Crash Bang Wallop

Woke up early this morning to hear cousin loudly make comments viz-a-viz the cricket match in Australia on television.  He made some other remarks about a payslip or pay cheque or something, cursing, and then the next thing i hear is that he leaves to walk down to the station to catch the train.

Then he comes back, but i did not hear him come back but when i awoke he told me had either fell down the stairs or fallen outside and says that he has broken his hand or arm. His right hand does look very swollen. Got Amy at Number fifty to drive him to A&E in Sittingbourne.

Anyway, i have heard from Amy that he has broken his elbow and will have to keep a sling on for five weeks.

Book 58 - Paul Bowles "Their Heads Are Green"

Paul Bowles "Their Heads Are Green" (Abacus)




Bowles wrote a smooth, glinting prose well-suited to capturing the sensation of seeing an unfamiliar place for the first time. In the Foreword to this collection of essays written in the 1950s, he expresses the wish that every new place be as different as possible from the places he already knows—but what his writing makes clear is that wonder at the unfamiliar is less about the features of location and more about one’s mental furniture. Bowles' uncluttered perception bespeaks impartiality and a generosity of spirit that in a world of contentious identities looks very much like sagacity and sound judgement. Would that his observations on the diversity of Muslim cultures from sixty years ago held broader currency today.

Book 59 - Gregory Benford "Beyond Infinity"

Gregory Benford "Beyond Infinity" (Orbit)





I found this book a hard struggle. In fact,  it seemed like a flimsy plot that simply allowed Benford to introduce a wide variety of fascinating concepts -- from the pinwheel to the branes of supersymmetry, and his evolution of the human species. No sooner though was I getting my mind wrapped around the idea he was presenting then we'd jet off to another one -- so quite disjointed reading from that aspect. The writing tries to be deep but only succeeds in being irritating. Disappointing really.

LJ Slow Death?

To some LJ may be going through a slow death, but i seem to be posting more than ever before. I think we all should support LJ as it is still the best blog site. It has gone through a number of changes but on the whole it is the first site i come to before nay other.

Reading Time

I have been reading more of the S J Parris novel "Sacrilege", which is based in Tudor times around the city of Canterbury.  This is a good historical murder mystery novel.  Then i read a short story by Glenn Gould on the singer Petual Clark form a selection of Canadian short stories.

I also have a few Bill Bryson books to get through including his "One Summer 1927".