Book of the Month - The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan. Full review here.Since our four-month-old son was born, our lives have been turned upside down. He’s our second child, so we were expecting it. But you forget the gritty reality of those first fe...
Book of the Month - The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan. Full review here.What do you still carry forward from your childhood and what have you discarded? I remember thinking that making ‘pizza’ by grilling a baguette with cheese, onion and tomato past...
Book of the Month - The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan. Full review here.I’ve been thinking this week about how I write. There’s the maxim to ‘Write what you know’, but does Steven King know all those terrors? How did Tolkien experience Middle Earth?...
February was my worst month since records began, at least for my reading. It seemed like no matter what I tried, life would conspire to keep me from my books. What rescued me was that I was reading a spectacular book (recommended below) which, as wel...
[So guess who forgot to schedule their email to send on time? Yep, muggins here got it all written out real good but didn’t click the bloomin’ button. Better late than never yeah?]I’ve been reading a wonderful book that has swept me through history a...
I remember trying so hard to fit in at primary school, playing stupid games because others liked them, changing the way I spoke and acted to blend in, or to stick out. The lure of a group pulled me in and swirled me around, until pleasing the group s...
When I was a teenager, we’d make rudimentary mortars. We’d take a length of pipe, jam it at an angle, and prop a hairspray can with its bottom sticking out. We’d light a small fire beneath the contraption and step back. Once the can had warmed, we’d...
[Housekeeping - I’m changing the book recommendations back to once a month. Once a fortnight is enough of a stretch to discourage me from reading more books in French/Spanish, which is important to me. I’m going to experiment with different ways of l...
It’s easy for me to say that fear and ecstasy go hand in hand, that our highest joys are the flip side of our darkest nights. But when I’m before the looming doorway of opportunity, safety is my siren song, dragging me to its comforting shores. ...
[This week’s fiction touches on suicide. If this isn’t a good thing for you to be reading about, please delete this email. I believe suicide is never the answer, getting help is. For helplines anywhere in the world, click here. We need you.]There’s a...