,
Discover new books on Goodreads
See if your friends have read any of John Purcell's books
John     Purcell

more photos (1)

year in books

John Purcell’s Followers (127)

member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
David B...
1,557 books | 86 friends

Justin ...
53 books | 236 friends

Kaetrin
13,262 books | 160 friends

Elizabe...
845 books | 4,911 friends

Gerhard
3,465 books | 314 friends

Larissa
3,947 books | 3,842 friends

Fiona M...
5,109 books | 1,141 friends

Alison Law
2,347 books | 494 friends

More friends…

John Purcell

Goodreads Author


Born
Sydney, Australia
Website

Genre

Member Since
June 2010

URL


John Purcell is the author of five novels, three published under a pseudonym. His most recent novels The Girl on the Page and The Lessons are published by Fourth Estate.

Everything I have done up till now has been research for The Girl on the Page.

The Girl On The Page by John Purcell As we near publication of my new novel, The Girl on the Page, I cannot but stop to wonder where the book came from. I wrote the novel so quickly. It just fell onto the page. Almost as if I had been researching it for years. But I hadn’t. I had just been working away at my day job selling books.

Then it hit me. Rather belatedly, I’ll admit – everything I had done up till now had been research fo Read more of this blog post »
5 likes ·   •  2 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on June 01, 2018 23:05 Tags: books
Average rating: 3.67 · 1,875 ratings · 308 reviews · 2 distinct worksSimilar authors
The Girl on the Page

3.62 avg rating — 1,468 ratings — published 2018 — 12 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
The Lessons

3.84 avg rating — 407 ratings4 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

Ordinary Funny Tr...
John Purcell is currently reading
by Bridie Jabour (Goodreads Author)
bookshelves: currently-reading
Rate this book
Clear rating

 
Full Circle
John Purcell is currently reading
bookshelves: currently-reading
Rate this book
Clear rating

 
Henry Handel Rich...
Rate this book
Clear rating

 

John’s Recent Updates

John Purcell rated a book it was amazing
When I Was Old by Georges Simenon
Rate this book
Clear rating
A short holiday spent in the mind of another writer. Splendid.
John Purcell wants to read
Betty by Georges Simenon
Rate this book
Clear rating
John Purcell rated a book liked it
Life of M by Rachel Cusk
Rate this book
Clear rating
John Purcell wants to read
Pedigree by Georges Simenon
Rate this book
Clear rating
John Purcell rated a book liked it
Written Lives by Javier Marías
Rate this book
Clear rating
Brief, light, quickly forgotten.
John Purcell wants to read
Reinhardt's Garden by Mark Haber
Rate this book
Clear rating
John Purcell wants to read
Lesser Ruins by Mark Haber
Rate this book
Clear rating
John Purcell wants to read
Married Life by Sergio Pitol
Rate this book
Clear rating
John Purcell wants to read
Saint Sebastian's Abyss by Mark Haber
Rate this book
Clear rating
John Purcell wants to read
Hell Days by Laura Elizabeth Woollett
Rate this book
Clear rating
More of John's books…
Quotes by John Purcell  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“He must fly regularly. I don’t. Not any more. So I have been watching everything with interest. I love to watch people and eavesdrop. I can’t help myself. This scene, with passengers taking their seats and struggling with hand luggage, everyone at cross purposes, is repeated all day on dozens of flights at hundreds of airports and must seem commonplace to those working, but this moment won’t happen again. Not just to me, but to all of us. Life is like that.”
John Purcell, The Lessons

“I have everything written down somewhere. That’s all I have ever done. I record. I take notes. And now, as memory fades, that’s all I have left. I hate growing old. I hate this longing to be something I’m not. The desire to be young again. To relive those years, to do things differently, to write differently. To make amends. I would like never to look back. But it is all I seem capable of doing these days.”
John Purcell, The Lessons

“Of course I adopted a positive outlook. When in Rome. Besides, pessimism made one a pariah. Sarcasm was outlawed, irony unknown. If one couldn’t afford two cars, a pool, three bathrooms, and a television in every room, at least one could have an indefatigably positive outlook. It was a free country, after all. But somehow my optimism always struck the
wrong note.”
John Purcell, The Lessons

Topics Mentioning This Author

“What do we usually mean by "literature"? A world of rhetoric, triteness, rounded phrases and respectable names, of people who have looked at life when they were young but who, once they have achieved fame, confine themselves to abstractions, to rehashing & to cautious common sense.”
Boris Pasternak, An Essay in Autobioghaphy

220 Goodreads Librarians Group — 339139 members — last activity 1 minute ago
Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra ...more
31471 THE Group for Authors! — 13087 members — last activity 2 hours, 51 min ago
This is a group for authors to discuss their craft, as well as publishing and book marketing.
Comments (showing 1-1)    post a comment »
dateDown arrow    newest »

message 1: by Tim

Tim Armstrong you back in Oz ya old bugger? where's the next book? and I hope you're well - in that order! T


back to top