Words, ideas, videos
Love this, but can see it would not be everyone's cup of tea huge slabs of exposition/back story, with only minimal dialogue every few pages. Central characters some will find irritating (various shades of privileged white men blah blah). And animals dying (usually but not exclusively of natural causes) to indicate that Things Are Wrong... Continue Reading →
I have seen it so often - a meeting that could ("should") be about "what can we DO" instead becomes a "the world is so unfair" kinda thing. Don't get me wrong, people need to be able to vent, to feel recognised, to have their anger and pain acknowledged. Trouble is, in the absence of... Continue Reading →
Oh, this is brilliant. You gotta read this. Naylor, inspired by of Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison, tells her tales with compassion, wisdom and an unflinching eye for human weakness, self-delusion and well, evil. The longest section is the first, about a woman called Mattie, who grew up in the Deep South and is... Continue Reading →
Presumably (I am not an historian of the period) when an escaped slave was recaptured they were punished publicly in horrific ways, with the intention of sending a message to anyone else who was contemplating a dash for freedom. Because, you know, you want to break their spirits, their minds... This comes to mind from... Continue Reading →
One last November and now another... Here's what I sent - they edited it lightly. Pilita Clark writes with her customary verve and clarity on the dangers ahead from climate inaction and special pleading by the corporate sector ("Magical thinking on fossil fuels endangers safety, FT Weekend, April 30). Four pages earlier, you reported resolutions demanding... Continue Reading →
Absolutely brilliant/essential reading. Guy asks about whether apologising for abuse is a good idea. The considered reply includes this. Or, if you want the text: "To be a woman in this world is a Sisyphean task. It is large rocks and steep hills, forever. That’s not all it is, of course, it’s also wonderful shit... Continue Reading →
I came to the "Horatio Hornblower" books only when I was 18, sadly - too much bloody ropey Doctor Who in my youth. So it goes. There's one of these stories, set during the Napoleonic wars that comes to mind every-so-often. Hornblower is a midshipman and the ship he is serving on captures a bunch... Continue Reading →
Go read it here. Someone asked me what grok means. From the wikipedia entry I ended up rabbit-holing to "William Tenn," who was an engineer and sci-fi writer (with a sardonic/satirical bent) And from there to the wonderful short story The Liberation of Earth (wikipedia page), which even has a climate mention (not carbon dioxide... Continue Reading →
For those of you who aren't up with the lingo: When we burn fossil Fuels (coal, oil and gas) to get energy, we release carbon dioxide. This is bad because it adds to the amount of carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere and more carbon dioxide traps more heat, which melts ice caps, causes droughts... Continue Reading →
The problem for satirists these days is to make their fiction as outlandish and unbelievable as reality. Tricky job. But "these days" is the hostage to fortune in this, because fifty years ago Philip Roth faced the same dilemma with Richard Nixon. And his brilliant "Our Gang" (no, seriously, you should read it) has some... Continue Reading →
Marc Hudson 