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Continue reading →: Realm of Ice and Sky: Triumph, Tragedy, and History’s Greatest Arctic Rescue by Buddy Levy
Non-Fiction – Published January 2025 Levy is at his best when writing about Arctic Exploration. I’ve read much of his work and prior to this my favourites were <i>Labyrinth of Ice: The Triumphant and Tragic Greely Polar Expedition</i> and <i>Empire of Ice and Stone: The Disastrous and Heroic Voyage of…
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Continue reading →: North Sun: Or, The Voyage of the Whaleship Esther by Ethan Rutherford
American Historic Fiction – Published March 2025 Set in 1878, the last years of the American whaling industry, this is the story of the doomed expedition of a fictional whale vessel. At first, life on board the Esther mirrors, intentionally I think, that on the Moby Dick; long periods of…
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Continue reading →: Kerrigou Beach & back to Cumbria
Kerrigou beach was the perfect spot to be within fifteen minutes drive from the Roscoff ferry. But tell no one. It’s a six vehicle car park and neither the space nor the access road would be big enough for anything more than a medium wheel base van. Notably, it isn’t…
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Continue reading →: Plounéour-MénezWe spent the weekend in the small town of Plounéour-Ménez. Their place for camping cars is in the car park in the centre, next to their seventeenth century church. Dating from 1651 the Saint-Yves church boasts the highest tower in Brittany, at 50 metres. This area is high ground for…
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Continue reading →: The Sound of His Horn by Sarban
British Literature – Published 1952 British diplomat John William Wall wrote under the name of Sarban, though published only three books during his lifetime. Thirteen years after his death other manuscripts were found, two novellas and a collection of essays. They were published by Tartarus. Kingsley Amis writes a lengthy…
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Continue reading →: The Room by Jonas Karlsson
translated from the Swedish by Neil Smith – Published 2014 This was Karlsson’s debut novel. To date, three of his novels have been translated into English, all of which are typical of his style, which includes a cast of oddballs, and Kafkaesque surrealism. It centres on the office environment, and…
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Continue reading →: More from Cap SizunWe spent the last week on the Cap Sizun peninsula here in Finistère enjoying the fine weather brought by this spell of high pressure. The days have become gradually warmer. There are periods of quite strong wind, up to 30 kilometres per hour at times, but they come and go,…
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Continue reading →: The Confession of Charles Linkworth by E.F. Benson
English Ghost Story – Published 1912 This gothic tale of ghosts written by EF Benson in 1912 is worthy of a short review by way of recommendation. I don’t usually review short stories unless they are a bit special, and likely to stay in the mind. I’m a big Benson…
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Continue reading →: Cassidy’s Girl by David Goodis
American Pulp Fiction / Noir – Published 1951 This is a fine piece of pulp fiction that soon moves into noir territory. The original cover, that I have used for the edition I read, is a false indication of what is to follow, something like that of a Harlequin romance,…
To live more widely
supera superiora sequi
SafeReturnDoubtful is my alias.
Where is Andy?
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 