28 Thursday Jan 2016
Posted in Books, Eccentricities
“Imagine you can spend a day inside a book,” was the prompt – one of those things going around on Facebook, you know, that a friend passed on to me. “What would you choose?”
My first reaction was one of eager glee – entering books having always been one of my fondest imaginings, together with, or even a little ahead of, time-travel. So this was a game I was most happy to play… or so I thought, until it came to really choosing. Continue reading
14 Thursday May 2015
Tags
Barcelona, Byzantium, historical novel, historical sources, History, J.J. Norwich, Roger de la Flor, Steven Runciman
Many years ago, in the palace of the Ajuntament in Barcelona, I came across a set of fresco mural painting, showing how Catalan knight in shining armour Roger de la Flor, after generously saving the Byzantine Empire from some Turkish horde or other, was betrayed and murdered for his pains by the same Emperor he had saved… Bad Byzantines! Bad!
All very interesting – and yet… Continue reading
16 Thursday Apr 2015
Posted in Books, Scribbling
Tags
Emily Dickinson, joseph conrad, Josephine Tey, Robert Bolt, Rodney Bolt, Ros Barber, Steven Runciman, Writer's Envy
Not necessarily my favourite books… well, some of them, yes – but for the rest… Let’s say, seven books that, for one reason or another, I can dream of having written myself.
1. Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim. Yes, yes, I know. But it’s a matter of power, depth, beauty and intensity… Continue reading
