Ian Gouge's Blog, page 5
March 6, 2025
February’s best Substack posts
“when you see anything of mine that you don’t like remember that I’m sincere in doing it and that I’m working toward something.” – Ernest Hemingway A selection of links to recent posts from my Substack site.
March 4, 2025
March 3, 2025
“Constructing a Witch”
One of the many dangers in putting together a largely single-themed collection of poetry is that the poet may find themselves working with a restricted suite of words – this in addition to running the risk of ‘sameness’ or good poems/lines simply getting ‘lost’. Painters do something similar of course (think Rothko or Picasso’s ‘periods’), … Continue reading “Constructing a Witch” →
March 1, 2025
February 22, 2025
“Held”
Given Anne Michaels is also a poet, it is unsurprising to find there is something lyrical and musical about her prose. “Held” is filled with splendidly musical writing. Indeed, many of her phrases and sentences would not be out of place in a poem. This characteristic is undoubtedly one of the reasons I found “Held” … Continue reading “Held” →
February 14, 2025
“Orbital”
I can see why Samantha Harvey’s “Orbital” won the 2024 Booker Prize: it’s a sustained piece of bravura writing. However… … too soon it started to feel like a travelog, a geography lesson. I stopped caring about whether the spacecraft was orbiting over Kazakstan, Alaska, or Milton Keynes; the places and countries – and the … Continue reading “Orbital” →
February 5, 2025
“Gliff”
Like so many books these days, Ali Smith’s “Gliff” presents an immediate challenge to a reader expecting a traditionally formatted narrative: the text isn’t justified. This may be a small thing, but it can throw you at first – that is, until you get used to it. And the way she handles conversation (no quotation … Continue reading “Gliff” →
January 31, 2025
January’s best posts
“when you see anything of mine that you don’t like remember that I’m sincere in doing it and that I’m working toward something.” – Ernest Hemingway A selection of links to recent posts from my Substack site. And a link to my latest book:
January 27, 2025
“So Many Ways to Begin”
You simply must read something by Jon McGregor. Full stop. If you like well-written contemporary literary fiction, McGregor’s work hits the spot. “So Many Ways to Begin” is typical McGregor: calm, understated, stylish – yet without shirking away from tackling difficult subjects (here the long-term affects of adoption, mental illness/depression, infidelity). And yet he manages … Continue reading “So Many Ways to Begin” →
January 12, 2025
“rock flight”
Not for me, I’m afraid. Hasib Hourani’s “rock flight” is a work of protest and politics. I have no issue with that. Indeed, given the state of the world – and some of the so-called ‘leaders’ in our world (our world, not theirs) – there should perhaps be more. But I do I have an … Continue reading “rock flight” →
