I’m often asked (by my wife, roughly once a week) why I need to keep books that I have already read, and why the bookshelves can’t be cleared to make way for more useful items such as knick-knacks, assorted pens, and random scraps of paper. My stock answer is that books are not a single…

All By My Shelf

29.11.2022

Describing the indescribable: The most notable books about the Holocaust – All By My Shelf

Not the lightest of topics, maybe, but Remembrance Weekend seems as good a time as any to consider the books which most effectively portray the reality of the Holocaust. How do you describe the indescribable, or imagine the unimaginable? Many writers have tried and failed, but these below are the books which, for sometimes different…

All By My Shelf

21.01.2023

Hits and misses of 2022 – All By My Shelf

When I look back on my reading in 2022, it strikes me - a little to my surprise - that there aren't that many books that I absolutely loved. There was plenty of stuff that was engaging, readable, admirable even; but not a huge amount of material that I would thrust into a friend's hand…

All By My Shelf

16.06.2023

Martin Amis’s actual best novels – All By My Shelf

In the numerous pieces published about the death of Martin Amis, a number of contributors felt the understandable need to provide an assessment of his best work. Many of these lists included his essays and criticism; and in terms of his novels, there was an almost unanimous agreement that Money should be at the top,…

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All By My Shelf

Books & Literature

I like writing about books, so why do I find it so hard to remember them? – All By My Shelf

Describing the indescribable: The most notable books about the Holocaust – All By My Shelf

Hits and misses of 2022 – All By My Shelf

Martin Amis’s actual best novels – All By My Shelf

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All By My Shelf