English psychiatrist Colin Murray Parkes noted that grief is the price we pay for love. (Colin Murray Parkes – Oxford Reference). Most would agree it’s a price worth paying. It must be a sad human indeed who has never known love. Without some such redeeming experience the world can look pretty bleak, like the ‘sterile […]
A Book About Love by Jonah Lehrer Read More »
Germany lies at the centre of The European Union both geographically and economically. Despite its recent slow growth it remains the third largest economy in the world by GDP. (List of countries by GDP (nominal) – Wikipedia) How did it get to this position after being shattered and defeated in 1945 at the end of
Out of the Darkness: The Germans, 1942-2022 by Frank Trentmann Read More »
Mick Herron (Mick Herron – Homepage | Hachette UK) has been writing thriller novels for 20 years now. His first was Down Cemetery Road, published in 2003. This formed the first of the four part Zoë Boehm series. There followed the twelve part ‘Slough House’ spy series (2010-2022) featuring Jackson Lamb. Herron is pleased to
The Secret Hours by Mick Herron Read More »
06 May 2021. This legal detective novel by Angie Kim ( Angie Kim – Author of Miracle Creek, Previously Miracle Submarine (angiekimbooks.com) ) unfolds over four days of trial testimony, and each chapter follows different characters who were present on the night of a fatal explosion at a medical facility in rural Virginia. These are
Miracle Creek by Angie Kim Read More »
In February 2021 concerns across the globe are rightly focussed on the COVID-19 pandemic. Humans will survive this disease, and so far the global death toll is nowhere near the estimated 50 million dead of the 1918 flu pandemic.(1918 Pandemic (H1N1 virus) | Pandemic Influenza (Flu) | CDC) Once the virus has been tamed the
Collapse by Jared Diamond Read More »
Confined to barracks during the pandemic of 2020 many people have found time for reading in a way not possible in their normally frenetic lives. ( Research finds reading books has surged in lockdown | Fiction | The Guardian ). At the same time, community services have come to be valued during this stressful past
Public library and other stories by Ali Smith Read More »
It looks like we’re headed for a long series of mini lockdowns and complex restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Combine that with the joys of the Scottish winter, and many will seek an escape into fiction. Any other world might seem preferable to this. Diane Cook (https://dianemariecook.com/) offers such an escape. Cook’s writing has appeared
The New Wilderness by Diane Cook Read More »
At the start of July 2020 we have enjoyed one hundred days of lockdown in Britain. This has been ample time in which to fail to re-assess our priorities in life. Already we’re urged to get out and spend, spend in order to re-ignite the big engines of the economy. Economic development, population growth, material
The Usefulness of the Useless by Nuccio Ordine Read More »
02 June 2020. There has been a lot of crying recently. The pandemic of 2020 has released a flood of emotion. Many TV viewers also, during the lockdown in April and May, have admitted to weeping over the BBC Three drama ‘Normal People‘ (https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p089g8rs/normal-people) The memory of having being young once, in love, and the
Weeping Britannia by Thomas Dixon Read More »
