My thoughts about books, writing, life and so many other things….Judy Leigh/ Elena Collins.
I've been on Facebook for over a year now. I'll check it a few times a day and post the occasional article or recipe. But I have noticed a growing hypocrisy - and we're all guilty of it - among people who use social media. We mislead ourselves about why we're doing it. It's called virtue …
As 2015 draws to a close, it is a time for reflection. In that spirit, here is a countdown of the top 12 books that I have read in the past year, out of at least a hundred! Note: they need not necessarily have been published in 2015, and certainly haven't been read in this order. …
"O, that that earth, which kept the world in awe, Should patch a wall to expel the winter flaw!" Patrick Gale's novel epitomises everything a good writer wants to do in their own writing. I began reading 'A Place Called Winter' a few days ago and, at first, I thought it was a slow-burner. The …
Most of my blogs are fairly serious and, as it is the season of good swill, I thought I'd respond with a little lightness to the abject Scroogery which is alive and rampant and living in my house . Bursting with festive enthusiasm, like Santa's sack stuck in the chimney, my excitement is being squashed and …
I don't have a sister and I never really wanted one. People have told me that older sisters can be bossy and younger ones sometimes behave in a tetchy and clingy way. Of course, these stereotypes are not real and they are perhaps often fuelled by sibling rivalry. What about the older sister who fights …
Continue reading Sorority in literature? Fear it, my dear sister.
Tom Jones sang 'What's new, Pussycat?' in 1967. That was nearly fifty years ago and thank goodness attitudes to women have changed since then. He suggested his girlfriend: 'go and powder your cute little pussycat nose.' I'd tell him where to go! Current attitudes suggest that men and women play equal roles and make joint decisions …
I have always allied myself to the Labour party and I am not about to change. I must admit, I was a Millifan during the run up to the last election and I foolishly hoped that Ed would have what it would takes to become our Prime Minister. I saw Ed speak at a Fabian Society conference and I was …
Stuart: A Life Backwards: a review We've all had the discussion: is the film better than the book? Is the book more meaningful than the film? In the case of Alexander Masters's book, 'Stuart: A Life Backwards,' the answer is, absolutely, that both are equally impressive. Alexander Masters's book is an account of his unlikely …
'Korkoro' is one of my favourite films. Directed by Tony Gatlif, a French Algerian of Roma ethnicity, it came out in 2010 and is one of those World War Two films you may not have seen, but it is a real gem. It documents the rarely-mentioned topic of porajmos, the Romani holocaust. It is set …
Continue reading Korkoro: Come, let’s away to prison: We two alone will sing like birds i’ the cage
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! Fie on ’t, ah fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely. That it should come to this. In actual fact, I am now on 81,000 words and coming to …
Continue reading When my novel is an unweeded garden that grows to seed
That quintessence of dust 