Tag: books

Domestication or anthropomorphism: do people ‘make the worst pets’? Some thoughts derived from Thomas Gray’s ‘Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes’.

April 6, 2026

Domestication or anthropomorphism: do people ‘make the worst pets’? Some thoughts derived from Thomas Gray’s ‘Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes’. Do you know the poem I refer to in my title? It is by Thomas Gray (he of the infamous Elegy in a Country Churchyard), … More Domestication or anthropomorphism: do people ‘make the worst pets’? Some thoughts derived from Thomas Gray’s ‘Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes’.

If a work of art in words is worth reading, you will have never finally or completely read it – you will always be reading it. Deciding to continue reading ‘All My Sons’ by Arthur Miller in preparation for seeing Ivo Van Hove’s version of it live-streamed on 16th April 2026.

April 5, 2026

If a work of art in words is worth reading, you will have never finally or completely read it – you will always be reading it. Deciding to continue reading ‘All My Sons’ by Arthur Miller in preparation for seeing Ivo Van Hove’s version of it live-streamed on 16th April 2026. The reason I am … More If a work of art in words is worth reading, you will have never finally or completely read it – you will always be reading it. Deciding to continue reading ‘All My Sons’ by Arthur Miller in preparation for seeing Ivo Van Hove’s version of it live-streamed on 16th April 2026.

‘… but that was in another country; / And besides the wench is dead.’ Let’s make our diversity our common unity and not ‘other’ those of ‘another country’, if that was ever possible. An answer based on a case study reading of the novel by James Baldwin, ‘Another Country’.

April 3, 2026

… but that was in another country; / And besides the wench is dead.’ Let’s make our diversity our common unity and not ‘other’ those of ‘another country’, if that was ever possible. An answer based on a case study reading of the novel by James Baldwin, Another Country. This will turn into an answer … More ‘… but that was in another country; / And besides the wench is dead.’ Let’s make our diversity our common unity and not ‘other’ those of ‘another country’, if that was ever possible. An answer based on a case study reading of the novel by James Baldwin, ‘Another Country’.

Being a ‘character from a book’ may be not be enough, unless you can also re-write your own story. A case study of the brilliant TV series,’The Other Bennet Sister’.

April 2, 2026

Being a ‘character from a book’ may be not be enough, unless you can also re-write your own story. A case study of the brilliant TV series,’The Other Bennet Sister’. There are clear reasons for wanting to be, if a anyone in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Mary Bennet, but perhaps very ‘other’ than Austen wrote … More Being a ‘character from a book’ may be not be enough, unless you can also re-write your own story. A case study of the brilliant TV series,’The Other Bennet Sister’.

I can’t choose one. Words fail me to describe them.

March 30, 2026

With thanks to this webpage (see its Summary in Appendix below) from Phrase Dictionary You took me on a roller-coaster ride,Unlocked a treasure-chest, you bravely triedTo tell me ’twas a journey deep insideMy heart: it opens, you said, the doors wideTo go behind the mirror where you hide.You puzzle me to think again. I criedIn … More I can’t choose one. Words fail me to describe them.

At five, I still wanted to know that I would grow up, period. And not come to a full stop.

March 28, 2026

Whilst we like to think children have no conception of death, the evidence seems to be that from the age of 5 upwards, children begin to develop an idea of death as and end, of worldly life at least, though their views of this still contain elements of magical thinking as to cause of death … More At five, I still wanted to know that I would grow up, period. And not come to a full stop.

Say No! Why should we give way and surrender all of our Delusions for the sake of order! ‘We are not asking for permission to belong any more, not from a silent universe …’ The delusory command to ‘Abandon all Delusions all You who enter here’ and Processing who will ‘Pass’ Examination of their abandonment of delusion is so delusory in Jenni Fagan (2026) ‘The Delusions’.

