Category Archives: Writing

Book Review: Jennifer Egan’s The Candy House

Posted on 5 June 2022 by andyq

The Candy House by Jennifer Egan My rating: 5 of 5 stars I was disappointed with Hanya Yanagihara’s ‘To Paradise’ after I loved ‘A Little Life’ so much and felt the same with Viet Thanh Nguyen’s ‘The Committed’ after the … Continue reading →

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Book review: Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You

Posted on 1 January 2022 by andyq

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney My rating: 4 of 5 stars I watched ‘Normal People’ and loved it but hadn’t read any of Sally Rooney’s work until just recently. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I found … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Ian Young’s London Skin and Bones: The Finsbury Park Stories

Posted on 14 September 2020 by andyq

London Skin & Bones: The Finsbury Park Stories by Ian Young My rating: 5 of 5 stars I met Ian decades ago when I was at university, but I never knew the stories of his years in London, living in … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Creative Non-Fiction, Gay Life | 2 Comments

A minor history of food blogging

Posted on 23 August 2020 by andyq

I just scrolled through my oldest blog entries, here on my website, to trace a little history of my food blogging adventures. While I started my website, way back in January 2005, it was a static website, used to promote … Continue reading →

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Hurricane warnings

Posted on 27 July 2020 by andyq

There’s a hurricane warning for Hawaii at the moment. My brother, Tom, who lives in Kaneohe, with his family, says there’s never been a Hurricane Level 1 Warning since he’s lived there, which is now over 30 years. It’s scheduled … Continue reading →

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Why we like the writers we do … or not

Posted on 12 May 2020 by andyq

The pages of the print-out are dated 13 January 2009, in fact, more precisely than that: 12:01pm. It’s an article that I liked in Salon.com from 2002. I suspect that years after I first read it (I was reading a … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Shaun Tan’s The Arrival

Posted on 3 April 2020 by andyq

The Arrival by Shaun Tan My rating: 5 of 5 stars Wow. I’m stunned by this book. I’ve read a lot of comic books in my time, and some graphic novels, so on first glance, I wondered how the format … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Jonathan Franzen’s Purity

Posted on 7 November 2019 by andyq

Purity by Jonathan Franzen My rating: 3 of 5 stars For some reason, my review of Jonathan Franzen’s Strong Motion remains one of the most-viewed posts on my blog. I wonder why that is. Probably because there aren’t that many … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s Fleishman Is in Trouble

Posted on 27 October 2019 by andyq

Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner My rating: 5 of 5 stars Aware that Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s interviews with the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and Jonathan Franzen are so incisive, well-written and engaging that they’ve become famous in themselves, and … Continue reading →

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Book review: David Foenkinos’s Delicacy

Posted on 11 October 2019 by andyq

Delicacy by David Foenkinos My rating: 1 of 5 stars I should have guessed from the cover. ‘Like an Amélie for grown-ups’, said the blurb. But I thought that Amélie was for grown-ups. So, I could gather from the back … Continue reading →

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