Subtitled Pre-history to Avante-garde. The 28 contributors to this encyclopaedic tome are listed inside the book. All specialists in their fields.As the subtitle notes, it deals with art from pre-history through to the avante-garde, with the final dated entry from 1986. At the end of the beautifully illustrated set of sections, is a collection of …
Continue reading The History of Art, by Blitz Editions: #BookReview.
Sebastian Barry has written one of those rare books that portray emotion without sentiment, diametrically opposed views with neutrality, and complex events in a manner easy to follow. Nevertheless, I was moved to tears on more than one occasion, and therefore rather pleased I was reading in private.The hypocrisy of religion is described without rancour, …
Continue reading The Secret Scripture, by Sebastian Barry: #BookReview.
Writers Need Good Luck Sometimes. There you are, busily editing the first draft of your amazing, soon-to-be best seller WIP, hoping to move on toward that goal of publication when, from some inexplicable, unrecognised source, two new and unrelated ideas pop into your head. The question then is whether to give these intruders room to …
Continue reading A Spot of Serendipity
Coastal Cornwall. I post these pictures of the natural beauty of our world to show how unique and irreplaceable it is. I’m simply presenting scenes I hope will please, and maybe inform, readers here.Links to items mentioned can be found at the end of the post.This one depicts part of the stunning coast of the …
Continue reading #ScenicSaturday 26th April 2025
Wordcloud selectively based on part of the WIP as it is at present. Writing a book. What does it mean? What does it entail?Fiction, in particular, engages or should engage all the senses. Otherwise, it’s a part story, an incomplete account, a limping, meandering path of words strung together without true feeling. But what does …
Continue reading Further Progress on the #WIP.
This sumptuously illustrated book of 400 pages of visual art and its history is an attempt to show the development of pictorial representation from the earliest daubes and scratches on the walls of caves all the way through to the more modern daubes and splashes that can apparently be counted as art. In between are …
Continue reading Timelines of Art, by DK: #BookReview
A portion of the character spreadsheet. I was introduced to this concept by Sassy Brit’s Alternative Read blog, via a new writing group I joined recently. The idea is to reveal your most awkward moment as a writer, share it, laugh about it. And, in this world full of misery and political strife, I say, …
Continue reading Apparently, Today is ‘Awkward Moments Day’
Subtitled ‘Women, Art and the Power of Looking’, this book entered my reading list as a resource for research for a novel I’m writing.It has filled that requirement far better than I ever imagined. The breadth and depth of research the author has conducted to compile this treatise on the misogyny and injustice dealt out …
Continue reading Women In The Picture, by Catherine McCormack: #BookReview.
One of three notebooks, gift of my daughter's mother-in-law, Chris. For which, many thanks! It is a long time since I reported on my WIP. 19th January, to be precise.So, how’s it going?Inevitably, a touch of illness, advancing years, the state of the world since the orange clown was placed in a position of power …
Continue reading Further Progress on the #WIP.
This short story appeared in a charity anthology, ‘Wrong’ to benefit Creative Writing Institute that sponsors cancer patients in writing courses. The theme was 'I have a list and a map. What could possibly go wrong?'You’ll find a link to the book at the end of the story. A Fork in the Road Lauren tapped …
Continue reading A Fork in the Road: Short Story
Translated from the original French, by Alison L. Strayer, with remarkable insight and understanding of the original text, this ‘autobiography’ is an extraordinary piece of work. I use quotes around ‘autobiography’ because this book is so much more than that. It’s a brilliant mix of life story, history, sociology, philosophy, meditation, and poetry. Although some …
Continue reading The Years, by Annie Ernaux: #BookReview.
It surely can’t be this long since I reported on my WIP, can it? But it appears my last post was way back on 23rd November 2024. How can that be?Well, I’ve some excuses. It’s possible some of you may consider them reasons, which would be better for my conscience.First excuse: I’m suffering from an …
Continue reading Further Progress on the #WIP
This condensation of an extensive theme into something far more concentrated, selective, and relevant manages to say everything it means in ways both accessible and moving. The appalling Irish Magdalen laundry system, imposed on the country by a church made far more powerful than it ever deserved by indoctrination and the spread of superstitious fear …
Continue reading Small Things Like These, by Claire Keegan #BookReview.
On rare occasions, a reader encounters a book that inspires, entertains, edifies, and asks questions in such a way as to force him to reconsider long-held views. Whilst I was already in full agreement with some of the ideas and conclusions revealed in this small and beautifully written book, there were some notions that forced …
Continue reading Orbital, by Samantha Harvey #BookReview.
Subtitled ‘Humanist Ideas and Philosophies to Live By’, this collection of thoughts from thirty-one intelligent, experienced, and fascinating people has been compiled from Andrew Copson’s podcasts with over sixty such individuals between 2020 and 2024. It was initially inspired by essays from Bertrand Russell in 1925 and E.M. Forster in 1938, and a separate collection …
Continue reading What I Believe, Edited by Andrew Copson #BookReview.
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