Pursued by Furies: A Life of Malcolm Lowry by George Bowker
I took a week to read this harrowing, depressing, heart-wrenchingly awful* biography of one of the most troubled, confused andContinue Reading
Month: February 2014
A Long Weekend in Italy: Naples, Pompeii and Capri
Mount Vesuvius is big. It creaks over Naples from the southeast, with a threat made obvious by the fame ofContinue Reading
Pompeii: A Documentary
Please enjoy a lo-fi video I made during a day trip to Pompeii last weekend. I will write a fullContinue Reading
Take Me Home by Jonathan Taylor
So I’ve read another memoir by a British academic, but this one isn’t the “Books Conquers All” disappointment of LornaContinue Reading
Journalism by Joe Sacco
Joe Sacco’s Journalism collects several short pieces (ranging from two to fifty pages in length) drawn and written in the decadeContinue Reading
Stoner by John Williams
Not a book about reefer addicts written by a composer, John Williams’ Stoner is a long-winded novel detailing the whole lifeContinue Reading
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
I really really liked this. That’s what I’m going to open with, because everything of any wit or interest IContinue Reading
Quarantine by Jim Crace
(Wrote this on a train on Sunday, forgot to upload it:) As is perhaps clear, my recent reading has becomeContinue Reading
On Not Publishing A Naked Picture of Myself Yesterday
Yesterday I took a naked photograph of myself – from behind – to use as the accompanying picture for myContinue Reading
The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín
Today I read Colm Tóibín’s 2013 novella, The Testament of Mary. It’s very short, 104 pages in this edition, with pretty bigContinue Reading
Reality Hunger by David Shields
David Shields’ Reality Hunger is a non-fiction book about the fictional and the unreal being dead to contemporary creativity. ItContinue Reading
Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel
I was worried that Hilary Mantel’s 2012 Booker-winner Bring Up The Bodies would take me weeks to read. But there wasContinue Reading
Triumph Of The Now 