Paint me in oils, don't take a photo.
Contemplating The Fridge Magnet
Home Décor: Tourist Style
Reading Recommendations based on Why You Liked 50 Shades
Brought to you by my PhD chapter on 50 Shades being heavily underway (dare I say almost complete?) 50 Shades of Grey is a peculiar artefact in that it is astoundingly popular and also near immediately forgotten. Similar to James Cameron's movie Avatar, this book shows considerable understanding of genre and audience in a way... Continue Reading →
A Room of One’s Own and Middlebrow Entertainment
Debating the dead: Virginia Woolf edition Virginia Woolf, famously and with great perspicacity, imagined Shakespeare's sister. Without A Room of [Her] Own in which to write, Woolf argues, she is "washing up the dishes and putting the children to bed". Woolf recognised the powerful pull of labour, income, and duty over the less practical creative... Continue Reading →
Queer, Sultry Summer
A review of recent Sylvia Plath events 25th June - Waterstone's Hampstead (London) Heather Clark (author of Red Comet) and Helen Bain (author of The Daffodil Days). Highlights: What is the difference between a biographer and a historical fiction writer? Helen used historical fiction to go where a biographer could not - moments we have... Continue Reading →
What’s In My Bag?
Sequel to What’s In My Pencil Case. THE BAG My King Jim Carchette in beige is the single item I get the most compliments on, and from an astounding array of people. I always wanted to be a briefcase person, and now I have found the perfect briefcase / handbag for me. I'm torn between... Continue Reading →
Five ways to build community as an introvert.
The club sucks but so does staying in forever. As a teenager, one of my friends threw a murder mystery party annually for her birthday. We’d be assigned characters and all get together in costume, eat food, and play pretend. Those days were always delightful, and I’m gratified to see that halfway across the world... Continue Reading →
Scotland: A Digest
Travelogues from the UK.
“You say God / give me a choice!”
Who do you pray to? According to Genesis 1:27, God made us in his image. In 1977, Genesis wrote "I was feeling part of the scenery / I walked right out of the machinery".[1] These are both powerful statements which speak to how and why we worship what we do: we find the numinous in... Continue Reading →
A List Of Places I’d Love To Live
A short post exploring the world outside my window... and by 'outside my window' I mean 'I can't see this because it's outside my field of vision, let's get a new window.' Kanazawa I fell in love with Kanazawa when I visited it in 2024. Apparently since then it has become famous as 'unspoilt Kyoto',... Continue Reading →
Late Romantic 