October 10th to 12th was the London (Autumn) Pen Show. This is like any trade show: you have vendors who like to sell you things, customers who want deals on those things, and a few onlookers trying to build brands, follow next year's marketing trends, make relationships with mutually beneficial businesses… or who just want to hold the bags of somebody they love, looking for a place to sit. I went for the Sunday as a customer.
I Can Fix The House Of Lords
Britain's House of Lords is a second chamber made of compromise. We as a nation understand the value of a second chamber: it is essential for governmental checks and balances, for debate, and so that the government of the country cannot be swayed by current moods in electoral politics blinding us to widespread issues or... Continue Reading →
Janis Ian, Anna Karenina, and Sadness
It cannot be said that Tolstoy understood women, yet his famous introduction to Anna Karenina can just as well be applied to women as families: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Are women not the head of the household? This is a complicated statement, but even in... Continue Reading →
Uncover Forgotten Gems in Classic Literature – For FREE!
A friendly guide to the depths of Project Gutenberg.
When Visual Art Turns To Words
At a recent(ish)* visit to the Tate Modern, I was captivated by art with words. An image of Venice with paragraphs of text, a flashing light installation which ran ribbons of words to make pithy phrases - it's surprising in a gallery with such emphasis on form and impact to see words, associated with other... Continue Reading →
How a Growing TBR Can Enhance Your Reading Journey
After a touch of quick maths yesterday, I discovered that if I read on average four books a month (not an insignificant amount) for the rest of my projected life, I will have read about half of my TBR as logged on the website StoryGraph. This being a website, and a relatively new one in... Continue Reading →
Moodboard: Crafting A Vibe for Summer ’25
June, then, is a crossroads, where we decide what we'll embody in the next few months… so here are some tips for a more in-depth, considered summer metamorphosis.
#MayIRecommend: Explore This Month’s Top Book and Entertainment Picks
an internet 'month challenge' from the archive.
A House of Bootlegs
Growing up in a house of bootlegs, and developing my own music collection.
Ekiben and Britain
It's been really interesting seeing my country through the eyes of friends from India who want to see as much of the country as possible, and they have encouraged me to remember a childhood of holidays across the UK, renting cottages, and seeing the castles and countryside of Britain. I have always enjoyed seeing what... Continue Reading →
Late Romantic 