Monthly Archives: March 2013

The most boring thing in the world

Posted on March 30, 2013 by

Someone I follow on Twitter recently posted a photograph of this: The evidence certainly seems to agree with Timberlake. You can’t go anywhere without something ‘entertaining’ your senses. Browse in any shop and there’s music being played, walk through a … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Storytelling

Posted on March 22, 2013 by

The short story seems to be staging something of a recovery. Today, the winner of The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award for 2013 is announced, the £30,000 is the most generous prize in the world for a … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Short stories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Happy Birthday Philip Roth!

Posted on March 19, 2013 by

Another Philip said that Sidney Bechet’s voice falls on him ‘Like an enormous yes.’ The same is true for me when I read Philip Roth. Six years after the retirement of Nathan Zuckerman, his alter ego narrator, in ‘Exit Ghost’, … Continue reading →

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‘Death and the Penguin’ by Andrey Kurkov

Posted on March 18, 2013 by

Not that long after The Wall fell I had the opportunity to travel to Siberia. It was summer, the weather was fine, the people friendly and intelligent. Omsk, where I spent a few nights, was different. My memory is of … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Learning to read

Posted on March 5, 2013 by

If Steinbeck was alive today he’d be 111 years old. That’s about how old I feel after every time I read ‘Of Mice and Men’. Don’t get me wrong, I like it. Or I should say, I liked it. For … Continue reading →

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