Welcome to issue 114. We begin with Nicholas Royle’s Michael Haneke’s Films Ranked. A familiarity with Haneke helps as the protagonist resembles one of the director’s own characters—controlled, obsessive, and driven to turn ranking into a self-deluding attempt to impose order, all set against Peter Bradshaw’s Guardian list. Quite a masterful achievement.

Next up, A Sentimental Story by Jonathan Taylor, a simple story of an unemployed young woman who ingeniously finds a way of survival.  At only three and a half pages, it kicks in fast and leaves you feeling touched.  Don’t miss it.

Benjamin Clabault’s Why Your Father Did What He Did is a mother’s attempt to explain exactly that to her yet-unborn son. It foretells a future horror that feels eerily possible in these dark days of America. Kudos to Clabault for the loving way he relays the mother’s story.

Last up, wait till the sky turns black by Scottish author Des Dillon, which pits one man against a town of angry sea gulls. The fun is in hearing the author read it aloud; his Coatbridge Irish accent is a delight—and  perhaps a challenge—to the ear.

In our picks from back issues—Ireland’s own Kevin Barry with Toronto and the State of Grace and Landfall by US author Alicia Oltuski.

The quiz this issue is Pop Music in Literature. Answer correctly and you’re in the running to win a 30-euro (or equivalent) gift certificate from Amazon. For answers to last issue’s quiz, Totalitarianism and Fascism in Literature click here. Our winner for that quiz is Colin Brody.
Our book review this issue is Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson, her latest Jackson Brodie book.

Our next issue is due out around the first of April. To be notified when new issues are available, just follow one of the social media links in the column to the right or email us to subscribe (gratis, of course).

Jill Adams, editor
Michael Garry Smout, tech and design
assistant editor: Diggory Dunn

Readers: Bergita Bugarija, Diggory Dunn, Elizabeth Dzhiganyan, Jamie Kahn, Melissa Moschitto, Sam Simon and Elizabeth Wittenberg,

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