Born in 1954. Chequered career including Lecturer in English, Social Worker and Lecturer in Social Work. Had breaks related to mental health that also meant I worked in social care. Now retired.
Look! Is it a camel or a whale? Believe it or not the ‘most commonly used words in English have been tested against an authoritative body of samples (see Wikipedia on this here), called by linguists a ‘corpus’ and the most used word is ‘the’. The list goes down a long way before we confront … More Avoid asking people to LOOK! when you can’t see for looking!
CONTAINS SPOILERS! “…, what’s the point of having good things if you can’t touch them?” And Isabel would answer: “They are not for touching. They are for keeping.”[1] The Safekeep is well titled since it is a book about why we attempt to guard from others those things we find most precious, keeping them locked … More ‘The Safekeep’ is well titled since it is a book about why we attempt to guard from others those things we find most precious, keeping them locked from the touch of strangers. This is a blog on Yael Van Der Wouden (2024) The Safekeep: A Novel
The Nile Delta city of Naukratis: By ChrisO (talk) – self-made, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16176388 Amasis II became Pharaoh in Egypt (reigning 570–526 BC) by the aid of Greek soldiers. This was a blessing and a curse, because reliant on a powerful foreign, and virtually stateless) army meant he might also be potentially under their control. … More Like Amasis II, I would open an emporium or shop where I accessed the best of culture but never lifted a finger to run it.
Charlotte Wood told ABC News in Australia that, for her, writing is a vocation. “There is something sacred … or holy about it. When you’re fully engaged in it, when you’re fully absorbed in the practice of it, there is an almost prayer-like aspect”.[1] I think only Iris Murdoch has worked with materials of moral … More Charlotte Wood says, “There is something sacred … or holy about [writing]. When … you’re fully absorbed in the practice of it, there is an almost prayer-like aspect”. This is a blog on Charlotte Wood (2023) ‘Stone Yard Devotional’.
It is de rigueur these days to reduce sexual politics to matters concerning toilets. I suppose in the long term, we have to be grateful to the writing of J.K. Rowling intended for adults, however stunted, for something, even if it is only to draw attention to the vast importance of the sexing of toilet … More The Right Honorable Rachel Reeves is uncomfortable as Chancellor Of the Exchequer – because the toilets are not fashioned precisely for her sole use.
Rita Bullwinkel seeks for something in the progression of women’s competitive sport which does not involve a ‘feeling of whittling, of a group of many reduced to a single champion, but’ rather ‘the feeling of accumulation’.[1] This is a blog on Rita Bullwinkel (2024) Headshot London, Daunt Press. This is a superbly written book with … More Not a ‘feeling of whittling, of a group of many reduced to a single champion, but’ rather ‘the feeling of accumulation’. This is a blog on Rita Bullwinkel (2024) ‘Headshot’.
‘I wish I could tell my story with a sense of history as much as industry. … I can tell you that I am a man who is cognizant of his world, a man who can read and write, a man who will not let his story be self-related, but self-written’.[1] Percival Everett (2024) James … More James is ‘a man who can read and write, a man who will not let his story be self-related, but self-written’. This is a blog on Percival Everett (2024) James London, Mantle. BEWARE SPOILERS.
Updates: 02/08/2024, 03/ 08/ 2024, 05/08/ 2024, 07/08/24, 10/08/24, 13/08/24, 07/09/2408/09/2024, 12/08/24 (long-standing error corrected), 16/09/2024 WITH SHORTLIST Dates added as completed 2024 Booker Longlist – Template for the books I read or intend to read this year. To be edited again after the shortlisting, winning announcement, and of course, as I finish more books … More 2024 Booker Longlist – Template for updating the books I read or intend to read this year.
‘Full fathom five thy father lies’:[1] Sometimes sprites are wicked creatures but even they know not to disturb the deeply buried bones of one’s father’s reputation and accuse him (openly) of lying. Nevertheless, Ariel in The Tempest, like Puck, in that other great fairy play, knows: ’what fools these mortals be!’[2] This is a blog … More ‘Full fathom five my father LIES’: This is a blog on Rose Boyt (2024) ‘The Naked Portrait: A Memoir of Lucian Freud’.
Laura Cumming says of Ronald Moody’s Johanaan of 1936 that it is apparently ‘named after John the Baptist’ but more tellingly and with the sensitivity usual of this critic that ‘this elm torso is curiously androgynous, swelling and undulating and shot through with the glimmering contour lines of the wood’.[1] This is from a series of … More This blog on a beautiful retrospective of Roland Moody is from a series of blogs on a day visit to see the art in exhibitions at the Hepworth in Wakefield. This is number 6 of 6 & the final one.
Bharti Kher (born 1969) works with, amongst other things including fabrics dipped in resin and hardened, ‘bronze casts of broken clay objects, reconfigured in new ways’ in the words of Laura Cumming in The Observer.[1] Art that is always interesting does not necessarily leave a strong impression conceptually, emotionally or networked on our senses. This … More This blog on Bharti Kher is from a series on a day visit to see the art in exhibitions at the Hepworth in Wakefield and The Yorkshire Sculpture Park at Bretton Hall Country Park. This is number 5 of 6.
The Hepworth – a gallery where individual works of power can facilitate learning how to gain from a gallery visit – my way at least! This is from a series of blogs on a day visit to see the art in exhibitions at the Hepworth in Wakefield and The Yorkshire Sculpture Park at Bretton Hall … More The Hepworth – a gallery where you learn from artworks. This is from a series of blogs on a day visit to see the art in exhibitions at the Hepworth in Wakefield. This is number 4 of 6.
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