Category Archives: Uncategorized

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 →

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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 →

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Steve Hely, How I Became a Famous Novelist

Posted on May 9, 2011 by Charles Lambert

What made me buy this? A good review in a broadsheet a month or so ago? The author’s credentials as writer for David Letterman and The (American) Office ? Or the sneaking, inadequately suppressed and probably best not shared suspicion that it … Continue reading →

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Helen Garner, The Spare Room

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Charles Lambert

It’s a truism that we no longer know what to do with death, that we skirt it as a source of discomfort and unease, as something extraneous to the business in which we’re so completely, so passionately engaged, that of … Continue reading →

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Kay Sexton, Minding My Peas and Cucumbers

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Charles Lambert

I was never much of a gardener as a child, despite the evidence of the muddied wellingtons and the working-man’s size mug of tea in this photograph. I grew up in large, half-renovated houses with rambling gardens, and my mother … Continue reading →

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Various Authors, a Fiction Desk anthology

Posted on April 14, 2011 by Charles Lambert

I first came across The Fiction Desk when I found a thoughtful and generous review there of my first novel , Little Monsters. Soon after, I discovered that the man behind the desk, Rob Redman, was operating from Rome, where I’ve been … Continue reading →

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Amy Bloom, Where the God of Love Hangs Out

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Charles Lambert

Falling in love isn’t really that hard to write about. People having been doing it for centuries, winding the story up as it heads towards the altar, or some exciting irremediably other place that marks the new start for the … Continue reading →

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Ghosts of a Low Moon: An interview with Andrew Oldham

Posted on April 2, 2011 by Charles Lambert

I’ve recently read Andrew Oldham’s debut poetry collection, Ghosts of a Low Moon, published by Lapwing. It’s an impressive collection, moving with ease from what might appear at first glance to be unmediated social realism to moments of great lyricism, … Continue reading →

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John Wilkinson, The Enigma of the Hour

Posted on March 5, 2011 by Charles Lambert

This isn’t a review, but a fond acknowledgement to an old friend, and poet. I’m touched and honoured that John Wilkinson should have dedicated this extraordinary ode to me. You can read it here. I’d say more, but there’s no need; … Continue reading →

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The Scent of Cinnamon

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Charles Lambert

I normally write about other people’s books here, but I couldn’t resist posting this review of The Scent of Cinnamon by the highly esteemed Scott Pack, publisher, tireless promoter of books and the people who write them, and producer of … Continue reading →

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