Lucky dip reading
Saw a good post on the Guardian website about “lucky dip” reading – buying a book you know absolutely nothing about. It makes the valid point that people who shop online are less likely to stumble on new books than…
“Global Shift” by Edmund J Bourne
Titles are important. This book was an excellent survey of emerging philosophies and practices, but it did not convince me that a “global shift” is really taking place, or that, as the subtitle promises, a “new worldview is transforming humanity”.…
“Commonwealth Short Stories”, part 4
In the final part of this series of posts, I’m reviewing stories by Mavis Gallant, V.S. Naipaul, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Hal Porter and Chinua Achebe. Mavis Gallant (Canada) – Orphans’ Progress According to the introduction, Gallant’s work mostly deals with…
“Commonwealth Short Stories”, part 3
Continuing the series, here are my notes on the short stories by Randolph Stow, Janet Frame, Andrew Salkey and Ezekiel Mphahlele. Randolph Stow (Australia) – Magic This is based on the ‘sulumwoya’ myth of the Trobriand Islands, where incest between…
“Commonwealth Short Stories”, part 2
This is a continuation from yesterday’s post, which was becoming too long! Today, I’m reviewing stories by Mordecai Richler, Lee Kok Liang, Wilson Harris, Frank Sargeson and Amos Tutuola. Mordecai Richler (Canada) – The Summer my Grandmother was Supposed to…
“Commonwealth Short Stories”, Part 1
There are some excellent stories in here, from big names like V.S. Naipaul, Patrick White, George Lamming, Chinua Achebe and Ngugi Wa Thiong’o (although this book is so old he is credited as James Ngugi, his birth name which he…
“October All Over” by Maria Roberts-Squires
I liked the premise of this book. It’s set in 1983 against the backdrop of the Grenadian revolution, and is basically a love story, with a lot of complications due to the family backgrounds of Ramona and Fabian and also…
“West Indian Folk Tales” retold by Philip Sherlock
What struck me about these stories is the similarity between traditional folk tales in different parts of the world. I grew up, of course, with British or European stories, whereas these stories are either of Carib or African origin. Yet…
George Lamming on “The politics of reading”
While I was in Barbados over Christmas and New Year, I went to a literary event – the 12th annual award ceremony for the Frank Collymore Literary Endowment, on Saturday 9 January 2010. The keynote speaker was George Lamming, probably…