March 25, 2026

Say No! Why should we give way and surrender all of our Delusions for the sake of order! ‘We are not asking for permission to belong any more, not from a silent universe …’ [1] The delusory command to ‘Abandon all Delusions all You who enter here’ and Processing who will ‘Pass’ Examination of their … More Say No! Why should we give way and surrender all of our Delusions for the sake of order! ‘We are not asking for permission to belong any more, not from a silent universe …’ The delusory command to ‘Abandon all Delusions all You who enter here’ and Processing who will ‘Pass’ Examination of their abandonment of delusion is so delusory in Jenni Fagan (2026) ‘The Delusions’.

Each day I wish I could find the will to write things ‘technically harder’ than is the norm in order to give me significantly ‘better practice’ in writing. This blog examines as a case study: Rupert Brooke’s one-act play: ‘Lithuania’ to show whether he could, as Maurice Bowra claims he wanted to in writing it, forefront ‘the expression of character, not of personal feeling, …’.

March 17, 2026

Each day I wish I could find the will to write things ‘technically harder’ than is the norm in order to give me significantly ‘better practice’ in writing. This blog examines as a case study: Rupert Brooke’s one-act play: ‘Lithuania’ to show whether he could, as Maurice Bowra claims he wanted to in writing it, … More Each day I wish I could find the will to write things ‘technically harder’ than is the norm in order to give me significantly ‘better practice’ in writing. This blog examines as a case study: Rupert Brooke’s one-act play: ‘Lithuania’ to show whether he could, as Maurice Bowra claims he wanted to in writing it, forefront ‘the expression of character, not of personal feeling, …’.

I wish for that ‘extent of subtleties’ Virginia Woolf discerned in Vita Sackville-West’s ‘Passenger to Teheran’: ‘the sly, brooding thinking, evading Vita. The whole book is full of nooks and crannies, the very intimate things one says in print’.

March 16, 2026

I wish for that ‘extent of subtleties’ Virginia Woolf discerned in Vita Sackville-West’s Passenger to Teheran: ‘the sly, brooding thinking, evading Vita. The whole book is full of nooks and crannies, the very intimate things one says in print’. [1] You glance at the photograph of Vita Sackville-West, taken on her own camera en route … More I wish for that ‘extent of subtleties’ Virginia Woolf discerned in Vita Sackville-West’s ‘Passenger to Teheran’: ‘the sly, brooding thinking, evading Vita. The whole book is full of nooks and crannies, the very intimate things one says in print’.

In Michael Clune’s 2025 novel ‘Pan’ the narrator sees that sometimes what we think of as negative, like the black ‘fly-tree’ he sees traced in a window pane’ and determines to be ‘Pan’s insight’, exists out there irrespective of our thoughts and strategies to deal with them, because, perhaps: “You can’t change the way you are”.

March 14, 2026

In Michael Clune’s 2025 novel Pan, the narrator sees that sometimes what we think of as negative, like the black ‘fly-tree’ he sees traced in a window pane’ and determines to be ‘Pan’s insight’, exists out there irrespective of our thoughts and strategies to deal with them, because, perhaps: “You can’t change the way you … More In Michael Clune’s 2025 novel ‘Pan’ the narrator sees that sometimes what we think of as negative, like the black ‘fly-tree’ he sees traced in a window pane’ and determines to be ‘Pan’s insight’, exists out there irrespective of our thoughts and strategies to deal with them, because, perhaps: “You can’t change the way you are”.

I learned last what I ought to have learned first: that things connect most when they separate. Transit, Transition & Transfusion: Chiharu Shiota: ‘Threads of Life’ and Yin Xiuzhen: ‘Heart to Heart’ at the Hayward Gallery.

March 7, 2026

I learned last what I ought to have learned first: that things connect most when they separate. Transit, Transition & Transfusion: Chiharu Shiota: Threads of Life and Yin Xiuzhen: Heart to Heart at the Hayward Gallery seen on the morning of the 5th March 2026. This is a prompt question response and a reflection on the dual exhibition currently … More I learned last what I ought to have learned first: that things connect most when they separate. Transit, Transition & Transfusion: Chiharu Shiota: ‘Threads of Life’ and Yin Xiuzhen: ‘Heart to Heart’ at the Hayward Gallery.