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Continue reading →: Butter by Asako Yuzuki
translated from the Japanese by Polly Barton Food as an art form seems to be something the Japanese have embraced recently.Off the back of the strangely compelling TV series The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House, comes this novel. And it seems to work again.. though I couldn’t imagine coming…
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Continue reading →: The Understory by Saneh Sangsuk
translated from the Thai by Mui Poopoksakul This is a charming fictional memoir told by a ninety year old monk that reads like a piece of non-fiction. Luang Paw Tien shares anecdotes of jungle life in Thailand before his village’s transition to large-scale farming and urban development; these he relates…
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Continue reading →: Thieves Like Us by Edward Anderson
On and off over the 87 years since its publication this book has enjoyed periods when it extremely highly thought of, and others when it was out of print and forgotten. Now, it does feel a bit dated, but its still interesting to know what all the fuss was about.…
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Continue reading →: Back in the VanI’m back in the van less than two weeks after the surgery. Recovery seems to be incredibly quick. Thanks, of course, to Scott and Leigh Ann for the apartment in the meanwhile. Roja has been a bit confused. Various people have been taking him out for a walk, but he…
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Continue reading →: The Delinquents – (Los Delicuentes)
Last night I completed my duo of really long Argentinian dramas, both of which have been released recently. There’s been something of an outcry about films longer than 90 minutes in the last days. I listened to a couple of pieces on Radio 4 discussing it. Long films are nothing…
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Continue reading →: Perfect Days
Yes, it concerns an older Japanese guy cleaning public toilets, but it is about so much more than that. It’s about seeing beauty in everyday simple things in spite of living and working in the heart of a bustling city. It’s about being curious and open to new experiences. It’s…
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Continue reading →: About Uncle by Rebecca Gisler
translated from the French (Switzerland) by Jordan Stump Evermore conscious that she should be making her own way in the world, an unnamed young woman, along with her younger brother, finds themselves moving to a small town on the Brittany coast to care for her uncle. Uncle is an obese…
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Continue reading →: Apparitions by Adam Pottle
This takes the form of a disturbing memoir, veering towards auto-fiction, and can only loosely be described as horror.Interestingly, it is written by a deaf author, and concerns a deaf protagonist who narrates much of the book. For various reasons, it is not an easy book to read; not least,…
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Continue reading →: Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova
A few books have addressed the theme of grief in recent years, but this may well be the most inventive. Cordova’s novel also shows how powerful the horror genre can be with an untethered imagination. Having said that, there classic influences are evident here. It begins with the tragedy of…
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 