I Hope Adam And Eve Had A Nailbrush
There are some parts of Paradise lost that are quite entertaining, mainly the bits involving the devil. Although, Samuel Johnson didn’t think so. He said “Paradise Lost is a book that, once put… Continue reading
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George Eliot knew her onions
George Eliot knew people. She wrote men and women as deeply and equally well as each other. Not everyone can do that, some men write female shadows, some women write stereotypical men, but… Continue reading
When I die, please scatter my ashes in the Oxfam bookshop.
As it really is one of my favourite places in Aberdeen. Although, it seems likely I will then just be vacuumed up by a rather put-out staff member, who certainly didn’t volunteer with… Continue reading
Byronic vs Bionic
It’s Byron’s birthday! He’s 227! I’m quite fond of Byron, I used to live very near to his house at Newstead. I used to wander around the abbey a lot, looking at his… Continue reading
All the single (fictional Russian) ladies! Put your hands up! Oh, oh, oh…
More than once I’ve thought it very unfair, that I after sixteen years together I discovered I’d married a cheating dead-beat, and it all went down the toilet. And while my relationships since… Continue reading
Run! It’s the ghost of Anne Brontë!
As if one typo in a grave is bad enough, imagine five. FIVE! When Charlotte Brontë went to see her sister’s grave in St Mary’s churchyard, Scarborough, she ordered it to be refaced,… Continue reading
Zola. If anyone knew how to combine lust and public transport, it was him.
La Bête Humaine is a very readable classic. It has an actual plot and everything. Adultery and murder ahoy! It also has a lot to do with trains, their engineering, maintaining, driving, and… Continue reading
Who fancies a trip to hell? – Yes, of course we can stop for snacks.
At the beginning of Dante’s ‘Inferno’, Dante finds himself in a bleak wood, where he feels lost, alone, and he meets some quite frankly unhelpful animals. And we all know, animals in the… Continue reading
Faustian Tuition Fees
Before I start, I need to say this. Christopher Marlowe died after being stabbed in the head. If it were a knife through a cheek, or an eye socket, that would surely be… Continue reading
Reading Challenges Are Like Biscuits
Come on, I can’t have just one. That would be wrong. More than a week into 2015, the year I was going to embrace challenges to help me read outside my zone, and… Continue reading