A hundred years on: Trotsky on 1917
One hundred years ago today, by the old Gregorian calendar that was then still in force, the October Revolution took place. The event is simply too big and complex to … Continue reading
Don’t Panic, I’m Islamic. Words and Pictures on How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Alien Next Door
I’d heard good things about this anthology before Vulpes Libris was offered a copy, so I grabbed it. It’s a miscellany from Saqi Books, consisting of dialogues, short stories, art … Continue reading
Two Journeys, Memoirs by Gabourey Sidibe and Rosamund Burton
Recently I read two books that were quite different; one was a memoir, the other a travel book and I was struck at how they each were accounts of a … Continue reading
Books, Baguettes & Bedbugs. The Left Bank World of Shakespeare & Co., by Jeremy Mercer
For any visitor to Paris of a bookish inclination, a visit to Shakespeare And Company to purchase at least one book is an absolute must. My proud possession is my … Continue reading
Guilty Pleasures
Like many people, I often go through my public library’s catalog and place books on hold. Naturally, they all become available at once and then it’s a challenge to read … Continue reading
John Aubrey. My Own Life, by Ruth Scurr
It’s a strange thing, deferred gratification. Ruth Scurr’s ingenious reconstruction of John Aubrey’s life story has been sitting on my bedside table for most of the past year, until I … Continue reading
You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams – Alan Cumming
Last year I listened to the unabridged audio version of Alan Cumming’s memoir Not My Father’s Son. It was an incredibly moving book about the abuse he suffered at the hands … Continue reading
Frank Fraser Darling’s Island Years, Island Farm
I bought this book at The Ceilidh Place bookshop in Ullapool last week. I’d just taken a blowy boat trip to the Summer Isles, and wanted to read Frank Fraser … Continue reading
John Barleycorn by Jack London
Guest reviewer: Diana Birchall. I’ve been trying to write a memoir about my father, but have come to realize how little I know about alcoholism in the early 20th century. … Continue reading
Hope Jahren’s Lab Girl
Hope Jahren is a scientist, now based in Hawai’i, but she’s worked in and built laboratories all over the USA. She’s a plant scientist, a palaeobotanist and geobiologist, searching for … Continue reading
The Origins of the Universe and What it All Means by Carole Firstman
We humans are good at figuring things out. We’ve figured out why apples fall down instead of up. We’ve figured out that objects are made up of tiny particles, bound … Continue reading
The Gilded Chalet by Padraig Rooney
Padraig Rooney’s chatty wander through Swiss history and geography in The Gilded Chalet runs through a lifetime of reading, raking together all the interesting facts he’s collected about Switzerland and literature, … Continue reading
Enemies of Promise, by Cyril Connolly
I’m treating the 1938 Club week as a Shelf of Shame opportunity to read a book that has long intrigued me: Cyril Connolly’s Enemies of Promise. I wanted to find out … Continue reading
Clothes Clothes Clothes Music Music Music Boys Boys Boys, by Viv Albertine
Punk rock passed me by. I was young and stupid and snooty, and I thought it was poor stuff, produced by nasty boys. I had much better things to listen … Continue reading
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