Monthly Archives: August 2022

Thoughts: Mothering Sunday, by Graham Swift

Posted on 29 August 2022 by Dove

I have my soft spots, like anyone, and one of my guiltiest ones is life in stately homes and fancy old estates, despite my dislike of the British class system. I also like quiet stories where not much happens, but … Continue reading →

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Thoughts: The Man Who Was Thursday, by G. K. Chesterton

Posted on 25 August 2022 by Dove

Another one off the backlog pile! Annoyingly it’s been so long since I read it that most of my very specific feelings have faded with time, but eh, we press on. Spoilers though. I deliberately didn’t read the Introduction till … Continue reading →

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Thought: June Fourth Elegies, by Liu Xiaobo (translated by Jeffrey Yang)

Posted on 23 August 2022 by Dove

More dissident poetry! It was a rough early June in 2017 when we lost Irina Ratushinskaya and Liu Xiaobo in quick succession. This one felt a little bit like the baddies won though, if I can use such simplistic/childish language. … Continue reading →

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Thoughts: Mind of the Raven, by Bernd Heinrich

Posted on 14 August 2022 by Dove

Slightly embarrassing admission, I picked this one up as story research (for a story that I haven’t finished or touched in a while – indeed, the same story I read Gifts of the Crow for – but still). The tempting … Continue reading →

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Thoughts: Grey is the Colour of Hope, by Irina Ratushinskaya, translated by Alonya Kojevnikov (with poems translated by David McDuff, Richard McKane and Helen Szamuely)

Posted on 12 August 2022 by Dove

Grey is the Colour of Hope is Irina Ratushinskaya’s prison memoir, written in 1987 after her release from the Small Zone in the Barashevo camp, but before the dissolution of the USSR. This gives it both a very particular angle … Continue reading →

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