Author Archives: lifelonglearner
Giving and receiving books is exposing your heart Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler
Sharing what you think about a book is risky, it’s like wearing your heart on your sleeve. So why do we do it? Continue reading
What does Philip Pullman say about writing fiction? Daemon Voices Philip Pullman
The subtitle of this book is ‘Essays on Storytelling,’ and Philip Pullman has things to say both about how to write stories, and about the responsibilities of a writer. Continue reading
Is the clockwork octopus the most endearing character in The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley?
Natasha Pulley’s imagination fizzes with ‘what ifs’ – and the ‘what ifs’ are followed up, not just then this would happen, but then this could, and this is likely too. Continue reading
Why should we buy some books from local bookshops? The Bookshop Penelope Fitzgerald
If I’m talking about books with messages in this post, then the message I read in The Bookshop is that for a book shop to fail it is only necessary for local readers to do nothing. So I’m going out to Steyning Bookshop where I’m usually tempted to spend more than I planned, but always come out with more than I bargained for. Continue reading
A book about a dog? Or something else? Flush Virginia Woolf
It’s a foolish reader who goes to Virginia Woolf for advice on canine exercise and diet. Continue reading
Does the onlooker see more of the game? Klara and the Sun Kazuo Ishiguro
Ishiguro has created an android. Klara is sympathetic, engaging and considerate, she has to be – that’s how she’s programmed. Her story has poignancy and pathos – that’s how Ishiguro writes. Continue reading
Why is so special about Margery Allingham? More work for the Undertaker … and all her other writing
Why do I enjoy reading (and re-reading) Margery Allingham’s novels more than any detective stories I’ve read in the last fifty years? Continue reading
Too eccentric to be believable? Nero Wolfe novels by Rex Stout
Can characters be too eccentric? Nero Wolfe is a sedentary man mountain, almost as difficult to move to any kind of action as the dark mountains of his birthplace – Montenegro. Continue reading
