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Continue reading →: Small Deaths by Rijula DasSet in Shonagachhi, one of the more notorious red-light areas of Kolkata, this is a noir novel with a difference, though buried within it are many of the same tropes used widely in the genre.A sex worker is brutally murdered in the room of a brothel, and the fragile existence…
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Continue reading →: Villages of the Mainalo mountainsThere was only one monk at the Valtesiniko monastery on Saturday, and on Sunday morning he called over to say that he was away for the day. I think he had expected that I would be visiting the monastery and would be disappointed that it was not open. Roja and…
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Continue reading →: Two-Way Murder by E.R.C. LoracA few years ago, a young woman was found dead at the foot of some cliffs, her death ruled as suicide. Dilys is suspicious that there was foul play and still will not walk that same road from where the woman, her friend, first disappeared. Dilys has also fallen for…
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Continue reading →: LeviathanRussia 2014 Director – Andrey Zvyagintsev Set to the backdrop of the spectacular rugged coast of northern Russia, this is the story of an ordinary man and his battle to keep his house, which has been earmarked for demolition for a wider project. It’s a story that could be anywhere…
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Continue reading →: Another Saturday Night at a MonasteryI moved on from Vytina this morning just as it was filling up with day visitors. It had been quite busy last night, but signs were that it would be a popular destination for lunch today. There was water from a spring just out of the centre, next to which…
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Continue reading →: The Hill of Dreams by Arthur MachenLucian Taylor, a rector’s son, comes of age in a rural Welsh village in the early 1900s, then wanders the world on a quest for beauty, through art and literature, dreamscapes, drugs, and of course, love.Frequently he teeters perilously between the blurred realms of fantasy and reality. It fits the…
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Continue reading →: The Mainalon TrailI’m in the northern Peloponnese in the Arcadia region, the place the poet Virgil described as having “springs cool as can be, and groves, and softest grass” where shepherds try their hands at poetry, live lives of ease and sing to their flocks, “Together in Arcadia we would live, And…
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Continue reading →: King Blood by Jim Thompson
Thompson is such a great writer that I sense he knew what he was doing when he wrote this. This is far from his best, and the sort of story that can be described as unpleasant, one that leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.Thompson is good at writing strong…
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Continue reading →: Big RiverI’ve just spent a couple of very pleasant days with my brother, Nick, and his partner, Lou. They were in their campervan, returning back to England from the Turkish coast, where they have a house and spend part of the year. After some deliberation, I managed to find a suitable…
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Continue reading →: War Pony
This is a dual coming of age film about two young Oglala Lakota boys at key stages in their childhood; one positive, the other pretty much the opposite. Bill in his early 20s, is already the father of two sons. He is hard-working, taking any opportunity to earn a bit…
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 