YC Reading

This is a Catch 22 every reader both longs for and fears – what happens if you read a book so wonderfully, thoroughly and genuinely good that you cannot wait to talk about it with, well, everyone – but it has so many delightful plot twists, turns, revelations and about-faces that you actually can’t talk about it in case you spoil it completely? That’s where I am right now. How to review a book without ruining it? Or rather, how to describe all that’s good about it without – well, you know – actually telling you too much about what’s good about it? Let’s give it a whirl. I picked this up expecting a standard thriller. However, all the cover hyperbole proved to be right. This is a thoroughly post-modern novel, playing affectionately with structure and reader expectations of genre. With every twist, it constantly snaps the reader out of their armchair complacency and instead actively engages them in interpreting and analysing the text. In this excellent novel by Joel Drucker, the c...

How many things do you read in a day? It’s an odd question. Yet, think about it. Every time you glance at your phone or scroll through Facebook, check your emails at work or flick through a textbook in class – even when you’re waiting at the bus stop or doctor’s surgery, browsing the rails at H&M or ordering your morning latte – words are everywhere. And they want your attention. And they won’t go away. In fact, in this digital age, we need reading more than ever. We’re more likely to be looking at, and taking in, more written communication than ever before – and far more likely to write something ourselves. What if we did start counting everything we read each day – and thought about how much we actually read just for the sheer enjoyment of it? Nowadays, if we want to enter an imaginary world it’s a click away. Netflix, boxset binges, MMORPGs, YouTube…Done. But let’s think about this. Our most popular entertainment is based on books; Game of Thrones, The Hobbi...