It’s London in wartime, in the blackout before the Blitz and the streets of Soho are full of characters straight out of central casting. Our protagonist is Scotland Yard’s Detective Inspector Patrick Aloysius McCarthy, a hard-boiled cop with an Irish father and a Neopolitan mother and all the stereotypical traits of both. He’s prone to hunches and the luck of…
With May being coronation month and all, the NYTimes Cooking section has a selection of dishes it deems British, and suitable for the occasion. I’ve made a few of these recipes and can recommend the Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie, Bacon-Wrapped Dates, and the Orange Marmalade Cake. The Cider-Spiked Fish Pie was OK. Classic Scones are always good but best eaten in…
I’ve chuntered about progress as a myth for years now. Mostly – it has to be said – out of a contrarian instinct not to get caught up in the mainstream notion of things are always getting better – when clearly – some things certainly are not. But it’s not something I’ve really given a lot of thought to or…
If you are in New York City and looking for a outing here’s a suggestion: Wave Hill Garden in the Bronx. We were there on a bright morning this week and it was glorious. It really is one of the world’s great outdoor works of art with 28 acres of gardens, and woodlands. And with the view out over the…
In his day, the Soviet poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko’ was something of an international rock star whose readings could fill sports stadiums. He was one of those A-List literati who make the front pages. His poem Lies was much anthologized in English teaching materials in the years following its publication in the Soviet Literary journal Novy Mir in 1959. The kind…
Based on his published letters,1940 was a busy year for T.S.Eliot. He was based in London and working at Faber and Faber as editor and director. I’ve picked out a few (mostly) bookish highlights here. In January he enjoyed an evening with Stephen Spender, and tut-tutted about his domestic tangles commenting: The irregularities of that group of young people are…
Hope I’m not jumping the gun here but the #1940Club starts next week and I’ve been gearing up and getting ready. The idea is simple. It’s a fun event with no pressure because you can choose anything from the year and read as much or as little as suits you. You can share on your blogs, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, in…
March is Dewithon Month #Dewithon. You can read about this celebration of literary Wales at the link We are all invited to join in and I thought it was about time I did especially as this project – now in its 5th year – is the work of The Book Jotter whose weekly post of literary links always gets my weekend…
Norman Pearson returned towards the end of January, after an absence in Spain and Portugal, bearing two bananas, two oranges and a pineapple. The bananas and oranges were simple, Hilda and I had one each. Apart from a few green apples and some berries in Cornwall, it was the first fruit that we had tasted for two years. It seemed…
Lots of appropriately scornful responses to the charity Oxfam’s Inclusive Language Guide published this week. First of all, it’s 92 pages long. You can read and download at the link. I can’t say I’ve scoured every page and possibly some of it may be both sensible and helpful in providing respectful ways to talk about a whole range of…
A recent NYTimes Cooking newsletter from Melissa Clark drew my attention to the article about Raghavan Iyer by Kim Severson Mr. Iyer’s debilitating cancer treatment gave him the idea for the Revival Project, a searchable database of comfort-food recipes, with the goal of nourishing patients with dishes suited to their specific origins, preferences and medical conditions. The recipes are organized by…
Two centuries after William Hogarth published his engravings of the decline and fall of Tom Rakewell, Rebecca West wrote a morality tale of decline and fall updated for the C20th –The Modern “Rake’s Progress” 1934. Eighteenth-century Rakewell was the spendthrift, dissolute son of a rich merchant who goes to London and wastes his money on luxurious living, prostitution, and gambling…
Felled by the dreaded lurgy in early January I was sidelined from my usual reading routine. It’s hard to concentrate when little spikes of fever send your mind swimming into the stratosphere. The symptoms weren’t that bad but the fatigue was real and concentration was not at peak performance. An Agatha Christie re-read was in order. I read seven of…
Vimeo has taken down the video “Affirmation Generation” but you can see it here. Take the time to watch this well-made and important video. To read more about the movie go here. “Affirmation Generation: The Lies of Transgender Medicine,” was made by self-described “lifelong, West Coast Liberal Democrats”. The film includes interviews with therapists, mental health professionals, and medical doctors…
Researching Marienbad and the Savoy led me to Erika Mann and all the gossip, scandal, politics, and drama of her family. I wanted to read her account of life in pre-war Germany The Lights Go Down in part of my preparation for the 1940 Club and here. I couldn’t track down a copy so I read School for Barbarians: Education…