Jen Ryan > Recent Status Updates

Already in awe.

Loved it from the start...don’t reckon that will change.

I don’t think I’ve ever read a “tragicomic novel” before. I’m finding this a lot more tragic than comic. Would I keep going in life before COVID-19? Not sure, but it’s a big book and we have a lot of time to fill

I don’t want to stop reading but I don’t want it to end

Quiet please, I’m very busy here

I'm binge reading this and it won't last long.

I can't decide whether to continue.

Like others have said, it feels so like an autobiography that I looked up Lena Gaunt to learn more. Really enjoying the story.

And loving it!

What a great photo he describes:

"Me - 501s, black suede creepers, chunky black sweater, corduroy cap. Tracey - abstract-print fifties skirt, white socks, black pointed slip-ons, grey sweatshirt with the sleeves cut off, Alice band…We are the post-punk generation and we are sitting cross-legged on my lecturer's Indian bean-bag with a cheese plant and a Victorian rocking-horse in the background."
I am so there.

Not a bad way to start a Sunday morning. Picked this up in the library, knowing nothing, and feeling a bit like I did when I started Stoner - thank goodness for Classics reprints under their manny imprints. It's dreadful to think that these works may otherwise be missed.

And looking forward to a workshop with Tony Birch tonight!

Bye bye weekend. SvB, well, I've raved about him before. Somehow, he keeps amazing me.

It's funny reading the 1* reviews - criticising structure, dialogue etc, aspects I am finding unique and very entertaining. How wonderful that readers are a diverse group, so that we can enjoy many different writers.

"Ernst Groper, the physics teacher, joined the group. He was a rude, realistic, bomb-shaped man, at war with sloppy thinking. As he transferred his lunch from his tray to the table he gave the impression that he was obeying the laws of motion voluntarily, with gusto - not because he had to obey them but because he thought they were darn fine laws."

I've read several amazing books consecutively, and fear for the next one that doesn't quite hit that level.

This collection is brilliant to work through slowly, each story a whole world I can go to between books, and know that I have a guaranteed great read.

'Squirrel' will stay with me throughout today I'm sure. Fabulous undercurrent in a 'normal family conversation'.

Really enjoying it - great read for whilst in holidays. Love a short story on a train ride.

'The best novel I read this year' - Colm Toibin
'Unforgettable...Tragic and beautifully written. Aslam is a major writer.' A.S. Byatt

Who am I to try to say it any more eloquently. I'm really, really involved in this story.

An example of why I'm loving this book: He told me he could not afford one more felony. I said man, tell me about it, although I was only ten and had nevre heard the word 'felony' before. It sounded like a pretty girl's name to me.

Really enjoying this right from the start. I feel like calling it a "coming-of-age" novel does a disservice to the voice, which is so fascinating.

So many little details in this book that very subtly convey struggle and tension. The sadness I felt for his mother when Busola's white church gloves were presented covered in chocolate has made me pause. Really enjoying this book, especially after hearing Gabriel read from it and discuss writing it a few weeks ago...

Really enjoying it - great read for whilst in holidays. Love a short story on a train ride.

I need to get up and start my day at the desk, but I can't stop!

'Squirrel' will stay with me throughout today I'm sure. Fabulous undercurrent in a 'normal family conversation'.

Voice, characterisation and setting have hooked me in from the start.

"...this ground you tread is only feeble ground and any minute it will be reclaimed. Tread carefully.
He treads carefully."

Good start (first two stories) - my first time reading Helen Simpson - and I like "observation" stories. Endings are crucial, will see how we go. I'm enjoying reading several short story collections concurrently, which may bias any reviews.

I really like the idea of this book, and as I've come this far I will finish it, but I keep feeling like it could be a lot more powerful with fewer words. It's over-written and so slightly patronising to me as a reader. That said the concept is really interesting...on I go.