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Continue reading →: Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright
Australia – Published 2024 Satirical novels can usually be read in two ways, either looking for something that isn’t always there in each sentence, re-reading passages because there may be a hidden meaning therein, or just straight up, as it comes. In this, 750 page epic, I’d encourage the latter…
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Continue reading →: Into FinlandAfter 107 days in the country, I left this morning Norway to enter Finland. Though Norway is not in the EU, it is in Schengen and its land borders are usually open. Occasionally there is a customs officer who does random stops of vehicles, but I passed through without delay…
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Continue reading →: Turning South, reluctantly..As I walked to the beach yesterday evening I met a cycle tourist, a young Finnish woman who had finished her day and was about to set up her tent for the night. No camping is permitted around the beach area so she wandered a bit higher up the hillside…
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Continue reading →: Goodnight Tokyo by Atsuhiro Yoshida
translated from the Japanese by Haydn Trowell In his Afterword Yoshida explains how he had plans and ideas for ten books, all set in Tokyo at night, and connected, or following from the previous. He decided to write them as linked short stories and the result is a very enjoyable…
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Continue reading →: The Northmost Point of the CourseSultry days at Seiland would not have been what I expected researching the course last winter, but sultry it was indeed, particularly Saturday, when there was barely a breeze and a range of temperature between 21 and 28 throughout the day and night. Roja and I ventured into the National…
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Continue reading →: Festival & Game of the Worlds by César Aira
translated from the Spanish (Argentina) by Katherine Silver – published César Aira I argued many times for publishing the novels of authors such as Aira in pairs, so was delighted to see New Directions had decided to do this. I am a big fan of Aira and will read everything…
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Continue reading →: Seiland National ParkThis record breaking Arctic summer continues as it has, hit and dry. In the far northwest of Norway they have had hardly any rain since the start of May. This spell was predicted to break a few days ago, but the high pressure resisted. Yesterday it reached 28C in the…
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Continue reading →: Looking out at AltafjordThe ferry returning from Hasvik on Sørøya to the mainland takes 90 minutes, and was running an hour late. It was the first ferry I’ve taken so far on this course that couldn’t accept all the waiting traffic, and some had to wait for the late afternoon crossing. There were…
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Continue reading →: Last Date in El Zapotal by Mateo García Elizondo
translated from the Spanish by Robin Myers A heroin addict seems to have run out of hope, and in accepting his circumstance journeys to an almost deserted Mexican village to die.He rents a room in this seedy backwater and prepares one last fix, but is haunted by memories of his…
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Continue reading →: The Across Sørøya Trail and some island historyIn the autumn of 1944, Hitler ordered the evacuation of northern Troms and Finnmark County, a mix of Germans and Norwegians, though some people defied the order. It was Soviet and Finnish troops who were then attacking Finnmark, from the north. At this time the island sheltered around 1000-1500 people.…
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 