The Penguin Book of English Short Stories by Christopher Dolley My rating: 2 of 5 stars First read in 2007 Thus Dolley washes his hands. I can almost hear the snort he might give me if I took issue with him for including stories by James Joyce, and indeed that ‘minor talent’ Katherine Mansfield in… Continue reading Encounters in a language
New York Vertical Portable Format Edition by Horst Hamann My rating: 3 of 5 stars The premise of this book is that New York is markedly vertical and thus is interestingly captured when a vertical perspective is adopted. As is customary in photography books there is nothing much written. The preface mentions a few topics… Continue reading New York disembodied
Andre Kertesz by Noel Bourcier My rating: 5 of 5 stars Noel Bourcier, who has written the biography and commentary for this beautifully designed little volume, says that having gone off to war, Kertesz recognised himself as a ‘peace-loving, romantic young man’. This is exactly the appeal of Kertesz! Not that particular young man, not… Continue reading Photography monographs II
Economix: How and Why Our Economy Works (and Doesn’t Work), in Words and Pictures by Michael Goodwin My rating: 5 of 5 stars These days everyone’s worried about the economy! The economy is the biggest issue for voters! Won’t somebody puh-leeeeeese think of the economy? I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember anyone… Continue reading Here’s something you didn’t learn in school…
Martha Quest by Doris Lessing My rating: 4 of 5 stars We are caught in the flow of Martha’s psychological time. Years pass in a treacly flood of hot, irritated afternoons, a single moment of transcendent commune with the universe lasts hours (and takes up several pages), and busy days in the city expand to… Continue reading Born in Zambesia
Nights At The Circus by Angela Carter My rating: 5 of 5 stars Well this is probably as much fun as can be had reading, for me anyway. I surrender utterly to the allure of Fevvers; I believed every wonderful word of her story and every page of it yielded some new pleasure to my… Continue reading Of the Monstrous
The Granta Book of the African Short Story by Helon Habila My rating: 4 of 5 stars Helon Habila has done a damn fine job of selecting a diverse and striking stories for this in my opinion, but he has made one editorial decision that didn’t suit me: putting the pieces in reverse chronological order.… Continue reading From the Chest
Ill Fares the Land by Tony Judt My rating: 2 of 5 stars Yawn yawn. The world is a miserable mess, billionaires are greedy, politicians do nothing because the dogma of free markets and small government is running the show, pretending private sector booms aren’t just cashing out years (decades) of careful public sector investment… Continue reading Ill Fares the Reader
I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai My rating: 5 of 5 stars To all the girls who have faced injustice and been silenced. Together we will be heard. Some months ago Media Diversified’s editors described Malala Yousafzai as the bravest girl in… Continue reading Madrigal
Can the subaltern speak? : Postkolonialität und subalterne Artikulation by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak My rating: 5 of 5 stars Here is a summary of the highlights of what I understood from the title essay, the only one I have read (taking 6 days). I have written this for aide memoire purposes and because I think… Continue reading undivided subjects
(I am because you are) 