on the land - on the sea - at my desk

Month January 2017

Book Review: Giving Up the Ghost, by Hilary Mantel

Giving Up the Ghost is Hilary Mantel’s relatively short memoir, published in 2003 before she became a prize-winning writer. Her decision to write her memoir, she writes, was to escape the ghosts of the past. In writing you hope for… Continue Reading →

Review: 2016 Reading Challenge

Did I complete the 2016 Reading Challenge? Strictly speaking, no. I failed in the one category of reading a book previously abandoned. I did think about this a lot, but I don’t really think that it counts. In my defence,… Continue Reading →

Book Review: The Many by Wyl Menmuir

Timothy Buchannan buys an abandoned house on the edge of an isolated village on the coast, sight unseen. When he sees the state of it he questions the wisdom of his move, but starts to renovate the house for his… Continue Reading →

Book Review: Through a Glass Darkly, by Jostein Gaarder

Through a Glass Darkly is the young girl Cecelia’s end of life story. It is almost Christmas and Cecelia lies sick in bed, as her family strive to make Christmas as special as possible. She is angry and resentful. One… Continue Reading →

Book Review: Elephant Moon by John Sweeney

As the Second World War rages, the Japanese Imperial Army enters Burma and the British rulers prepare to flee. Among those is a orphan school of sixty-two Anglo-Burmese children, born to local women after affairs with foreign men. Half-castes, they… Continue Reading →

Book Review: A Boy Called Christmas by Matt Haig

A Boy Called Christmas tells the story of Nikolas, the boy that will become Father Christmas. It is the imagined account of why he is who he is. It is superbly illustrated by Chris Mould, no doubt enhancing the reading… Continue Reading →

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