CR Newsletter Jan 2022 is out!

Happy New Year dear readers!  The first issue of the Compulsive Reader for 2022 is now heading to your in-box, full of great reviews including new books by Rohan Chhetri, Anna Dowdall, Peter Mladinic, Carol Major, Sanjeev Sethi,  Cindy Savett, Elizabeth Metzger, Aimee Parkison, Emily Franklin, and Diane Lee Moomey, a new anthology edited by Mark Wish and Elizabeth Coffey, and interview with Gary Slaughter, Clifford Garstang, and on the podcast, Charles Freyberg: https://anchor.fm/compulsivereader/episodes/Charles-Freyberg-on-The-Crumbling-Mansion-e1bnsog 

We also have two terrific new giveaways for January and of course a big round-up of December's literary news.  To grab a copy or check out the newsletter now, visit: http://www.compulsivereader.com/sendpress/eyJpZCI6MCwicmVwb3J0IjoxNjg2MiwidmlldyI6InRyYWNrZXIiLCJ1cmwiOiIlN0JzcC1icm93c2VyLXVybCU3RCJ9/

To sign up or browse our extensive database, visit http://www.compulsivereader.com and use the sign up box on the upper left hand side or search by genre, title, or date.  Happy reading! 

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Compulsive Reader Newsletter January 2021

Hello readers!  Happy new year! 2020 was something else, but here's hoping that 2021 brings peace, healing, and cooperation towards the serious work we have to do this year to bring our world back into balance. On a lighter note, the January Compulsive Reader newsletter is on its way out to you. I'll start with our bumper giveaway!  We've got 5 books to giveaway this month - some autographed. As usual, we don't get all that many entries so your chances of winning are very good. I use a random selector tool, but a lot of people win regularly, so send in your entries and hopefully you'll get one of our fabulous books posted directly to your door.  We also have 10 fresh reviews/interviews, including The Memoirs of Jimmy Sizemore by Jim Flynn, What the Living Remember by Nancy Gerber, and Life of a Firefly by Sandra Brown Lindstedt, and of course a literary news roundup that includes the 2021 spoken word Grammys, The Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize, and the 2021 Joyce Carol Oates Prize longest.  

They can sometimes take a little while to get to you, and occasionally the newsletter slips into spam so if you'd like to grab a copy from the public archive, just visit: http://www.compulsivereader.com/sendpress/email/?sid=MA&eid=MTU4NTg 

If you'd like to subscribe (it's free of course, and I only send one newsletter a month), visit: 

http://www.compulsivereader.com   Happy reading!  

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Compulsive Reader Newsletter for April

Hello from isolation.  I hope you’re all keeping safe and well. The Compulsive Reader newsletter for April has now gone out to all subscribers.  This month’s newsletter includes the usual suite of 10 new reviews including, among others,  Windham Campbell winner Maria Tumarkin’s Axiomatic, The Grace of Distance by Matthew Thorburn, That Strapless Bra in Heaven by Sarah Sarai.  We also have interviews with Carol Mertz and at the podcast, the virtual book launch of Morgan Bell’s Idiomatic, for the people. We also our regular literary news round-up, and three book giveaways (I know you all need extra books right now).  If you’re a subscriber,  you should have it now. If not, you can View it in your browser and head over to Compulsive Reader and subscribe!  It’s free, and you’ll only get one email a month with the newsletter, which will keep you up-to-date, even in iso, on what’s happening in the literary world.  

Compulsive Reader Newsletter for Jan is out

Happy 2020 everyone!  Compulsive Reader is now in its 22nd year, which is a long time in Internet terms!  For those of you who have been with us for a while - thank you - I appreciate your ongoing engagement and camaraderie!  For new readers, welcome!  This month we have a terrific round up of literary news including Waterstones Book of the Year, The Diagram Oddest Book Title, The Max Ritvo Poetry Prize and more, along with another dozen new reviews like The Girl in the Mirror by Jenny Blackford, The Weekend by Charlotte Wood, and Ivory Apples by Lisa Goldstein, as well as our podcast interview with Jenny Blackford, and Q&As with David Puretz, Douglas Cole and Sybil Baker. Of course we have giveaways too.  If you’re a subscriber a copy is on its way to your inbox now.  If not, sign up here: http://www.compulsivereader.com.  You can also check it out at our online archive:
http://www.compulsivereader.com/sendpress/email/?sid=MA&eid=MTQ4MTI

