Matilda is one of my favourite literary heroines - strong-minded, smart, sassy, an enthusiast in life. And Roald Dahl's novel, other than being the rebellious nerd's handbook to growing up good, has a very special message I don't think any other makes quite so brilliantly: books are magic (uniquely, portably so) and they give us power - super powers - that we barely notice.
Here are my musings upon that, with some ideas for how we can become Real Life Superheroes.
The Game by Neil Strauss They say "Don't hate the player, hate The Game." But after reading Strauss' Number One Best Seller, it's clear the player's got problems too When I've had a tipple too many, I have a habit of buying everything on my Amazon wishlist. Sometimes I catch it in time to cancel … Continue reading Book Review: OK so I read The Game by Neil Strauss
If you're like me and you chase that feeling where it's like an author has just bitchslapped your brain with a brilliant idea, when you can feel your hair stand on end because you *just never thought of it that way before*, or when your whole world turns into a warm ball of goo because everything has been tilted on its axis and you barely know up from down anymore then here are six non-fiction books for you (fiction recommendations coming soon).
The way we react and talk about trauma has changed thanks to the rise of social media and 24-hr news cycles. Recently, we saw this following the massacre in Orlando, the murder of MP Jo Cox, the EU Referendum more generally. All very different events. All followed by outpourings of grief, condolence, anger, support that went viral and … Continue reading On Silence & Speaking Up (Or Why Our Voices Matter)
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch A genius work of speculative suspense fiction, a thrilling love story, an intimate action adventure from the author of Wayward Pines Have you ever wondered: ‘what if?’ As in, what if you ate the apple instead of the cake? What if you never went to that pub that night? What if … Continue reading Book Review: Dark Matter, the Mind-Twisty Must-Read from Blake Crouch
Holidays. Sweet, sunbright holidays. Glorious free time: carved out of the calendar in pink highlighter, counted down to with glee, finally arriving with a sense of smug satisfaction as you set your out-of-office email and flee for the hills or the sea. Here is an excellent video by my brother about where we went and … Continue reading Recline, Refresh, Rethink : 10 thoughts from 10 days on a boat
Later this year (actually right around my birthday), a new Tim Burton film is coming out. Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiars. Based on the Ransom Riggs hit 2011 novel, ‘Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children’, there’s reason to be excited. I loved those books. The first I downloaded in an airport, not expecting much, but … Continue reading Books vs. Films: a love/hate relationship with ‘creative license’
Every so often I have these days where I slightly freak out and panic. Not in an anxiety way. No, no, no. It’s not sinister. It’s kind of the opposite. More like excitement. Intense. Scary. Exhilarating. Excitement. Like a ‘holy shit the world is so big and how did you pull that off and how … Continue reading PERSONALbrand IDENTITYcrisis: Risk Taking, Self Making
I’m a little bit fixated on the dynamics between inner and outer worlds at the moment. The concept of duelling of polarities within one entity. The Scots call it 'Caledonian Antisyzygy'. I don't know what you call it when you're from London.
After the Fire by Jane Casey Mysteries lie within mysteries in Jane Casey's sixth Maeve Kerrigan novel... but was it arson, an accident, or murder? It was twitter that introduced me to Jane Casey and the Maeve Kerrigan series – a turn of good fortune I’ve celebrated since opening the first page … Continue reading Book Review: After the Fire, Maeve Kerrigan Returns in Jane Casey’s Latest Mystery
The Scribble Bug 