Writing | Editing | Research
[This article was originally published in February 2016 on Medium.] The name I gave my commitment to not read books by men in 2015 — the No Man’s Land Reading Project — is the only original thing about it. Author Jack Heath did it in 2011 and would like you to know women write just as well if not … Continue reading The cumulative nature of diverse reading
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Writers have in the last century been sounding rods for threats inherent to human progress. Huxley for the implications of standardising life. Orwell for the reality-altering potential of controlling information. Plath and Kesey for the repercussions of medical and surgical interference with the psyche. Vonnegut for the inability of the mind to cope with industrialised … Continue reading Two hundred words on writers foreseeing calamity ::
This review is part of the No Man’s Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. It's rare that a collection of short stories makes the New York Times bestseller list. Lorrie Moore … Continue reading Book Review — Birds of America (1998) by Lorrie Moore
This review is part of the No Man's Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. Lucy is a migrant story, and in 1990, when Lucy was first published, there were fewer novels like it … Continue reading Book Review — Lucy (1990) by Jamaica Kincaid
This review is part of the No Man's Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. Not everyone has had close contact with a story like this, but even for those of us … Continue reading Book Review — Floundering (2012) by Romy Ash
This review is part of the No Man's Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. What a thing is Elena Ferrante. Not since the publication of the last Harry Potter novel have I … Continue reading Book Review — My Brilliant Friend (2012) by Elena Ferrante
This review is part of the No Man’s Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. A lesson imparted to me during my time in street press is that there's no point publishing a … Continue reading Book Review — The Chimes (2015) by Anna Smaill
This review is part of the No Man's Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. A few weeks ago in a review of Anne Enright's short story collection The Portable Virgin I made this … Continue reading Book Review — Learning by Heart (1986) by Margot Livesey
This review is part of the No Man's Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. I wonder how many nations' readers are familiar with the sensation of picking up a work of … Continue reading Book Review — The Secret River (2006) by Kate Grenville
A friend of his was in the quadrangle holding down a recently adopted dog and beating it, for what he never discovered. He was in university at the time. He’d just stepped out of the shower. Towel around his waist, he had walked to the window of his third-floor dormitory. He ran out of his … Continue reading One hundred words on activism ::
This review is part of the No Man's Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. Anne Enright has come a long way since this collection of short stories put her on the … Continue reading Book Review — The Portable Virgin (1991) by Anne Enright
This review is part of the No Man's Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. I will probably realise this generalisation to be false not long after making it, but for now it's … Continue reading Book Review — The Poisonwood Bible (1998) by Barbara Kingsolver
This review is part of the No Man's Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. Reviews of Kendrick's debut album, contemplations of Lana Del Ray, treatises on the state of Coachella, dispassionate … Continue reading Book Review — The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic (2015) by Jessica Hopper
This review is part of the No Man's Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. The sub-heading of this book is "A hundred-year novel". This is no lie: the sum of the … Continue reading Book Review — Lovers’ Knots (1992) by Marion Halligan
This review is part of the No Man's Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. I have mixed feelings about autobiography passed off as fiction, works whose entire chronologies can be linked … Continue reading Book Review — Monkey Grip (1977) by Helen Garner
