Happy New Year to all. I don’t usually make New Year resolutions but this year I do have one – a complex one but only one, nevertheless. This year, I resolve to work on not relating to the “Tales of Mere Existence – Project” video, embedded below.
Happy New Year to all. I don’t usually make New Year resolutions but this year I do have one – a complex one but only one, nevertheless. This year, I resolve to work on not relating to the “Tales of Mere Existence – Project” video, embedded below.
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is a beautifully detailed portrait of a young love and marriage, corrupted by both the selfishness of a man and his mistress but also by every person, including his wife, who felt that somehow his genius, his work meant that different…
I lifted my head from writing my novel, today, to find that Christopher Hitchens had died. There are few people in this world who hold themselves to the same standards as they hold others, even fewer who do it publicly in the genuine hope that they might help to better society, Christopher Hitchens was one…
I’ve been getting a little ratty because I haven’t had a chance to write since preparation for the move pushed its way into the obsessive part of my brain, where my writing usually resides, around 5 weeks ago. Since arriving in Bangkok, the aforementioned part of my brain has, gradually, been vacated but the writing…
So. We’re here. We arrived at around midnight local time, which meant 3a.m. back in Oz, which meant that I was paying so little attention as we checked in that, this afternoon, I attempted to get into the wrong room and had to go to reception to ask what our room number was (embarrassing anecdote…
Almost two years ago, to the day, I wrote a post titled “The Down Side”, about the friends that you make as an expat and the sadness of saying good bye, when their expat contract comes to an end. I wrote the, rather lengthy, post about a specific couple, “Caesar” and “Augusta” with whom Superman…
The Athenian Murders by José Carlos Somoza My rating: 1 of 5 stars An interesting idea which the author, unfortunately, simply does not pull off. The internal logic is flawed, as is the logic of his (straw man) detective character. The author’s presentation of philosophy and logic, as well as Plato’s theory of the forms…
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford My rating: 5 of 5 stars Utterly engrossing, and filled with information we should all know to combat all of the disinformation about Genghis Khan and the Mongolian Empire which still passes for common knowledge. I honestly believe that this book should be…
Welcome to the Jungle by Hilary Smith My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the first of, no doubt, many books that I will read on bipolar disorder, so I can’t compare it to others but I enjoyed this one very much. WTTJ is by no means a memoir, it is an expository piece,…
Shinto and Japanese New Religions by Byron Earhart read by Ben Kingsley My rating: 3 of 5 stars Full of interesting information, this audio book makes for a good introduction to Japanese religions and spirituality. I was looking forward to hearing Kingsley narrate but, for some reason, he adopts a tone right out of a…
