Tag: books

‘Where do you see yourself in ten years?’: This stock question in job interviews is at the root of a society that has no other standards than narcissism and magical thinking.

April 13, 2026

‘Where do you see yourself in ten years?’: This stock question in job interviews is at the root of a society that has no other standards than narcissism and magical thinking. Karl Stevens’ response above to imagining the stock job interview questionin our prompt – though the version he uses features a shorter duration of … More ‘Where do you see yourself in ten years?’: This stock question in job interviews is at the root of a society that has no other standards than narcissism and magical thinking.

The idea of the exception that stands out from a plethora of forgettable random encounters should be now recognised as the trope of what we used to call the sexual revolution in the short term or the ‘Crisis of Faith’ in the longer term.

April 12, 2026

The idea of the exception that stands out from a plethora of forgettable random encounters should be now recognised as the trope of what we used to call the sexual revolution in the short term or the ‘Crisis of Faith’ in the longer term. This blog should, perhaps, be treated as an interim reader’s ‘report’ … More The idea of the exception that stands out from a plethora of forgettable random encounters should be now recognised as the trope of what we used to call the sexual revolution in the short term or the ‘Crisis of Faith’ in the longer term.

I read this book and it changes you. This blog considers the short stories in Colm Tóibín (2026) ‘The News From Dublin’.

April 10, 2026

I read this book and it changes you. ‘In his preface to The Spoils of Poynton, Henry James talks about this idea of a “germ”, what he called “a mere floating particle in the stream of talk”, something that “has the virus of suggestion”. Life, as James would have it, is “all inclusion and confusion”, just as art is … More I read this book and it changes you. This blog considers the short stories in Colm Tóibín (2026) ‘The News From Dublin’.

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 anyone in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Mary Bennet, but perhaps very ‘other’ than Austen wrote her, … 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, …’.