Reading

“The Anatomy of Prose” by Marjorie Boulton

This is a rigorous 1950s analysis of prose, seeking to classify different elements of prose as you would classify insects or flowers. From the broad divisions of types of prose (narrative, argumentative, dramatic, informative, contemplative), Boulton proceeds to smaller divisions…
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Still reading…

Despite appearances, I have not been promoting myself 24 hours a day 🙂 I finished The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie and have started Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano. Just don’t seem to have any spare time to do…
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“Amsterdam” by Ian McEwan

This was a good, quick read. An interesting story that explores several moral issues such as euthanasia and privacy rights. Another theme is the yearning for greatness and the sacrifices involved, often in vain. For example, Clive is a famous…
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Extract from Susan Sontag’s diary

“X” is when you feel yourself an object, not a subject. when you want to please and impress people, either by saying what they want to hear, or by shocking them, or by boasting + name-dropping, or by being very…
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Food crisis

Wonderful article in the December New Internationalist about the global food crisis. As the magazine points out, we hear a lot about the financial crisis, but comparatively little about the food crisis which pushed 100 million people into situations of…
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