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In contrast to yesterday, today has been altogether a more productive, enjoyable kind of day. It began with a bit of read in bed this morning, which included a spot of dream reading. Now, does anyone else ever dream read….
Continue readingI thought that today might be a productive kind of day. Emma had to go to work this morning and then be on call for the rest of the weekend, so it was always going to be the quieter kind…
Continue readingTonight on Front Row tonight they were discussing the challenges of keeping the dialogue of teenagers authentic with writer of E4’s Youngers Levi David Addai and star Calvin Demba, along with reflections from Val McDermid, Phil Redmond and Joss Whedon on how they’ve tried…
Continue readingTime was that I used to have lots of story dreams, some based on real events, some completely fantastical, usually episodic across consecutive nights. Of late though, I’ve been having fewer of these, and when I do, they haven’t been…
Continue readingBack in the day I learnt my photography on a secondhand Practica 35mm SLR camera. About the only automatic function that I had was a little lever to check the exposure, other than that it was all manual. I’m not…
Continue readingHowever much we either liked or hated school, we all have favourite teachers from our school days. And a lot of people – and probably all creative people – had inspirational teachers. I’ve had a few in my school days……
Continue readingOn Jack FM this morning, Caroline Verdon was talking about how she as on a train at the weekend and over-hearing the conversation of two strangers nearby, and the obvious connection that at they had, but then the disapointment that…
Continue readingApparently, the end is nigh for Apple’s iPod. I find this surpring. Yes, I know that the modern smartphone is often not much smaller than a small tablet, it makes calls, plays music, and you can read books on them…
Continue readingOn Friday, while standing in the queue for the S5 Oxford to Bicester bus I saw, for the third time, a man with long, unkempt, black hair and wearing a medieval-like tunic. On Saturday, while passing some time in Bicester…
Continue readingA Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle I’ve always had it in the back of my mind to read some Sherlock Holmes. I never have until now, in part because I’ve imagined it to be quite a slow, difficult read. When…
Continue readingLast week I reminisced about my library use of yore. With my reading volume in 2014 having gone up a gear (or two), I’ve decided that I really ought to put my money where my mouth is, so to speak…
Continue readingWhilst on the bus today I fell to thinking about how, where possible I like to approach bus stops facing towards the direction of travel. Where I currently live I am equidistant om two possible bus stops – give or…
Continue readingHow It All Began by Penelope Lively When I was little, Penelope Lively’s sadly often forgotten children’s novels were some of my favourite reads. Once I had exhausted her children’s books I moved on to enjoy her adult fiction. Last year when…
Continue readingThis week our local council announced the launch of plans for a new library complex in our town in the heart of the town centre. Broadly I approve of the proposals although I would like to see the library located…
Continue readingArtemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer I’ve always loved stories of fairies, elves, and the hidden people, but in truth whenever I think of them I imagine them living a simpler, more rural, rustic way of life tucked away out of…
Continue readingThe Man Who Rained by Ali Shaw This is the natural follow-up to Ali Shaw’s brilliant debut, The Girl With Glass Feet. It is every bit as beautifully and lyrically written as that story, but it is in a way…
Continue readingAnd so we reach 2014, and what a wet and bedraggled 2014 it looks to be so far. We stayed up for the fireworks last night and a small finger of whisky to see in the New Year but that…
Continue readingAt the beginning of 2013 I reset my perennial new year’s resolution to read more, and resolved once more to try and read 20 books this year. Today I can report that I have smashed my target, ground my previous…
Continue readingSpider Circus by Alice Nuttall I knew nothing about Spider Circus before I read this, and little about Alice Nuttall other than she was a student at the university where I work and I had put her profile on the web. When…
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