*No spoilers A book about experimental archaeology and family violence that’s brimming with glorious dread and that closes in around you like a vice. The novel’s short 160 pages are absolutely electrifying and seem far bigger. Best enjoyed during the witching hours of 11pm and 3 am. Ghost Wall opens with an ancient hair-raising scene,Continue reading “Book Review: Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss”
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Book Review: Medieval Bodies Life and Death in the Middle Ages by Jake Hartnell
Art Historian Jake Hartnell takes us on a macabre and enthralling journey from head to toe in the medieval human body. This is fascinating because, even though we share the same bodies as our medieval ancestors, we had wildly diverging beliefs about the inherent symbolic power of parts of our bodies and what could heal, harm or kill us.
Book Review: To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey
Eowyn Ivey is a master craftswoman and her sentences are smooth and flowing like treacle. Her debut the Snow Child was one of my favourite novels. It told the magical tale of a child that emerges out of the icy Alaskan tundra and provides an ageing couple yearning for a baby, with the promise of a living child.
Comforting Thought: Whistling in the dark
“Art would not be important if life were not important. And life is important. Most of us, no matter what we say, are walking in the dark, whistling in the dark.” James Baldwin #quote #philosophy #art
Comforting Thought: Describing versus experiencing places
“Describing something is like using it – it destroys; the colours wear off, the corners lose their definition, and in the end what’s been described begins to fade, to disappear. This applies most of all to places. Enormous damage has been done by travel literature – a veritable scourge, an epidemic. Guidebooks have conclusively ruinedContinue reading “Comforting Thought: Describing versus experiencing places”
Book Review: ‘Industrial Scars’ The Beautiful Toxic Scars of the Earth
What happens when humans burn too much waste and destroy the planet? Modern Art. Photographs of the aftermath of environmental devastation aren’t normally considered art. However photographer J Henry Fair has reimagined the decaying and suffering environmental landscape in the aftermath of human abuse in his mesmerising book entitled Industrial Scars. Fair wanted to poignantlyContinue reading “Book Review: ‘Industrial Scars’ The Beautiful Toxic Scars of the Earth”
Book Review: Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
In this funny, odd-ball and deeply emotional novel by Japanese debut novelist Sayaka Murata, we follow the book’s heroine Keiko, who is in her late 30’s and is working as a sales assistant in a convenience store, while living unmarried and childless (a mortal sin in Japan).
Book Review: How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
I didn’t expect much from this book and was delightfully surprised by its immense depth and foresight. ‘How to Do Nothing’ is a profound and glittering jewel about the big topics of politics, internet culture, consumerism, capitalism and consciousness. It takes well-worn assumptions about how you spend your time and the tyrannical monopoly of banal “stuff” on your attention – and then rearranges your brain forever!
What would you do if you won the lottery?
What would you do if you won the lottery? I would invest a third of the money, use a third to buy myself a home (I have never owned one, as where I live, houses are outrageously expensive) and use the other third to set up an animal advocacy charity or an animal sanctuary forContinue reading “What would you do if you won the lottery?”
Book Review: Nature’s Palette by Thames & Hudson
Do you love nature? do you love colour? If you love these two things then this book is a must-have for your collection. A traditional reference guide originally published in 1814, a beautifully bound and illustrated new version is now available.
Nature’s Palette features all of the hues and colours you can possibly imagine in our green and blue verdant planet. Along with exquisite nature drawings and paintings. Opening this book is like being transported to a more earthy and connected era where nature in all of her splendour was all people knew about sourcing colour. This book is perfect for a gift for the artist you know. Or if you’re an artist, designer, nature-lover or aesthete, I think you would also enjoy it.
