When we think of fantasy books, a few ideas and images start popping off in our minds like fireworks: war, politics, magic, adventure. The best fantasy audiobooks are imbued with enough energy and bombast to carry those big ideas. We also think of length. Most fantasy books are of a pretty impressive length (the word …
Neil Gaiman is one of the world’s most visible, most successful, and most celebrated authors alive today. Almost all of the best Neil Gaiman books have been adapted to film, the stage, or one of those fancy audiobooks with a celebrity cast. Neil Gaiman is also a jack-of-all-trades kind of writer, having cut his teeth …
Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro is one of the world’s most revered and beloved living authors. His books have been adapted to the big screen, have established him as king of the unreliable narrator, and have explored complex but relatable and human themes. The Japanese-born British author has never written a bad book. Every one …
Daphne du Maurier was known as a legend of atmospheric, unsettling gothic horror. Her magnum opus, Rebecca, is a perfect evolution of Bronte-esque gothic, and her short stories were often chilling nightmare fuel. But, for fans of Rebecca who are wanting more, what classic and modern books like Rebecca are out there to enjoy? Fans …
Xiaolu Guo needs no introduction. Born in a Zhejiang fishing village, studied in Beijing, moved to London in 2002. Guo has directed several movies and documentaries since moving to the UK, and is perhaps best known for her novel A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers and her memoir Once Upon a Time in the East, …
William Shakespeare was the greatest poet the English language has ever seen, wrapping up his poetry in exciting and tragic dramas and folktales. His works have had a greater impact on the Western world than we could ever understand, and a part of that is the world of visual arts. Fans of Shakespeare show their …
Nick Bradley’s Tokyo is an enormous and vivid tapestry, with each thread revealing the life of a person who has lived and worked there, who has shed tears and blood for Tokyo, who struggled through their darkest days and celebrated their greatest victories in Japan’s great metropolis. The Cat and the City offers us its …
The landscape of indie publishing is so rich and diverse right now. Risk of failure might be high, but that hasn’t stopped so many courageous people fighting to forge, and make roaring successes of, some of the best publishing companies in the world right now – all with nothing but their own blood, sweat, and …
Saul Adler is an unlikeable protagonist, which is a rarity in modern fiction. When I first read Wuthering Heights, upon my partner’s request, I complained about how everyone is unlikeable. She pointed out that it’s part of the fun, and I began enjoying the book from a different angle. The same cannot be said about …
If there’s one TV show that captures the tone, atmosphere, and grandeur of high-class living in pre-modern Britain, it’s Downton Abbey. The show encapsulated not only the day-to-day lives, relationships, and dramas of the English gentry of the time, but also the lives of their servants, cooks, and drivers. It blended real-world events with political …
