My review of the book: bit.ly/4bISJjr

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"Slow Horses" by Mick Herron Significantly better than most of the offerings in this genre. this is  an enjoyable and entertaining spy thriller, containing plenty of com...

I have belatedly arrived at the 'Slow Horses' party: my review: bit.ly/4lMNDWx

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"The Cliff House" by Chris Brookmyre A group of women assemble for a hen weekend on a remote and uninhabited Scottish island. Once there, they become cut off, all communicatio...

I have been advised, as a white male wannabe novelist, to write thrillers, crime and spy novels, "like Chris Brookmyre" so I am reading him. Here is my review of 'The Cliff House': bit.ly/4d2fpfn

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A critic?

"The Cut" by Chris Brookmyre A crime thriller told principally from the PoVs of Millie, once a make-up artist on films, recently released after serving over twenty years...

I was recommended Chris Brookmyre because a friend thinks I write like him. Here is my review of the first book of his that I have read: 'The Cut'

bit.ly/4dEkcno

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