Compulsive Reader September newsletter

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The September Compulsive Reader newsletter is now fully dispatched and should already be in your in-box if you’re a subscriber. This month’s issue contains a bunch of new reviews of books like Anne Casey’s poetry book out of emptied cups, Swan Song by Stewart Kellerman, Television: A Biography by David Thomson, an interview with Sarah Kornfeld, 3 giveaways (in case it wasn’t obvious I love giving away books), a big news roundup including a Toni Morrison tribute, and lots more.  If you missed it, you can grab a copy (or check it out before subbing) in the archive here:
http://www.compulsivereader.com/sendpress/email/?sid=MA&eid=MTQ0OTE

If you want to subscribe for free, visit http://www.compulsivereader.com

CR Newsletter for August is now out

The new Compulsive Reader newsletter has just gone out featuring 10 new reviews, 2 hot-off-the-press interviews, a big round-up of literary news and 2 new book giveaways.  Some of this month's features include a review of Wendy James' new psychological thriller The Accusation, a lengthy and detailed analysis of Douglas Field's book on James Baldwin, All Those Strangers, a review of Neil McCarthy's new poetry book Stopgap Grace,  and much more.  Check it out in the archive here:
http://www.compulsivereader.com/sendpress/email/?sid=MA&eid=MTQ0MzU

To subscribe for free and get a copy sent straight to your inbox on the first of each month, visit http://www.compulsivereader.com

New CR Newsletter out for April

Hello readers, our April newsletter has now gone out.  This month we have our usual suite of 20 fresh, original reviews and interviews  (including an interview with The Lucky Galah’s Tracy Sorensen - a first novel which I predict will win a lot of awards in the year to come (you heard it here first - my predictions are rarely wrong :-), 2 fabulous giveaways, and a huge round-out of literary news.  The newsletter should be in your inbox now, but if you haven’t received it (or you aren’t a subscriber), you can grab a copy from our archive here:
http://www.compulsivereader.com/sendpress/email/?sid=MA&eid=MTM0MDE

To subscribe, visit compulsivereader.com and sign up - it’s free and we send only one email a month.

Compulsive Reader Newsletter for November is out

The Compulsive Reader newsletter for November has now gone out to all subscribers.  This latest issue contains two new book giveaways, ten fresh reviews, and a lot of literary news.  If you haven’t received your copy, you can grab a copy from the archive here: Compulsive Reader Archive.  If you aren’t a subscriber and would like to be (it’s a very nice worldwide community of book lovers!), just drop by Compulsive Reader: http://www.compulsivereader.com and sign up.  It’s free - just one email a month and plenty of free books.  Enjoy!

Compulsive Reader newsletter for Oct is out

Compulsive Reader Newsletter has gone out and is making its way to your inboxes at this very moment.  As September was a busy month for literary awards, this newsletter has rather a lot of global literary news including the First Novel prize, the Toronto Book Awards, Academy of American Poets, Wallace Stevens award, The Man Booker Prize for Fiction and a whole lot more.

There are also ten new reviews being featured including, Thug Kitchen, Charlotte Wood’s The Natural Way of Things, How to Be a Writer by John Birmingham, Undying by Michel Faber, interviews with Madison Windsong and Shannon Baker, and many others.  There is also a giveaway for a copy of Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris.  If you can’t wait for the newsletter to arrive, or if it ended up in spam, you can grab a copy here: Compulsive Reader Archive

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Compulsive Reader Sept Newsletter is out

The latest issue of Compulsive Reader News has now gone out.  The newsletter contains 10 new reviews, a copy of Paul Mitchell’s just released We. Are. Family up for grabs, as well as a pretty thorough round-up of literary news including the Miles Franklin, the Ngaio Marsh, the James Tait Black, and the Arthur C Clark. If you’re a subscriber, a copy should be hitting your email inbox soon if it hasn’t already.  If you don’t want to wait for the monthly newsletter you can read the reviews and interviews the moment they come in on our Facebook Page (thinking I might do a few Facebook giveaways soon too, so go forth and like if you want to win some books).  If you’re not a subscriber, you can sign up free at the website: http://www.compulsivereader.com.  If you can’t wait for email or you want to check the newsletter out first, you can grab yourself a copy here (but giveaways are subs only): Compulsive Reader Archive.  Happy reading!

