Doing the best that I can, at writing, running and living
On Monday evening we managed to book a place to stay in Hay-on-Wye for a whole week next year. It was hours after we’d returned from the little town on the southeast borders of Wales, and it is a testament to the festival’s popularity that our booking was the last affordable (just about) place available… Continue reading Hay Festival 2024 – Part One
Before two weeks ago I had never heard of the name of Patrice Lumumba. Then I came across it twice. Firstly, from reading Barbara Kingsolver’s book, 'The Poisonwood Bible', initially published in 1998. Then, during a random conversation with my uncle when he was recalling his younger years. I know very little about the recent… Continue reading Barbara Kingsolver – The Poisonwood Bible
Often when I run, I’m listening to a podcast. It’s a nice distraction and one of the only times where I actually can do two things at once. This time, I was listening to ‘The History of Literature’, a show where the host, Jacke (that ‘e’ is not a typo) Wilson, rambles on about literature and poetry… Continue reading We Are As Clouds
I’ve been thinking about this film on and off, since we saw it last week. It is definitely one of those films that might get refined in your head on a second viewing. Not refined in the sense that you could answer all the questions it poses, but in the sense that the familiarity settles… Continue reading All Of Us Strangers – directed by Andrew Haigh
You couldn’t have written the script any more neatly. I didn’t read Anne’s message as I was finally getting my s**t together after feeling somewhat worse for wear from the night before. We had finally had our meal in the grand ballroom, after missing it the previous evening, and had thoroughly enjoyed ourselves dressing up… Continue reading Burgh Island II
I’m trying to write a novel. Just writing that sentence above gives me palpitations. I know that at some point last summer I began an attempt, but luckily, the second part of my MA kindly got in the way, and I’d parked my idea until now. Now we are in November, and as most aspiring novelists… Continue reading Na No Wri Mo
I know what I should have done this morning. I should have got out of bed, and on my bike, and joined the PROBs group for a cycle ride. I would have really enjoyed it too. But I made the mistake of picking up the book that had been on my bedside table for about… Continue reading The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood
This morning, I read a short story by Shirley Jackson. She’s famous for The Haunting of Hill House. Today’s story was called The Lottery. It apparently elicited the biggest post bag the New Yorker magazine had seen for a piece of fiction. Jackson said, later, that there were only a few positive ones, and they… Continue reading Shirley Jackson – The Lottery
This is one of the books I got for Christmas and it’s been a very quick read for me surprisingly, as I’m not a very fast reader, and this guy normally writes enormous books. Anne’s eldest gave it to me after he went through most of the tomes of Caro’s major work, The Years of… Continue reading Working – Robert A. Caro
There aren’t many books where a tree is one of the main protagonists. Normally, I’d find that kind of anthropomorphising a bit childish, but this is no Whomping Willow. The fig tree speaks mostly as a genuine actor in the story. Occasionally she dips into being a contrivance, but I didn’t mind those parts too… Continue reading The Island Of Missing Trees – Elif Shafak
