When you expect to love being bored
Something I try to stay away from as an author are cliches. You know, those phrases and plot "twists" and character traits that have…
Sophie Blackall at the Brooklyn Public Library
Like any nosy New Yorker, I first encountered Sophie Blackall on the subway. I most often ride the F line, and found…
Why reading is social rather than solitary
Although reading is termed solitary, some of my best times on holiday have been when we've been sitting beside each other, each…
The worst job in the world
When Barack Obama was elected US President in 2008 “The Onion” ran the headline “black man given nation’s worst job”. Much as…
The reflection of read things
The enthralling The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (1997) is what I’ll be musing about. I read the novel earlier…
No internet. No phone. One month.
OK, I’m off! Bags are packed, tickets printed, taxi is booked for four thirty tomorrow morning, and several alarms have been set. I’ve got…
The Murder of Halland by Pia Juul
The book begins with a murder. Soon detectives are on the scene, and the victim’s life is being unravelled piece by piece,…
Achieve happiness, in three easy steps?
I was in an American-style steak house here in Barbados a few weeks ago, trying to write but being distracted instead by…
Do you want to write for me?
I'm going on a little trip around other islands of the Caribbean for a month or so in June and July, and…