-
Continue reading →: Diorama by Carol Bensimon
translated from the Portuguese by Zoe Perry and Julie Sanchez When the novel begins, the narrator, Cecília Matzenbacher, is 9 years old and fascinated by nature. She is looking back at a particularly significant time in her life, in Porto Alegre in the south of Brazil in the 1980s; as…
-
Continue reading →: Update from Shap: Rua Headed to the ArcticAt just short of five months, Rua is ready to head to the Arctic. He has settled into van life much better than I could have hoped for. The fine weather of the last couple of weeks has helped. We spend several hours of the day in the large garden…
-
Continue reading →: Eleven: We Burn Them In The Sun by Christian Ryan
Non-fiction – to be published 6 August 2026 More than 16 years ago Ryan wrote [book:Golden Boy: Kim Hughes and the Bad Old Days of Australian Cricket|7934288]. In 2019 Wisden Cricket Monthly voted it ‘the best cricket book ever’, voted for by several leading journalists. This, not so much a…
-
Continue reading →: La Grazia
or Grace – 2025 Italian Drama On the face of it, a film about an aging Italian President in his last months in the post, faced with several moral crises, may not seem like a film that should not be missed, yet it is. It is frequently delightful visually with…
-
Continue reading →: Gaua
or The Night – 2025 Basque fantasy horror This a dark tale, set in the 17th century, and based on Basque folklore that is really well done by its director, Paul Urkijo Alijo. There are good performances by all the cast, many of which are not professional actors. The cinematography…
-
Continue reading →: Centroeuropa by Vicente Luis Mora
Translated from the Spanish by Rahul Berry – Published 2026 This is a novel about about the death of a loved one, the grief that follows, the horrors of war, and slavery in the early 1800s, and yet, it is a huge amount of fun. The narrator, a man born…
-
Continue reading →: Mule Boy by Andrew Krivak
American / Slovak Fiction – Published 2026 Generally I don’t like books that are single sentences, but this is an exception. It’s easier to see the logic behind why Krivak does it. On New Year’s Day in 1929, 13 year old Ondro Prach, of Slovak descent, starts a new job…
-
Continue reading →: Every Time We Say Goodbye by Ivana Sajko
Translated from the Croatian by Mima Simić – Published 2025 An unnamed narrator, lost in thought, stares blankly out his train window as he leaves the coast of Croatia. As an academic, he has been part of a growing movement that are ‘constantly invoking a better tomorrow as the majority…
-
Continue reading →: Figures Crossing The Field Towards The Group by Rebecca Gransden
British Literature – Published 2025 This is a post-apocalyptic novella that charts the journey of a young girl, Flo, as she searches for her brother, across an empty land, strewn only with the horrors of what remains, its inhabitants having fled from the apocalypse that has spread from the south.…
-
Continue reading →: Rua at Ten WeeksHe’s done very well so far, though we are fortunate to have a sizeable field for him to play, and decent Cumbria weather. He’s in work with me three afternoons a week. He dozes in his cage while I welcome hikers to the Lodge and get them a few beers…
To live more widely
supera superiora sequi
SafeReturnDoubtful is my alias. Rua is my fox red labrador pup, born 14 Feb 2026 and learning fast..
Where is Rua?
I was so much older then…
Quote of the Week
Alice asked the Cheshire Cat, who was sitting in a tree, ‘What road do I take?’ The cat asked, ‘Where do you want to go?’ ‘I don’t know,’ Alice answered. ‘Then,’ said the cat, ‘it really doesn’t matter, does it?’
Lewis Carroll
Safe Return Doubtful 