This weekend marks the 50th birthday of Amnesty International, an organisation I’ve been a member of since I was a teenager. It started with Peter Benenson (right) being outraged at the imprisonment of a couple of Portuguese students for raising their wine glasses in a toast to freedom, and now has over 3 million members [...]
Archive | May, 2011
“Letter to D” by André Gorz
D is the André Gorz’s 82-year-old, terminally ill wife, and this short book is a letter written to her about a year before they both committed suicide at the same time, unable to bear the thought of being parted. It’s a beautiful story, augmented by a few lovely photos of the couple (I wanted more, [...]
“Death At Intervals” by Jose Saramago
I love the premise of this book. One day, in a particular country, people stop dying. They still get old, get sick, get mangled in car accidents, etc., but they can’t die. At first this news is greeted with elation. It’s the end of Death’s age-old tyranny, the greatest fear suddenly removed. But then the [...]
Luke Bitmead’s birthday
I had a message today from the mother of Luke Bitmead, the Legend Press novelist who died tragically young. 13th May is his birthday, and she would like to encourage people to visit his site in the days leading up to the 13th, in the hope of getting more than 13,000 visitors overall. Please check [...]
Admitting defeat
I don’t often admit defeat when I’m reading. I tend to slog away to the end of a book, even if I’m not enjoying it much. Partly this is stubbornness, partly pride, but partly also a belief that most books contain something worthwhile. Recently, though, I had to admit defeat. More specifically, I had to [...]
