Category: Book reviews
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Can you see us under all these bushels?
I always thought it was something leafy and twiggy we were hidden under but it turns out it’s a kind of bowl. Bushels (or in some translations, ‘vessels’) “And no man, when he hath lighted a lamp, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but putteth it on a stand, that…
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Women writing poetry – scary?
Ask a poet for a bit of text to for the back jacket, to encourage readers to open her book, and you get this…. Wormwood, earth and honey Selected poems by Catherine Edmunds teasel scratches, bramble catches deep inside my den of mischief mud pies splatter, cracked plates clatter if you dare to enter here…
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The kids already know about giants, unicorns, mermaids and dragons, but …
We all know some people are a whole lot more keen to tell their stories than others. All those big hairy mythical creatures – and even some watery ones – were eager to get into the pages of the story books… …but one little creature was better at listening than telling, and whilst you may…
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Give the spirit of summer – whatever the time of year!
How many years of Jack in the Green? On the back of Keith Leech’s superb and lavishly illustrated record of Hastings’ biggest annual festival, he writes “It is now 25 years since the revival of the Hastings Jack in the Green in May 1983”. My daughter was a teenager, I think, when I first took…
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The Ball of the Future
Not yet born, not yet touched by man, it glows like a mercurial object. But I want to touch it. I want to caress the curvature of its sides and delve into its golden light. I think the inside must be huge and endless, like a stream without end, like an infinite well of possibility.…
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I know the date the world will end
Every generation, someone says that – and there are other favourite dramatic ideas that come round again and again. And when they do, people rally to them so eagerly. What is belief, that it can light such fires? Some get involved because they’re just longing to believe something. Some get involved because it’s such fun…
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20th Century Art in Hastings
This article, adapted from a piece in a former Hastings anthology, Visions of Hastings, explains how the Hastings Modern Art Beach Book came to be… text © 2010 K Green, pictures © 2010 K Reekie They threatened to build an art gallery on The Stade in Hastings and, despite a furious tide of resistance, they…
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Stocking Fillers for Adults
Let’s go back to the dawn of Earlyworks Press time for today’s ‘Christmas books’ blog. Back then, the press was very much Hastings-based, and the heart and soul of the membership was our Terry Sorby. ‘Porkies’ was very much his plan. A page-turning collection of sizzling jokes, rhymes and mini-stories, it’s just perfect for Christmas…
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The Map of Bihar
Sparkling with humour, singing with empathy and the pains of being human… A skilled, dexterous writer, Janet H Swinney explores her Anglo-Indian connections through this wide ranging and fascinating collection of stories – whether in a fashionable London suburb, urban India or an Edinburgh tenement, we see life chances sought, seized, squandered and subverted. There…
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Do not buy silly shorts
Of all the strategies you could employ, shorts in winter are the worst. ESPECIALLY if they look like this… Do not wear them In fact, do not wear shorts in winter at all… Read them Earlyworks Press has a fantastic back-list of high-quality short story collections. A well-written short story is the perfect companion by…
Kay Green 