Compulsive Reader News for August is out

I nearly forgot to mention that the new issue of Compulsive news has gone out.  The latest issue has reviews of new books by Wallace King, Joel Deane, Cynthia A Graham, Roland Albrecht, Robin Gregory, and Mary Kay Andrews, as well as interviews with  Tiffany McDaniel, Dane Cobain, and my podcast show with Joel Deane.  We also have several giveaways, music reviews, chess, and a literary round-up, as usual, of the big lit news.  If you haven’t received your copy, you can grab one here in the Compulsive Reader Archive.   If you would like to subscribe just drop by Compulsive Reader and sign up.

New Compulsive Reader Newsletter for July is out

Happy July.  The latest issue of Compulsive Reader News has now gone out.  This issue contains 10 fresh reviews including Hazel Smith’s Word Migrants, Researching Creating Writing by Jan Webb, Local Time: a memoir of cities, friendships and the writing life by Inez Baranay, Cure by Jo Marchant and lots of others.  There are also two music reviews, two interviews, and the usual welter of literary news on prizes like the Sunday Times Literary Award, the Bailey’s prize for Women’s Fiction, the Forward Prize for Poetry, as well as new giveaways.  If you didn’t receive your copy, you can pick one up in the archive.  If you aren’t a subscriber, you can do so here (for free, of course): http://www.compulsivereader.com.
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New Compulsive Reader Newsletter for May

Compulsive Reader’s latest newsletter is now out, featuring a new batch of ten reviews including Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic, David Vigoda’s Re-enchanting Nature, Arsen Petrosyan’s Charentsavan, Tesserae by Mathias B Freese and many more, plus a full round-up of the literary news for April, and some great book giveaways from Mary Kay Andrews and Sharon Nir. If you aren’t already a subscriber, you can sign up for free (always!) here: http://www.compulsivereader.com.  If you are a subscriber and haven’t received your copy, or would like to try before you ‘buy’, you can view it online at Compulsive Reader Archive.
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Compulsive Reader Newsletter out for March

The latest Compulsive Reader newsletter is now out and should be fully distributed.  This issue contains 10 fresh reviews including Kathleen Spivack’s Unspeakable Things, Michael Sala’s The Last Thread, John Bissello’s Raking the Dust, Candyland by Vicki Salloum, and a whole lot more including a fairly thorough roundup of February’s literary news and another great book giveaway.  If you didn’t receive your copy, just drop by the archive here: Compulsive Reader News and grab a copy.  If you’re not a subscriber, please go and sign up - it’s free (of course) and I won’t fill your in-box - it’s just one newsletter a month which will keep you abreast of the key literary award news around the globe as well as some excellent books to check out and we always have giveaways for our subscribers (I love giving away books).  To sign up, visit: http://www.compulsivereader.com and sign up on the upper right hand side.  Easy.

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Compulsive Reading for Feb

The Feb edition of The Compulsive Reader newsletter has now been delivered all subscribers.  It contains two brand-new book giveaways (for subscribers only), ten new reviews, including great books by Jarrett Kobek, Rebecca Starford, Guido Mina di Sospiro, Charlene Jones, Holly Seddon, a superb new poetry collection by Anna Kerdijk Nicholson, Hank Philipi Ryan, Peter James, Rebecca Scherm, and Jim Proser.  We also have a roundup of the global literary news that happened through January (I comb the trade journals and read all those press releases that come my way so you don’t have to). If you’ve missed your copy or want a preview, please feel free to grab a copy from our archive. If you’re not a subscriber, why not visit The Compulsive Reader and sign up.  It’s free, you can unsub anytime, and we just send out one newsletter a month - nothing else.  Happy reading!


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Compulsive Reader is 17 years old!

Hi fellow readers and happy new year to you! Can you believe that The Compulsive Reader  is 17 years old?  Internet years are like dog years, so I’m a bit proud of the site’s longevity and rapid growth.  It has been an amazing journey from our very humble beginnings to our current stage with nearly 10,000 subscribers (all book lovers), and some 20 exceptional reviewers from around the world. This month’s newsletter has the usual glut of literary news including the winner of the Bad Sex in Fiction award (always an annual favourite, though not with the winner - who was especially bad tempered about it this year),  the Grammys for best spoken book, the Australian Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, and much more.  We also have reviews of some exceptional new books including The Last Wife of Attila the Hun by Joan Schweighardt, Seven by Antonio J. Hopson, Fainting with Freedom by Ouyang Yu, an interview with Welcome to the Arms Race’s Justin Isis, a review of the album Diawara & Fonseca’s At Home (Live in Marciac), and a whole bunch more.  You should be receiving it shortly if you haven’t already but if you can’t wait, or if it got diverted, just grab a copy in our Archive.  Happy reading and all the best for a joyous, book-filled 2016.

