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Continue reading →: Best of 2024
Books, TV and Film It’s been a year when I’ve read more books than ever. Life in the van has resulted in less mindless TV, and usually two reading sessions a day, first thing in the morning and late afternoon. Regarding film and books, my interests are wide, but continuing…
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Continue reading →: Tidal Waters by Velia Vidal
translated from the Spanish (Colombia) by Annie McDermott Rarely have I read a book that has a such a strong sense of place. It doesn’t take much to inspire me towards more travel, I have spent much of my life on the road, but now there’s another place on that…
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Continue reading →: The Tyranny of Flies by Elaine Vilar Madruga
translated from the Spanish (Cuba) by Kevin Gerry Dunn – Published 2024 This was my first novel from a Cuban author and a bold, speculative, allegorical piece on communism in the country.Most of all though, it’s a humorous take on life, with a lot of the jocularity being of a…
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Continue reading →: Handling The Undead
Van International Film Festival 2024 – Norway Your potential movie-watcher is likely to arrive at this expecting something different than it is; billed as a ‘zombie horror’ and written by John Ajvide Lindquist (it was his follow up novel to Let The Right One In). This is something quite different…
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Continue reading →: Conclave, Anora & The Last Stop in Yuma County
Van International Film Festival 2024 Conclave A movie that requires some suspension of disbelief in its convenient coincidences, and is far more than the twists in its tail; for if it were to be judged on they alone it would far less rewarding. What it is, is a visual masterpiece…
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Continue reading →: International Film Festival
In the Van – 21 December to 2 January – (some reviews will follow..) Colors of Evil – Red – 111 mins – (Poland) Didi – 93 mins – (Taiwan) The Last Stop in Yuma County – 90 mins – (USA) Grave Torture – 117 mins – (Indonesia) Vaazhai –…
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Continue reading →: Denis Bracknel by Forrest Read
Published 1947 – British Literature This is a great example of what Valancourt do so well, rediscovering a long forgotten novel that reads every bit as well today as it first did. Originally called The Bracknels this was the Belfast author’s third novel and maybe best summarised as a bold,…
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Continue reading →: The Bishop’s Villa by Sacha Naspini
published 2024 – translated from the Italian by Clarissa Botsford Based on actual events that took place in a village in the south of Tuscany, Naspini’s own home town, this concerns a cobbler leading a simple life, who is drawn into helping partisans fight against fascists and Nazis without being…
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Continue reading →: Freakslaw by Jane Flett
Scottish Fiction – Published 2024 Is the world ready for another ‘carnie’ novel? Maybe.. but the standard is high.. Nightmare Alley, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Geek Love, The Night Circus, Nights at the Circus, Swamplandia!… and though readable, this doesn’t make the grade. Set in Scotland in the 1990s,…
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 