Books

Saki: The Open Window and the Birds of WW1

"You may wonder why we keep that window wide open on an October afternoon," said the niece, indicating a large…

7 years ago

Ode to Garlic

I don't think I peeled a clove of garlic until I was at least 21. It wasn't because I didn't…

7 years ago

Richard Aldington and Paul Nash: Images of War

Some authors are blessed with illustrators who enhance their work with the distinction of their own. So it was in…

7 years ago

Before The Charge: The Great Push, Loos, September 1915

Before the Charge The night is still and the air is keen, Tense with menace the time crawls by, In…

7 years ago

Kate Millett, Eng Lit and the The Farm in Poughkeepsie

There are pockets of Poughkeepsie that still have a rural look and feel. Cows graze and the corn is ripe…

7 years ago

Saplings

I'm not giving anything away by quoting the deep irony of the last lines of Saplings: Turns you over, don’t…

7 years ago

Choosing books by the cover

I once worked in a school where the librarian arranged the non-fiction by the color of the spine. It made…

7 years ago

Social Media and the Two-Minute Hate

Near the beginning of George Orwell's 1984  our hero Winston Smith attends a rally at the Ministry of Truth where…

8 years ago

Goodbye to all that

The first day of my new life as an idle good-for-nothing superannuated coffin-dodger (my brother's description of retirees) coincides with…

8 years ago

Bryan Stevenson at NAIS: Beat the Drum for Justice

Human apathy is the greatest calamity of all. I have heard many extraordinary presentations and speeches at NAIS Annual Conferences…

9 years ago