Author Archives: Daniel (@MKNN)

WWC2019: Predictions & What-Not

Scrambling to get these out there before kickoff tomorrow. Remember, the top 2 teams from each group, plus the next 4, make the knockout rounds. It’s hard for the key match to not just always be the clash between the … Continue reading

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WWC2019: It’s Almost Time

Gosh, it feels like 1200 days since we were here last … I’m not sure what I plan to write about the World Cup about to kick off in France, but I’m sure I’ll probably match my output for WWC2015. … Continue reading

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Reading Graphically: Five Graphic Novels & One Comic

Another interlude between the novels … Paul Kirchner‘s Hieronymus & Bosch is an amusing distraction, detailing the torments of a medieval ne’er do well (Hieronymus) and his toy duck (Bosch). While some of the inspiration is obvious from the names, … Continue reading

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Reading Well: Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday

Lisa Halliday‘s Asymmetry arrived to much acclaim in 2018. It’s a novel in three parts, really two parts and a coda. The first part details a relationship between a young woman who works at a publishing house and an older … Continue reading

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Reading Well: The Power by Naomi Alderman

Published in 2016, Naomi Alderman‘s The Power attempts to answer a fundamental what-if: what if something happened to give women a physical advantage over men? In this case, it’s a chemical added to the water supply in WWII that, over … Continue reading

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Reading Well: Silence is My Mother Tongue by Sulaiman Addonia

{This post published early by mistake, so some of you may have seen it before. Apologies for the misclick.} Sulaiman Addonia‘s Silence is My Mother Tongue (2018) tells the story of Eritrean refugees displaced into a camp in the Sudan. … Continue reading

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Reading Well: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

I had never heard of Shirley Jackson before, yes, Marlon James mentioned her (this is the last of the books I bought from James’ interview). But, evidently, many of us have read her, as the introduction claims that her short … Continue reading

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Reading Well: As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann

I think As Meat Loves Salt (2001) is another book that found its way into my life via an interview with Marlon James. He described Maria McCann‘s debut novel as compelling as a study in how to maintain sympathy for … Continue reading

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Reading Well: Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan

Half-Blood Blues (2011) is Esi Edugyan‘s second novel. The bleakness of her debut, The Second Life of Samuel Tyne in no way prepared me for this book, which is as full of life as anything I’ve read in the past … Continue reading

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Reading Well: Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

I think I found Skippy Dies (2010), Paul Murray‘s second novel, through an interview with Marlon James. The title describes the action of the opening chapter, which is an interesting structure: we know, immediately, that Skippy–the erstwhile protagonist–does indeed die. … Continue reading

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