Wonderful . . . full of wit and erudition

A brilliant, original approach to literature, a key to Calvino's own work and a thoroughly delightful and illuminating commentary on some of the world's greatest writing

I have always liked Calvino and after reading this book, I like him even more

Rich and deeply satisfying ... this is very much a book that sets you off thinking ... there is a universe in here

Praise for Italo Calvino

A genial as well as a brilliant writer

Calvino will continue to glitter, this strange, lonely prospector in the universe of words. . . a master in the empire of the imagination

Reading Calvino, you're constantly assailed by the notion that he is writing down what you have always known, except that you've never thought of it before . . . he tells us, joyfully, wickedly, that there are things in the world worth loving as well as hating; and that such things exist in people, too. I can think of no finer writer to have beside me while Italy explodes, while Britain burns, while the world ends.

No-one can read Angela Carter or David Mitchell without thinking of Calvino. Salman Rushdie is enthusiastic in his naming of Calvino as a major influence on his work, as am I.

[It] confirms her as one of the most gifted English poets of the past 20 years.

She is a classicist and a gardener, an expert in the epic tradition and a riverside wanderer… Falling Awake provides the notation for an immersive aural experience; its current existence as a printed collection is not the incarnation for which it will be most celebrated, should Oswald choose to record it as a performance… It is certainly a strong contender in this year’s Forward Prizes, and a highly compelling meditation upon transience.

She not only makes some startlingly original imaginative leaps, but also manages to find the word to describe the scene when she lands.

It does not disappoint… Fierce in the quality of her attention, often metaphorically dazzling, Oswald earns our trust through her authority.

Falling Awake continues to mine a fresh, inventive seam of observational poetry, tuned in to revelation and a feeling for those moments when the world seems to become strangely, truly itself. Oswald’s best poems bear comparison with D. H. Lawrence’s late work.

[It is] Terrific.

A gorgeous collection incorporating mythology and the everyday in nature… [Oswald’s is] a rare and beautiful voice.

Here we find an intriguing poet with a distinctive voice and an eye for those fascinating collisions between the ordinary and the poetic… Falling Awake is distinguished particularly by the sheer brilliance of Oswald’s expression. Simple images are transformed by the perfect cadence, the perfect assonance to create an image… It is the mark of a truly skilled versifier that their greatest strength be the one that we might most expect in a poet, yet which is so rare – the ability to craft a verse that captures an image and elevates it by revealing its poetry.

Making it onto The Forward Prize for Best Collection Shortlist, it does not disappoint when it described the beauty of birds and insects. Keep it in your bag for bus journeys.

Falling Awake is easily one of the most accomplished collections of the past few years.

An absolute delight, with each carefully crafted line a revelation. Just try reading the lines out loud, and wait for the magic to catch you.

In her most recent collection, Falling Awake, we find Oswald maintaining her thoughtful and intimate connection with nature and mythology… Oswald is one of Britain’s greatest and most admired poets, and Falling Awake shows us why.

Oswald manages to make full formed, cool but passionate poems from the micro-moments that the rest of us either ignore or don’t know what to do with – the reflections of a cloud in a puddle, for example. With work free-formed, seductive and strange, Oswald is a terrific poet.

Oswald…is a marvellous poet whose work I treasure.

Ask[s] us to consider...lives which rarely find themselves mentioned on the pages of newspapers, let alone in novels

Karan Mahajan's masterful novel explores the aftermath of a small bomb detonation in the '90s in Delhi, and the many people whose lives it alters – from the families of victims to the bombers themselves. With great empathy and no lack of humour, Mahajan shows the multitudinous sides to the kind of story that we usually read a line or two about in a newspaper, or hear short mention of on television

The Association of Small Bombs deftly shifts the reader’s sympathy back and forth between the two men who pull off a relatively insignificant small blast, and the people, sometimes dislikeable, who suffer the consequences. But the moral power of his novel comes from his determination to take individual losses – and choices – seriously, rather than assigning a scale whereby the degree of tragedy is calibrated by high or low body-counts

Karan Mahajan is a writer with great command and acute and original insights. He offers what few can: a stereoscopic view of reality in dark, contemporary times

The Association of Small Bombs is...packed with small wonders of beauty and heartbreak that are impossible to resist

The winner of the Man Booker Prize for The Finkler Question pulls off a neat trick in this almost perversely serious comic novel, creating a parallel world to Shakespeare's Venice in the wealthy, cultured Golden Triangle of Cheshire, and peopling it with parallel-ish characters...The author shows full power and ingenuity putting Strulovitch and Shylock in the same place and time.

Explores the meaning of Shakespeare's play, uses its enduring relevance to examine the contemporary world and challenges us to interrogate our prejudices...Energetic, authentic and biting.

That Shylock should thus materialise for a present-day Jewish protagonist, and become...a confidant, an exemplar...an advisor is a brilliant conceit...a powerful reimagining and reinvention.

Alive with humanity and fierce debate, the book offers a nice twist on that notorious pound of flesh.

Funny and dark by turns… A gripping tale of love, plastic surgery and that notorious pound of flesh… This warm, witty and brilliantly written book provides a challenging feast for the imagination.

A master of serious-minded comedy, Jacobson is one of the greats of his generation.

Brilliantly witty inventive.

A crackling dialectic on fatherhood, faith and what it means to be merciful… The echoes of Shakespeare’s story in Strulovitch’s are obvious…But the quips and the characters are pure Jacobson… It’s a treat.

Hilarious reimagining of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.

Offering witty twists to a play long experienced by many as a racial tragedy.

Affectionate retelling… At the heart of the novel is the profound question of whether obligation…should be tempered by mercy.

Even those familiar with that book will be surprised by the twists now composed by Jacobson, whose most idle words have purpose, as well as point… Clever mockery and racial self-depreciation give the novel its provocative brilliance… Jacobson pours the quality of mercy through a large strainer, but Shylock’s fortitude and unswerving tribal fidelity are offered as a kind of redemption, a way, if you like, of forgiving Shakespeare. And of sending you back to him, not only just to check

As characteristically ingenious, witty and dark as his musings on what it means to be Jewish.

It hooks you into a great debate.

I don’t think any other author writes as well about the experience of Jewishness and he manages to be serious but with that laconic humour.

An intelligent, funny and enjoyable novel.

For my favourite novel I’m choosing Shylock is my Name… It’s a dark, witty, provocative re-imagine of Shakespeare…seriously brilliant on many levels.