A generous deeply felt read A yo-yo of emotions, intelligent and a work of love Beautiful prose, full of nuances, layers and texture
Tag: Reading
Teju Cole’s Open City
modern stream of consciousness I have just shut this book; still warm to the touch. It is the first time I have read this Nigerian-American author's work. Psychiatry, music, history, religion, race are all covered within its pages, but not in the usual vein. It is a multi layered, sophisticated and real read. There is …
A very special bond
Thomas Wolfe and Margaret Roberts Learning about the writer and the man While in North Carolina, I visited Asheville and the home (now a memorial and historic museum) of the American novelist, Thomas Clayton Wolfe. With its yellow facade, gables and porch lined with rocking chairs, the Queen Anne style structure seemed out of place …
Go your own way
Let what is meaningful to you, be your guide We scribble in our journals, paint, sketch, write poetry and music, we sculpt and craft and build. This intriguing artistic endeavor to articulate abstract thoughts, ideas and feelings via a creative outlet. So exhilarating, liberating, magical! But, it can become poisoned by the very creator who …
The librarian
As long as I can remember there were books. In the beginning, picture books alphabet books and pop up books. Much later (High School and University) textbooks, encyclopedias and dictionaries. However, in between these vastly differing spaces of time, reside the most important books and reading of my life. So let's back up a little... …
I love New York
History and Family Saga If you want to get a good smattering of New York's history under your belt without having to endure a dry read, may I suggest Edward Rutherford's New York. It is a chunky volume (981 pages) that covers the 1600's through to 2001. New York is a fantastic read (think Gone …
Has fake became fashionable?
Let’s face it, with influencers influencing, amazon suggesting, advertisements proposing, algorithms deciding, instruments calculating and general data nudging us in a specific direction, there really isn’t much left for our little grey cells to do; if we don't remain alert. Inundated, as never before, by inordinate amounts of information all day long, one of the …
Larger than life
When you held the world in your hands Remember how, as a kid, everything was larger than life? The formative years of discovery, learning, possibility and novelty were accompanied by gigantic ideas, gargantuan dreams and ginormous feelings. Those were the days of joy oozing from your pores, of fear that made you sweaty and nauseous …
The Unputdownables
The satisfying crack from the binding of a brand new book. The slightly beaten up well thumbed copy that awaits. Is there anything better than hunkering down with a good book? The ritual sniff of the printed page, the almost palpable anticipation prior to reading that first sentence...and then you're off. Across all genres there …
Meet you in Paris
I awake to a drizzly grey morning in Paris. It is the type of gloomy weather day that only European cities manage to pull off. From the tiny guest bedroom on the second floor, my window overlooks a charming internal courtyard that could easily be a vignette from 1940. My friend’s flat, interestingly, occupies parts …
Manu writes 