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Continue reading →: Into MoroccoI had based myself in the town parking in Terque for the weekend, one of the villages of the Alpujarras. On Sunday morning though I walked a trail up to two smaller villages a few kilometres up the mountain, Alicún and Huécija, only separated from each other by a few…
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Continue reading →: Money to Burn by Asta Olivia Nordenhof
translated from the Danish by Caroline Waight & published February 2025 Just when you’re wondering where the hell the next Danish heptalogy will arrive, two come along all at once..I’m two into Solvej Balle’s offering, On the Calculation of Volume I…VII and haven’t quite made my mind up yet. But…
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Continue reading →: Las AlpujarrasFrom Ojós in the Segura valley in Murcia I headed south trying to time my arrival in Almeria for Monday, the day of my ferry to Melilla and then onto Morocco. I expect to be back in Spain in a couple of months and will, during my time in Africa,…
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Continue reading →: Uncle Paul by Celia Fremlin
British Literature – published 1959 First published in 1959, this is a slow-burning psychological mystery that blends relationships in the family with suspense, highlighting the complexity of human relationships. The unflappable Meg is summoned from London by telegram by her older sister, Isabel, to a typically English seaside town where…
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Continue reading →: Another Via Verde and south to the Segura valleyBeing a weekend, the town of Biar was busy, and the aire became much sought after. There are about 16 well spaced places with free electric and water, and though it was only half full when I arrived on Friday lunchtime, there were vans waiting patiently for a space on…
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Continue reading →: Petite Fleur by Iosi Havilio
translated from the Spanish (Argentina) by Lorna Scott Fox and published 2017 Havilio has a reputation in Argentina as being something of a cult author, and no doubt this splendidly strange novel, will go to confirm that. At the outset, narrator, José, cycles to work as usual at the local…
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Continue reading →: Darker Days by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
Horror, translated from the Dutch by Lia Belt and published October 2025 I find it easy to write off modern American horror. I’m not the target audience; most stuff is blended with romance and fantasy and attracts readers a lot younger than me. I’m a traditional horror fan of classic…
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Continue reading →: Around ValenciaJust over a year ago, the 29 October to 16 November 2024, devastating floods hit the area around Valencia, and resulted in considerable damage in Sot de Chera, which was evacuated, in some cases in spectacular fashion, by helicopter (see the video). 237 people died in the region. The two…
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Continue reading →: The Shark-Infested Custard by Charles Willeford
American Fiction – published 1993 This a wild ride story of four Miami single twenty-somethings living in a singles apartment in the 1970s whose plans for routine fun get them into some serious trouble. Pharmaceutical detail man Hank Norton, responding to a bet that he can’t pick up a date…
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 