Author Archives: Charles Lambert

One short blast on my trumpet

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Charles Lambert

Some reviews are just too good not to share. This review of the title story of my collection, The Scent of Cinnamon, by writer and translator Norman Thomas di Giovanni, is one of them. Bear with me.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 2 Comments

Sarah Salway: An Appreciation

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Charles Lambert

This is another one of those posts that starts off with a disclaimer, I’m afraid. I first met Sarah Salway a few months ago when she bought me lunch at Waterstones in Piccadilly, but we’d been in touch for a … Continue reading →

Posted in review | Tagged , | 2 Comments

All These Little Worlds

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Charles Lambert

Volume Two of the new series of short story anthologies produced by The Fiction Desk is now available. Its name is All These Little Worlds and you really ought to buy a copy, if you haven’t already subscribed (the wiser … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The courage and loneliness of it

Posted on October 29, 2011 by Charles Lambert

Vanessa Gebbie has taken time off from promoting her exceptional first novel, The Coward’s Tale, just published by Bloomsbury, to talk to me about Any Human Face, now out in a brand new paperback edition, with a picture of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Iris Murdoch, The Flight from the Enchanter

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Charles Lambert

There’s an Italian verb that doesn’t have a single-word equivalent in English. The verb is plagiare and the difficulty it presents to translators is all too evident when one looks at the alternative translations offered: borrow, crib, pirate, plagiarise. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Out of Sight, by Isabelle Grey

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Charles Lambert

First of all, a disclaimer. Isabelle Grey and I knew each other at university. We lost touch after that, and only made contact again last November, after 35 years, when Isabelle left a message on this very blog to say hello … Continue reading →

Posted in review | Tagged | Leave a comment

Cleaver, by Tim Parks

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Charles Lambert

I’m a fan of Tim Parks, not just the kind that buys and reads his books with pleasure, but the aspirational kind. It started years ago, when he was publishing his first novels and I was writing (and not publishing) … Continue reading →

Posted in review | Tagged , | 5 Comments

In touch, out of touch

Posted on September 11, 2011 by Charles Lambert

I’m reading the LRB almost a year later than everyone else. (Apparently there are 50,000 subscribers, half of us in the States.) You can find out what this does to my reading of it here. (Bear with me, some book reviews … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Paris – Delhi – Bombay

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Charles Lambert

This is part (I hesitate to say the back) of the centrepiece of an exhibition currently being held at the Beaubourg in Paris, concerned with the ways in which India and France see each other and themselves. It’s a fascinating … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Siri Hustvedt, The Summer without Men

Posted on June 3, 2011 by Charles Lambert

What must it be like to be left by one’s partner after years of marriage? It’s a subject that’s often addressed in novels, but my impression is that these novels tend to be written by women. (I’d like to be … Continue reading →

Posted in review | Tagged | 3 Comments