New CR Newsletter is out

Hello fellow book lovers.  Just a quick note to say that the Compulsive Reader newsletter for November is now out.  This month’s issue contains, as usual, 10 fresh reviews including the latest Ishiguro, a bevy of fantastic new books, several literary films, and an interview. We’ve also provided our usual extensive overview of literary news around the world and 3 book giveaways.  If you haven’t gotten your copy yet, you can grab one here:
Compulsive Reader Newsletter Archive

If you’re not a subscriber, why not drop by The Compulsive reader and subscribe. It’s free, easy, and just one newsletter a month.

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Oct Compulsive Reader has gone out

The October Compulsive Reader newsletter has just left by owl, and should arrive in your inbox shortly.  By way of a preview, the newsletter contains the usual bevy of 10 fresh reviews and interviews, including my own long overdue review of Ali Alizadeh's Iran, My Grandfather and Fiona Wright's Small Acts of Disappearance.  We've also got Nicole Trope, Lee Holmes (it's all about the gut), Lars Gustafsson and Agneta Blomqvist, and much more.  If you haven't kept abreast of all the literary news this month, don't fear, because I've got a very thorough global round-up including the new Ritchell prize longlist, Mao Dun Literature Prize, The Scotiabank Giller Prize, and on it goes.  If that doesn't entice you, we've got 3 new giveaways, including the 200th limited edition anniversary version of Austin's Emma. 

If you haven't gotten your copy yet, and don't want to wait (or if it went into your spam tray...), just go here and help yourself:  The Compulsive Reader News

If you aren't subscribed, you should be!  Just go to The Compulsive Reader and sign up.  It's free, you just get one newsletter a month, and it's a fantastic community of book lovers.  We'd love you to join us. 

CR Newsletter for Aug is now out

This month’s Compulsive Reader Newsletter is now out and should have already arrived in your inbox.  This month we’ve got 5 brand new (some only just released this week books to giveaway (8 if you include the 3 copies of A Thousand Miles to Freedom by Eunsun Kim), a global round-up of literary news from the month of July, and ten fresh new reviews/interviews from all sorts of genres to keep you in the know, and booked up.

If you haven’t received the newsletter as yet, don’t fret, as you can grab yourself a copy from the archive: http://www.compulsivereader.com/send/97697dec25eda28/

If you’re not a subscriber, just drop by compulsivereader.com and pop your address in the box on the upper right hand side.  We only send out one issue a month, and our readers are the best bunch of book lovers - we’d love you to join us.

Compulsive Reader Newsletter for June has just gone out

Hello fellow readers and happy June.  Just letting you know that another issues of The Compulsive Reader news has gone out.  I know that the word “compulsive” occasionally triggers the spam filters so if you didn’t get you copy, just drop by the Compulsive Reader News Archive and pick one up.  This month we have ten fresh reviews including new books by Helen Razer and Bernard Keane, Brenda Bowen, Philip Glass’ memoir, Carolyn Martinez’ excellent new nonfiction book, several new interviews and a whole lot more.  We also have 3 book giveaways and of course the usual global literary news round-up.  Over at the radio show, there’s my latest interview, conducted live at the Sydney Writers Festival (in the back room of the former Sebel hotel, which was full of visiting authors that day) with non other than Ben Okri, who spoke with candour and intensity about his new book The Age of Magic (as you can see from the photo on the right, taken while we spoke, by Okri’s Australian publicist at HarperCollins).

Ben also spoke about his poetry and the relationship between poetry and prose writing for him, about the value of slow reading and attention, about why it is so important to retain magic in our lives, and so on.  The interview was only 30 minutes but we crammed a lot in!  To listen, just drop by The Compulsive Reader Talks.

If you aren’t a Compulsive Reader news subscriber, you can subscribe for free at http://www.compulsivereader.com - just on the front page (upper right hand side).  I only send out one newsletter a month, it’s a great way to stay on top of what’s happening in the book world, and we give out lots of books!

Books photo credit: Le Jour ni l'Heure 8537 : Francisco de Zurbaran, 1598-1664, L'Annonciation, 1638-1639, dét. (table de lecture de la Vierge), musée de Grenoble, Isère, jeudi 28 juillet 2011, 12:40:20 via photopin (license)