Gustav Flaubert's Madame Bovary (1857) Trans. Alan Russell Penguin, 1987 Emma Bovary and I have met before, but we were not long acquainted. I started to read Flaubert's novel in between high school and university, but I never finished it. Not even close, actually. When we last moved house, I
Richard B. Wright's Mr. Shakespeare's Bastard Phyllis Bruce - Harper Collins, 2010 I was so annoyed with myself as a reader for not properly appreciating Richard Wright's October; I knew it was very well-done and it was simply my preternatural attachment to his earlier novel, Clara Callan, that interfered with
Anita Silvey's 500 Great Books for Teens Houghton Mifflin, 2006 As the reading year stretches on, I can't help but start thinking about the reading-year-to-come. (I'm not proud of my wandering reader's eye. But I've accepted it because there are more serious flaws to eradicate first!) So this time of
Yiyun Li's "The Science of Flight" The New Yorker Fiction: 20 Under 40 August 30, 2010 issue Yiyun Li's The Vagrants was one of my favourite novels of 2009. Simply tremendous. And I had to give myself a stern talking-to before embarking on "The Science of Flight" because I knew
Sara Gruen's Ape House Bond Street Books, 2010 Reasons I read Water for Elephants: 1. I got tired of saying "No, I haven't, yet", when countless people -- with all kinds of reading prefereces between them -- asked me if I'd read it. 2. I love elephants (and books about
