Life moves in weird ways sometimes. I started reading this book towards the end of May to find some hope as lockdown seemed to extend endlessly and more and more people were dying. By the time I finished it George Floyd has been killed, people took to the streets and the book became even more …
In a city swollen by refugees but still mostly at peace, or at least not openly at war, a young man met a young woman in a classroom and did not speak to her. [...] with cities as with life, for one moment we are pottering about our errands as usual and the next we …
In a city swollen by refugees but still mostly at peace, or at least not yet openly at war, a young man met a young woman in a classroom and did not speak to her. I'm still making my way through the shortlist of Man Booker Prize for 2017, which I got as a birthday …
Just before the lockdown, back at the end of February, we managed with my mum to go for a week in Tenerife. Since then we haven't seen each other and neither of us could travel anywhere. But it was meeting and traveling that usually constituted the things we looked forward to. So in the lockdown, …
Continue reading Detroit: An American Autopsy – Charlie LeDuff
[...] ageing is nothing to be ashamed of especially when the entire human race is in it together although sometimes it seems that she alone among her friends wants to celebrate getting older because it's such a privilege not to die prematurely (on living in a squat): the Marxists demanded they set up a Central …
Continue reading Girl, Woman, Other – Bernardine Evaristo – Quotes
One of the two winners of the Man Booker Prize for 2019. I bought all the shortlisted books, so I will slowly make my way through them. I tend to be a bit apprehensive about the Man Booker Prize nominees. I always think they will be extremely difficult to read, even though I enjoyed The …
'It's not easy writing about nothing' That's how Patti Smith starts her book. The words uttered by a cowpoke in her dream. A kind of challenge that she accepts. Before I proceed with the review bit, I need to make a small disclaimer. I have seen Patti Smith live on All Points East in 2018, …
I remember the morning, long ago, hen the landlord called. [...]he said that of course we were aware that our lease was up? I said well, no, we hadn't really known that our lease was up. So he said well, he supposed that we hadn't looked at the lease recently and I (wondering if that …
Continue reading Life Among the Savages – Shirley Jackson – Quotes
So far I've read four books by Shirley Jackson, this one included. The first three I loved. We Have Always Lived in a Castle was an unexpected discovery for me, as I've never before heard of Jackson. Let Me Tell You a lovely holiday discovery from Barcelona. The Haunting of the Hill House could be called a …
Japhy and I were kind of outlandish-looking on the campus in our old clothes in fact Japhy was considered an eccentric around the campus, which is the usual thing got campuses and college people to think whenever a real man appears on the scene - colleges being nothing but grooming schools for the middle-class non-identity …
