I’m not certain what to make of Weather. I bought it on a whim in the LRB Bookshop, enamoured by the cover, synopsis and refreshing slimness. (that way one can read more books!) Jenny Offill’s tale centres on a librarian without a degree, Lizzie, who bags a job working for her old mentor’s, Sylvia, podcast,…
Category: Essays
A collection of this website’s essays, which is rather broad, considering basically everything published here is an essay… ah well. Read anyway!
Life AT THE POND
At the Pond: Swimming at the Hampstead Ladies’ Pond already occupies a unique place in my internal literary pantheon: it is the first book I have read from cover to cover in one sitting since I was but a child in 2008. I set out to do so, seeking the emotional boost that would no…
She is Girl, Woman, Other
First off: I loved it. I read it in a handful of sittings and struggled to put it down. It’s funny, charming, sad, loving, resplendent – it’s Girl, Woman, Other. Schlocky introduction aside, part of the reason I took so long to write this review (I finished the book several weeks ago) is that I…
Embarking on a VOYAGE TO VENUS
I own a voluminous number of books, partly because I am predisposed to purchasing anything which looks at least vaguely titillating and stimulating – in this instance, some worn old sci-fi from C.S. Lewis. Like many, I grew up on a diet of The Chronicles of Narnia, owed predominantly to the advent of the films,…
What’s Your Name Man?
How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore – and a Scotsman – dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean by providence, impoverished in squalor, grow up to be a hero and a scholar? Such is the question which ignites Hamilton: An American Musical, the trail-blazing blitz of a show…
Going On ADVENTURES IN MEMORY
I first became interested in reading Hilde and Ylva Østby’s Adventures in Memory: The Science of Secrets of Remembering and Forgetting about a year and a half ago. I was in Durham to visit my friend at the university, my first-ever exploration of the city; all I was told in advance was that it was…
The RITUAL, POLITICS & POWER of Our World
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve never seen the term ‘ritual’ used much to describe life in the UK. It’s almost always imbued with a kind of exoticism and alienness, evoking images of localism, ancient heritage, simplicity. It is, essentially, othered. It’s also, obviously, complete bullshit, as David Kertzer’s Ritual, Politics & Power illustrates…
Wandering On Chesil Beach
“Their wedding night, and they had nothing to say.” I devoured On Chesil Beach in two sittings, taking advantage of the warm air and the small old table that has become my desk in my small garden, a square plot of grass and some messy flowerbeds that I’ve never paid much attention to but has…
Drink Up BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD
(note: spoilers) I’ve always been interested in the concept of time travel, its philosophical implications as well as the fun, mad practice of it, so it was inevitable that I was to devour Before the Coffee Gets Cold, a Japanese novel about a cafe which can send you back in time. But there are hard,…
A Kingdom of Posh Boys
How big is the world? It’s a question with an answer in constant flux. The world was once divided into four-walled rooms, extending only as far as a fence or front door. It is also what’s told in technicolour from behind a glass screen, images and shapes that might not make sense but seem to…
Jasper Cresdee-Hyde 