book reviews
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I missed it until alerted through Facebook today but, yesterday, The North End of the Possible was reviewed in The Independent alongside Helen Mort’s debut collection, Jean Sprackland’s new book and books by Christopher Meredith and Tara Bergin plus a Salt pamphlet by Edward Mackay. The comment on my book is brief but favourable. I
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The first thing to say about Stephen Nelson’s new chapbook from the little red leaves textile series is simply how gorgeous an object it is. In this era of the mass produced, something so beautifully handmade — using old bedsheets and remnant fabric to construct the cover — is a rare joy indeed. This pamphlet
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I’m delighted to see that Rob A Mackenzie’s new book The Good News has also been given four stars — well, they use dots, actually — on The List website. Click over and read the review, then be sure to order a copy of the book. It’s a cracker. Of course, you’ll be able to
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What a week it has been! The retreat, the review and almost the revealing of the new book. And, to boot, the sun was blazing all day yesterday. I returned home on Sunday from the retreat tired and not exhausted but enriched. It felt like a significant weekend in ways that are hard to articulate
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What a delight to find not only that the first review of The North End of the Possible has gone live on the website of The List but that it’s a four-star verdict! I’m particularly pleased that the reviewer, Colin Begg, says, “Humour and invention are mainstays of Philip’s work”. Those aspects were overlooked a
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Tania Hershman’s The White Road and Other Stories is a wide-ranging and imaginative debut collection of short fiction, some of it very short. Much of this moving, gripping, entertaining and thought-provoking work is inspired by articles from the New Scientist, making it a unique fusion of the two cultures. I was thrilled when Tania agreed
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The first print review of The Ambulance Box is in! It’s part of a piece in Magma 44, where Rosie Shepperd reviews it alongside Paula Meehan’s Painting Rain (Carcanet) and River Wolton’s The Purpose of Your Visit (Smith/Doorstop Books). The review is thorough and extremely positive. Here’s a headline quote: delights readers with a dance
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Many thanks to Robert Peake for his sensitive and enthusiastic review of The Ambulance Box. As Robert says, he and I share the grief of having lost a newborn son, so his assessment of the book is of particular significance to me. Here’s a taste: Sentimentality and easy words seem as though they might never
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Another review! It seems to be my collection’s weekend for reviews, especially ones with a HappenStance connection: Matt Merritt has just posted a wonderfully thoughtful, warm and generous appreciation of The Ambulance Box (the first link above). I’m indebted to him. Matt and I will be reading with Rob A Mackenzie and James W Wood
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The previous two posts collide in Helena Nelson’s generous review ofThe Ambulance Box and Rob A Mackenzie’s The Opposite of Cabbage over on the HappenStance blog. It’s my first blog review! (Although I’ve already gained a five-star Amazon customer review!) There are also reviews in the pipline or promised from Matt Merritt, Tony Williams and
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There’s an extensive, thoughtful and very positive review of the sampler over at Jim Murdoch’s ever stimulating blog The Truth about Lies. Jim comments on each of the poems in turn, as well as on general aspects of the pamphlet as an object and collection. This is the paragraph that most interests me: As a
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Sorlil has very kindly reviewed my sampler on her blog. As far as I know, it’s the first review of this pamphlet and I’m very pleased with what she has to say about it. She comments: “These poems are unlike most of the poems I read these days, there is something very different and at
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One of the questions that one always faces with an anthology is what is its rationale, its purpose and aim? Like its team mates 100 Favourite Scottish Poems and 100 Favourite Scottish Poems to Read Aloud, 100 Favourite Scottish Football Poems, edited by Alistair Findlay, hints at a kind of democratising of the canon in
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Just finished reading Alistair Findlay’s The Love Songs of John Knox, a sophisticated but hugely entertaining collection. It’s not often a book of poems has me chuckling aloud to myself almost every page. Even rarer is the collection I pass round colleagues at my day job to watch them chuckle and giggle aloud. Findlay takes
Amy Jo Philip 