Books

All for Nothing

Hands down, this is the best book I've read all year: All For Nothing by Walter Kempowski.  It's the bitter…

3 years ago

One Day in Paris 1919

We're not likely to be flying anywhere anytime soon so here's the next best thing: A trip back in time…

3 years ago

What Shall I Love if Not the Enigma?

Digging into the women writers of WW2 led me to the short stories of Anna Kavan whose life and work…

4 years ago

Danger comes: Tove Jansson and The Island

The second half of: “The Island,”  by Tove Jansson. Part one is here. It’s a rickety structure, one pays for…

4 years ago

Dreams become simpler: Tove Jansson and The Island

The IslandFrom: “The Island” by Tove Jansson There is a surprisingly large number of people who go around dreaming about…

4 years ago

All the Islands

All the islands I have known become one island whose Eastern coast spreads sandy arms to welcome bathers and sea…

4 years ago

Evacuee Story Lines #3 Evelyn Waugh

I did, in the first weeks of the war, before I got my commission, suffer severely from 'evacuees'.- Evelyn Waugh in…

4 years ago

Hemlock and After and Angus Wilson

‘Oh, I know all about goats,’ Sonia was saying. ‘People give them the same recommendation as the billeting officers did…

4 years ago

Evacuee Story Lines #2 C. S. Lewis

"What are you doing in the wardrobe?" "Narnia business" C.S."Jack" Lewis spent childhood years in a house in Belfast where…

4 years ago

Evacuee Story Lines #1 Nina Bawden

All our stories begin before we are born. Not Just the blue eyes or flat feet we inherit, but the…

4 years ago