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Category Archives: Books
Connexions
In the midst of what, for convenience, I’ll call the ‘second lockdown’ I have rejected Zoom. My head recognises its benefits, but my heart has rebelled.
Imaginary Friends
‘I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space’ Hamlet, II ii We’re all bounded in nutshells at the moment. At an early stage in the pandemic, my best friend needed to self-isolate for … Continue reading
Dawn chorus
I wake frequently at night. It’s nothing new – I don’t think my depth of sleep ever recovered from the disturbance of having babies, while menopausal hot flushes have, more recently, put paid completely to long continuous stretches. I don’t … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Moving on, Music
Tagged birdsong, Bleak House, books, Dickens, Sassoon, sleep
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Let be
With the publication of The Mirror and the Light I am – and I want to say ‘of course’, with the fond exasperation and indulgence one uses when talking of a friend’s characteristic idiosyncrasies, but applying it to myself. The … Continue reading
I (don’t) know where I’m going
In the magical film ‘I know where I’m going’ the young heroine (played by Wendy Hiller), bright and determined, is clear-sighted and purposeful about what she wants to achieve. Until the fog halts her journey and a Scottish island – … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Moving on, Music
Tagged Amsterdam, Chevalier, Powell, Pressburger, Travel
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Meeting myself
We spent our holiday in North Yorkshire. This is a region I had driven past or travelled through on journeys further north, but never before stopped in or explored. We discovered an utterly beautiful combination of dramatic coastline and glorious … Continue reading
Books do furnish a room
The house clearance has reached the bookcases. I have known people who say they never get rid of any of their books and feel that disposing of them is somehow diminishing: perhaps we need to keep the physical object in … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Moving on
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Homeless, with a good book
I found myself with an enforced absence from home. My son had requested a birthday party. He is a young adult, a ‘bounce back’ after university, so he didn’t want us to organise it. Rather the opposite: he asked if … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Alan Bennett, Broad Chalke, Curious Friendship, East Coker, Edith Olivier, Ian Kelly, literature, Mr Foote's Other Leg, Queens Head, Samuel Foote, Tommasson, TS Eliot, Wilton
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ResearchEd again, naturally
I am off to the national ResearchEd conference for the third time. Last year I said I wouldn’t do this: the date clashes with my local agricultural show, a major community event, and I am no longer an Education student. My … Continue reading
“A sad tale’s best for winter”
It’s probably obvious already from this blog that I love stories: I love them in books, I love them even more incarnate in the theatre. I spent three years getting an English degree merely because it meant (in those heady … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Education, Theatre
Tagged Ben Jonson, books, Jeanette Winterson, language, literature, narrative, Shakespeare
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