Blog Archive
Journal writing
I've kept a journal, on and off, since reading Dorothea Brande's Becoming a Writer many, many years ago. Unlike André Gide, whose journals I've been re-reading, nothing I've written will see the light of day. My 'journal' has mainly featured either the simple (but...
Salute
On 11 November we visited a dear friend in hospital. It was her birthday: one that we don’t forget as poppies come out to remind us. Alzheimer’s is taking its toll but the conversations with her were, as always, bright, sharp and likely to end in laughter. Sadly,...
Of the best short novel ever
I read The Great Gatsby again last summer; something I do every year. It's a holiday event that never disappoints. While Gatsby may not be the best novel ever written, I think it's the best short one. And, proportionally, it contains more beautiful sentences and...
Of true life and fiction
Now and again you come across a piece of writing that explains something you've felt for a long time but lacked the necessary brain power to write down concisely. In Shop Talk, Philip Roth interviews other (mainly Jewish) authors. One is Aharon Appelfeld (pictured...
Of digging
Until recently, my small lawn was a beautiful moss green. However, to be a proper lawn, it really needed to feature grass. So I decided to do a proper renovation job and dig it over. A couple of hours later, sore and exhausted, I retreated indoors for a severe...
Of cultural history – the James version
I’m still reading and re-reading Clive James’s Cultural Amnesia. It’s a scintillating A-Z of his own takes on characters who, for good or ill, have helped to shape the world we live in. I now know something about many people I knew only by name, or not at all - and...
Of serious reading lacunae
These two smilers haunt me. I'm reading Michelle de Kretser's The Lost Dog. Some fine, fine writing by yet another author for whom Henry James is a key reference. And I remain an aspiring writer who hasn't read a word of his or, even more shamefully, of Jane Austen....
Of genius feet turning to clay
A London youth club I'm involved with tries to instil sportsmanship and fair play in every boy who plays for one its nine football teams. How much harder this task becomes when the exhortations of mere mortals have to compete with an example set by one of the world’s...
Of aspiring writers and (some) agent/publisher websites
As an aspiring writer, I hoover up advice wherever I can find it. Among the most valuable sources are agent/publisher websites. Thanks to their good counsel, I have enough information to avoid irritating them and/or humiliating myself when I send off my query letter,...
The great Hugh Leonard
I missed the news of the recent death of Hugh Leonard, one of the great comic writers - up there alongside Flann O’Brien, James Thurber and Damon Runyon. For me, Home Before Night (apparently out of print, shame on Penguin) is the funniest-ever novel and Da was the...