Category: Book reviews
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Sorry, this article is utter nonsense
I do apologise Hastings. I recognise that Michael Short is far better known as a pianist and composer, and known above all for his most excellent biography of Gustav Holst. I also know that Elaine Short is a poet and textile artist but sometimes, when I think of Michael and Elaine, I can’t help thinking…
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The value of difference
Differences can be so small you barely notice you are different, or they can be world-changingly enormous. Being a boy who is prone to suddenly changing shape –and colour – and catching flies with your tongue – is pretty enormous. At first glance, Chris Tennent’s Horace Burp stories are good, every day fun but I…
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Bother! Trouble!! Emergency!!!
S P Moss has a family background in the RAF, and loves classic children’s adventure stories every bit as much as classic cars, planes and kids’ books so, when she won the Earlyworks Press novels for children competition back in 2011, we knew we were in for some good, old fashioned fun. The Bother The…
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Hibakusha – never forget
Joycelyn Simms’ extraordinary poems about the Hibakusha – those affected (in so many terrible ways) by the nuclear detonations at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were inspired by ‘a thousand paper cranes and lanterns floating on the river Ota’, and by John Hersey’s book, Hiroshima – and then, when the poem Grapple Y was published by the…
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Fish heads are still flying
It’s a contentious thing, being a feminist. There are always plenty of vocal people wanting to loudly disapprove of you. Not least of the obstacles that need to be addressed is that of class. I read a story recently about a woman who told those less well off than herself to save money by cooking…
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The Key to the World Beyond The Gate
There couldn’t possibly be another Timothy’s Gate novel, could there? I mean, in the first book, Timothy found the magical world of Challenrah behind a mysterious gate in the garden of the Grey Lady pub, near where he used to live – but now, he’s moved right across the world and will never see the…
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Coming back to Holst
I always do. In the last few years, politics and COVID and financial troubles left little time for contemplating music but sooner or later, it had to happen. I sat down and listened to Mars, and thought yes, that’s how it is, and felt better. Then I listened to Jupiter, and rallied my internal troops…
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How are your borderlines?
Ambling down the road outside the hotel, having a last fag before bedtime, and I see legs. There’s a bloke standing behind those overhanging bushes. Swivel on my heel, natural as can be, because my intention, obviously, was to walk precisely that far then march smartly back to the hotel. Contemplating the fact that I…
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Still doing politics
Notice to those doing whatever it is they are doing in Westminster: politics has left the building – mind you don’t get left behind. Thank you, LabourBAME Hastings and Hastings and Rye Labour Women’s Forum for an excellent gathering and an excellent supper in Hastings last night. Thank you, speaker Marc Wadsworth for reminding us…
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Really useful feminism
Why we should all read Julie Bindel’s new book I’ve been wondering why feminism grabbed me so much the second time I looked, but not the first. I remember feminism going on around me when I was a teenager. I had a vague idea it involved a lot of arguments about whether you should shave…
Kay Green 