Environmental campaigners and ego-tripping capitalists clash in Eleanor Catton’s Birnham Wood. It sounded promising but it’s largely a promise unfulfilled. Birnam Wood — the portable forest that heralds the fall of Macbeth — is the name of an “activist collective” based in Christchurch, New Zealand. They’re guerrilla gardeners in essence; taking over waste public land […]
“What I’m Reading” is my contribution to the WWW Wednesday’s meme run by Sam from Taking On a World of Words. The Ws represent three questions: What I’m reading now #10booksofsummer has gone so well this year that I’m currently on book 12. This is The Interview by J David Simons which was published this […]
What connects Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell with Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad?
It felt so good to get home yesterday after my two week trek around Asia. No matter how luxurious the hotel, how wonderful the restaurants and how memorable the experiences, there is absolutely nothing as delightful as spending the night in your own bed. It was however not as long an acquaintance as I would […]
A few months ago in one of my Salon posts I was bemoaning the absence of a decent bookshop in some of the airports I have to frequent on my work trips. Both outlets at Detroit have disappeared, Chicago’s has been squeezed into a tiny space, Heathrow Terminal 5 can’t manage to rustle one while […]