Lucy Kellaway of the Financial Times is my new literary crush. She writes acerbic, funny, insightful things about language and its (mis)-uses. Think George Orwell's 'Politics and the English Language' for the 21st century.
February 19, 2012
The problem with looking for artistic validation in unhappiness, though, is that only the unhappiness is guaranteed; the art is still up to you.
February 8, 2012
You can find your identity in the damage that’s been done to you. Very, very dangerous. You find your identity in your wounds, in your scars, in the places where you’ve been beat up and you turn them into a medal. We all wear the things we’ve survived with some honour, but the real honour… [Read more…]
January 31, 2012
I’m a little bit hooked on Flavorwire – they turn up some amazing, inspiring creative content. Like this list of Henry Miller’s tips on how to be a writer. COMMANDMENTS 1. Work on one thing at a time until finished. 2. Start no more new books, add no more new material to “Black Spring.” 3.… [Read more…]
January 27, 2012
Best examples of the art of the essay: Orwell, Didion, Forster, Greer, Woolf, Montaigne, Capote and more. Many of the writers on this list would rather have been known as great novelists the mixture of unfiltered insight and immaculate prose found in these essays sings higher.
January 23, 2012
Portinatx to Sant Joan, Ibiza, Spain Hotels cling to the cliffs at Portinatx like acrylic nails, a perfect backdrop to sunburnt kids and beery parents. A small brown sign points the way out: Sant Joan. Sharp right, down-shift. The road lifts you above the roofs of the holiday apartments and turns its back on the… [Read more…]
January 19, 2012
Needing a Business Case for Reading Novels is an alien – and slightly depressing – concept. Nevertheless, any case for reading is a good one and Anne Kreamer’s argument that novel-reading can boost workplace fortunes by improving people’s ability to relate to others is admirably lucid. Her list of suggested reading is unfamiliar, apart from… [Read more…]
January 10, 2012
The quote below is an excerpt from A Man Without A Country — a diamond of a book by the inimitable Kurt Vonnegut. To be as wise, incensed and articulate as Vonnegut is here (age 83) is surely one definition of success. If you want to really hurt your parents, and you don’t have the… [Read more…]
December 20, 2011
I’m delighted to have a guest post from award-winning vegan chef Mark Reinfeld, of Vegan Fusion. A culinary wizard, Mark picked up a love of food from his grandfather who was a chef and ice carver. He has co-authored more books than you can shake a carrot at, including the lauded, best-seller Vegan Fusion World… [Read more…]
February 23, 2012
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